20 Reason's Tony Basilio Show Listeners Love UT Football:

1. History: Get to know your Vol history because it's vast & varied replete with colorful and meaningful characters. There are two National Titles and tons of HOF players and All-Americans. Plus there are hundreds of wonderful players as well through the years.


2. Friends & Family: Think back to the great times and the TERRIBLE losses and know that's it's okay to hurt. But we hurt and celebrate together. That's the essence of experiencing Tennessee Football.
We do it together.


3. Rivalries: Like it or not we play in the most classic and colorful conference in America. Bama/Tennessee is a classic college football and southern college football rivalry. Tennessee/Georgia is a beautiful thing.


4. Smokey: Is there a better mascot in America. He belongs in the Donna Thomas HOF. If he were a she this would've already happened. Especially when one considers DT's war on male athletes/administrators and coaches.


5. Pageantry: Ours is the best. Everybody else is jealous. If some schools tried to make a list like this they would struggle to come up with 20 tangible things.


6. Outta State Vols: Guys from other states that come & stay and become our community. These men have an interesting relationship with this place because it's one born of appreciation.


7. Condredge Holloway! First Black QB in SEC history. There can only be one. Tennessee holds this distinction. Don't let the national media teach you our history. The Artful Dodger is ours!


8. Those Orange & White unis on a bright Sunny Sat afternoon. Ah, what could be more beautiful.


9. Tennessee Fans: You're the best and most loyal group in this great land. Not even close.

10. The Characters: Think about all the nutty Vol fans you know. In my inner circle I know more than a handful Vol fans that are several bricks shy of a load. We're warped.


11. Road Games: Traveling with the Vols is a uniting force. It's a unique bonding. Take a selfie with one of the Tubbs if you if you're not afraid of heights.






12. Best Nickname In Sports: Look up Volunteers. It's our great military tradition. Volunteers is a way of life. It fits who we are perfectly. Tennessee is a place full of folks where we constantly rise to the occasion.


13. John Ward: That guy is the king of cool. We're releasing a Two Part Gate Twenty-Won celebrating The Voice of The Vols.


14. Rocky Top: Illegal liquor, homicide, taxation, drunkenness, lust over a young girl. It's our unofficial fight song.


15. Coverage of UT football: It's big market. Bama calls itself 'Football of The South'. But they used to have a 45 min pregame show back in 80's while the Vol Network had 15 plus hours of coverage.


16. In-State Players: What a dream. It's just different seeing these guys interact with this program. I've always sensed this connection is inextricable.


17. Neyland Stadium: It's a treasure. We take it for granted. It's always been there. Like a fine wine. Shields-Watkins Field on a Fall Saturday. Get that in your senses and feel the rush.


18. Passing It On: taking any child to their first game. If it's your child or grandchild even better.


19. Vol Navy: What an amazing tradition!!!! Started by George Mooney. Gamedays at Calhoun's on The River are amazing!


20. Kiner, Reynolds, & Walker: Characters and players. Best LB Corp in school history.


21. Running Through The T: Bubba Miller once compared running through the T to the birth of his first child and he wasn't kidding.


22. Pride Of The Southland Marching Band: I love that pre-game presentation like no other. Do you know members or former members of the Pride? It's truly a special fraternity of people.

'An Update on Where I Am:


In my first blog entry, I talked about how with the help of Tony I’m beginning to make my transition into the real world of sports broadcasting. In this week’s blog I’m just going to give a quick update as to where I am with my recent work and projects. Tony and I spoke Monday night and we’re getting set for exciting fall programming that will really ramp up in the coming weeks. As we continue to prepare and get organized for all of that, high school football is making its official return this week.


Aside from talk radio, another passion of mine is radio play-by-play. As the high school football season begins, I’m excited to kick off the season by doing some play-by-play on the radio this week as Oak Ridge and Hardin Valley square off at Blankenship Field in Oak Ridge. I’ll be doing that, as well as co-hosting a post-game scoreboard show on a local television channel after all of the Knoxville area games wrap up Friday night. Once the season is underway, I’ll be hard at work trying to learn as much as I can with these projects in addition to what I’ll be doing with Tony, all the while trying to get as much experience I can. In addition to UT news, I’ll try to throw in some local high school football information in the blog from time to time this fall since I’ll be up close to a lot of the action this season.


Again, I cannot overstate how excited I am to be a part of the Basilio radio family, and I can’t wait for you all to see what we’ve got coming your way in the next few weeks. Tony is really ramping things up. He's not lying to you. Trust me. I've seen his plans and we've been doing dry runs. It's been like a training camp. Tony is really focused. Next week I’ll be back at it with a blog that I think you’ll really enjoy. Buckle up Knoxville, the ride is about to begin!


Until next time,
Go Vols!
-Alex Myers (@AlexMyersTV)

Tony B Needs You For Gate Twenty Won & Vol-Scars!!! I'd like to get your personal stories to include in our Gate Twenty Won and VolScars audio podcasts! Here's a link to the contact number and a list of all of the games.