When it comes to blogging, does Knoxville ever shut up?

Knoxville Talks — what she said

Readers write in

I’ve had a little bit of interest about the cat in the sidebar. You know the cat wearing the orange sweater. I’ve had some comments in the last few days, but because I don’t check my mail that frequently (yer, I know, I’m bad) I didn’t pick up on it.

Here’s her story:

She’s seven years old. We’ve had her since she was born. She’s special, special as in short bus special. She hates being picked up. She hates visitors. But she looks good in orange.

You can pretty much dress a cat in a baby sweater one time only. So I’m glad I got it on camera. The sweater was made by a work friend. She loves cats more than babies, so she was more than happy to see this picture.

And here’s the baby in same

They wear it well

Hey look y’all – Chris in Oxford comes good on the bet. I’m sure you’re thinking it’s bad enough that Georgia loses, but to have to wear our colors must rub salt in the wound. And then you had to dress your baby and your dog in the beautiful Tennessee hues. But to put the old Volunteer logo on your bbq grill well, I gotta hand it to you – that’s good sportsmanship.

Your little feller always looks adorable even in red and black, but to this Tennessean’s eyes he looks even better in orange. That’s one fine picture for the baby album.

I’d say better luck next year, but I wouldn’t mean it.

How ’bout them Vols?

Well, hey hey – Go Vols. What a fantastic game – (Tennessee wins 35 to 14) Between you and me, I wasn’t quite sure they had it in them. Well, I thought the Vols definitely could win, but I wasn’t sure they would win and I certainly didn’t think they would trample. Phil Fulmer must have found a can of whoopass he’d forgotten about way back in the back of the cupboards.

Or maybe Phil told the Volunteers that there was a little tiny boy across the big, big ocean who would have to wear Georgia kit. Yep, I bet against another expat blogger – a Georgia fan – that if the Bulldogs won I’d dress my boy in Georgia gear.

“Y’all don’t want to see that baby Vol wearing red and black!” Coach Fulmer told the assembled kids in the locker room. “Y’all don’t want to see that sad baby’s face when he sees himself wearing red and black. Men, think of the children.”

On the upside, a young boy in Oxford will soon be introduced to beautiful Tennessee orange. His daddy, even posted a Rocky Top mp3 on his Georgia supporting blog. Magnanimous in defeat – I got to admit that’s more than I would have done. Rocky Top has hardly ever sounded so good.

sleepy Vol

Shhhhh – the Vol Baby is sleeping.

We’ve nearly woken him up FOUR TIMES in the first half of the UT – Georgia game. It’s hard to keep quiet when you hear Tennessee Touchdown.

Things are looking good for the Vol household in the SEC expat blogging feud.

Keep it up y’all.

Go Vols!

And so honor must be satisfied

Well, well – you can understand why Georgia might be feeling a little confident going into this game what with the bizarre reverse home ground winning streak.

But what this fellow describes is just hubris. Pride goeth before a fall. And to say we’ve had a decade of bad football in Tennessee is just a lie. Hmmm – we’ve had a national championship somewhere in the last ten years. Sure, it’s now at the outer edges, but still.

And we’ve got something else, too. Phil Fulmer knows that he can’t play choke artist on this one. The Big Orange Army will be taking scalps this Saturday – and they can be from Dawgs or they can be from coaching staff.

The Bet

My brother didn’t lose a tooth down in Athens “defending Smokey’s honor” just to see his nephew dressed in red and black. But I’ve been challenged – one expat blogger against another with the ultimate stake: one tiny expat SEC fan against another – his son vs. mine. If the Vols win – little Zach will finally be dressed right – in Tennessee Orange. If Georgia wins, and though it sickens me to write this, poor old Cletus will have to don Bulldog colors.

Which would be a shame, because as we all know, my boy looks so good in orange.

I do note that like a wily, welching Georgia fan Chris has already laid the foundation for a get-out clause.

Would it be inappropriate to use our sons in a bet? Son of losing fan wears colors of the winning team? Or will our respective better halves step in…

Mine sure won’t. Although he’s from Northern Ireland and doesn’t even much care for college football, he perversely likes to see Tennessee squirm. (Grounds for divorce, I know) Although even he can appreciate a win like the thumpin’ we gave the Dawgs last year.

So here’s what I propose. Losing team’s fan dresses son in winning team’s colors – for real. With team logo (this can be photoshopped, since NCAA baby gear is impossible to source in the UK). Photo to be posted on the loser’s blog by Wednesday. First in a post, then kept in the sidebar for a week.

Go Vols

talkin expat trash

This week I’d like to highlight the blog of a fellow American expat, Chris Della Vedova. His blog is pretty, it has music clips and interesting posts about science and politics and sports and stuff.

We have some other things in common besides our nationality. He has a brand new baby boy, too. He’s also a recovering smoker. He thinks Steve Earle isn’t quite so good since he got so politically bitter. I don’t know for sure, but I bet he thinks the SEC is the toughest football conference in the nation. Anyway, that’s where his heart is.

And that’s where the similarities end. You see last week he combed the baby clothing aisles of Oxford (England, not Mississippi) for suitable team colors for his little Zach. But instead of choosing a beautiful golden orange, he chose red and black.

He’s raising that kid to support Georgia. And to my mind, that’s just bad parenting.

Hey Chris, I hope the sound of your bitter wailing come Saturday night when Tennessee woops your Dawgs doesn’t wake up your baby.

UPDATE: I’m challenged, and I accept.

New Knoxville blogging central

Via Michael Silence – the new aggregating home for Knox bloggers: The Knoxville Blog Network

The hand that rocks the cradle…

…rules the world. At least that what they say. I hope that’s true, ’cause I’ve been playing Medieval Total War II while nursing the baby. That’s why blogging has been light. I’ve been simultaneously trying to conquer the New World and fend off a Mongol invasion and breast feed.

Baby tending and world domination leaves little time for blogging, my friends.

Quote of the Day

Joe says:

For a variety of reasons, I have always held that everyone is entitled to my opinion.

Why, I resemble that remark. (I haven’t heard that in ages.)