The Florida/Tennessee weekend doesn’t quite have the emotional pitch it had a few years ago. It hasn’t been that long ago that the winner of the game would likely be in the national championship mix and the loser could well be there by the end of the season, as well. All that was a few coaching changes ago. It is still exciting, but now there is room for a few other events to carve a little space for themselves.
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| Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church Praise Choir on Market Square |
Friday night on the square featured the first in the Movies on the Square series. This week’s movie featured a pig which we suspected could be Charlotte’s Web, though I suppose it could have been a different porcine action flick. I’m guessing there wouldn’t be too many places in the country where a movie would be preceded by a praise choir – but that’s exactly what was featured Friday night. Performing as a warm up to Wilbur and company was the Chilhowee Hills Baptist choir. I spoke to a gentleman from the choir afterward who pointed out that their performance reflected the way they worship every week – the way, he stated, that worship “ought to be.”
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| This cute dog did not seem to know it was UF/UT weekend |
Saturday morning brought another of our recent scaled-down farmer’s markets, with more crafts than food. I’m hoping they return to their former glory on the weekends we don’t have a UT home game, but I’m thinking the vegetables may be playing out. All I know is I don’t remember enjoying vegetables as much as I have this summer since my grandmother stopped having a garden many years ago. I’ll hate to see winter for that reason, if nothing else.
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| Urban Baby says, “You seem like a really nice Gator.” Market Street, UF/UT weekend 2010 |
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| Six young Gators headed to the game. |
Of course, there were Gators lurking about the city, and all in all they seemed to be a pretty subdued bunch and both sides of the collegiate sporting equation of the weekend seemed to be downright congenial. The smack talk of yesteryear fading with the loss of Spurrier’s sarcasm, Phil Fulmer’s easy target, Lane Kiffen’s arrogance and national championship expectations on both sides. UT fans were admitting that they likely couldn’t win and UF fans were admitting that they couldn’t help but like Dooley. In some ways on Friday night, particularly, it wasn’t obvious there was even a big game in town. What a difference a few years and not-so-few changes can make.
