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Anybody been to Knoxville?

HawkIDrummer

HR Heisman
Sep 6, 2011
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Figured I'd drop this in the football forum as football drives the bus.

Will be in Knoxville, TN in a couple of days, plan to make the requisite swing through campus and the football stadium. Recommendations on local watering holes, favorite campus hangouts, etc around UT?

Thanks!
 
Calhouns on the River is nice bar/restaurant. At least it was 12 years ago when I was last there
 
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Had a couple friends go there. Unfortunately I was to drunk on my visit to remember the details and help you out on that (but there are a lot of bars so you won'thave trouble finding them). Im worthless, I know.

Definitely check out the stadium though; it's a biiiig place.
 
Calhoun's is nice and Market Square is pretty cool. Doesn't seem unanimous, but I really like Knoxville. Asheville and Nashville are both 2 hours away. Pigeon Forge is 20-30 mins away.
 
Calhouns on the river is still around. Lot of college type bars downtown as well. The campus is pretty close to downtown.

If you go by the stadium, get a tetanus shot afterwards. Lots of rust. It's a huge place with the worst visiting seating in the SEC. Very, very loud back in the day. If you walk around the stadium, check out the deserted dorm rooms on the southside by the river. They are built into part of the stadium and haven't been used in over 20 years. Old windows sitting wide open. Looks bad.

Most of the growth in Knoxville in on the west side. Lot of typical suburban restaurants there.

Campus is on a hill going down to the river. A typical urban campus, it's pretty nice, but at times you're not sure if you are still on campus or in the city.
 
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Possibly all three.

Calhouns on the river is still around. Lot of college type bars downtown as well. The campus is pretty close to downtown.

If you go by the stadium, get a tetanus shot afterwards. Lots of rust. It's a huge place with the worst visiting seating in the SEC. Very, very loud back in the day. If you walk around the stadium, check out the deserted dorm rooms on the southside by the river. They are built into part of the stadium and haven't been used in over 20 years. Old windows sitting wide open. Looks bad.

Most of the growth in Knoxville in on the west side. Lot of typical suburban restaurants there.

Campus is on a hill going down to the river. A typical urban campus, it's pretty nice, but at times you're not sure if you are still on campus or in the city.

This is pretty spot on.

Retired just west of Knoxville. Beautiful area if you like mountain views, large clear lakes, hiking, and other outdoor activities (boating, golf, etc.). Great Smokey National Park is less than an hr away. The downtown has some neat bars and restaurants but nothing more than other big towns. Turkey Creek on the westside is where a bunch of shopping is with some decent restaurants.
Nashville to the west and Asheville to the southeast are more compelling and progressive in my opinion, but Knoxville has pretty much everything you need.
Don‘t get in any discussion with the local Vol fans though. Hard to understand and too delusional. Reminds me of Nebraska fans.
 
Figured I'd drop this in the football forum as football drives the bus.

Will be in Knoxville, TN in a couple of days, plan to make the requisite swing through campus and the football stadium. Recommendations on local watering holes, favorite campus hangouts, etc around UT?

Thanks!
Stock & Barrel at Market Square.
Figured I'd drop this in the football forum as football drives the bus.

Will be in Knoxville, TN in a couple of days, plan to make the requisite swing through campus and the football stadium. Recommendations on local watering holes, favorite campus hangouts, etc around UT?

Thanks!
Stock and Barrel: 35 Market Square.
 
Knoxville was very different than what I imagined. We were there for a large national Track meet and Tennessee has a legendary Track only stadium (2nd only to Oregon's Hayward field) back in the day. The track stadium was in very bad shape...I've taken athletes to several large stadiums throughout the country to compete and this was the most disappointing almost shocking condition I've ever seen a stadium. We toured the football and athletic facilities and it was not near as impressive had we imagined it would be. The area around the stadium by the Tennessee river is beautiful. The stadium itself was in not great condition. Since we were there for several days we rented a vehicle and drove up into Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains. This is a must if you travel there so beautiful and the locals were super friendly. There are tons of tourist trap stops the further you get into the Smoky's but we didn't care as we were having such a good time.
 
Figured I'd drop this in the football forum as football drives the bus.

Will be in Knoxville, TN in a couple of days, plan to make the requisite swing through campus and the football stadium. Recommendations on local watering holes, favorite campus hangouts, etc around UT?

Thanks!
Been inside the stadium. Almost got arrested.

GREAT STORY

One of our hobbies is visiting D1 football stadiums. Circa 2007, Mrs. Herk, our son, and his soon to be wife are driving to North Carolina. We stay all night in Knoxville. It's Easter morning and before leaving town we go to Neyland Stadium. Don't ask why, but one of our games is to drive under the structure. We're right by a gate and I notice a chain is loose.

I jump out of the car and sure as heck I can get in. The others follow and we all head down the steps. Those 3 jump the fence and start wondering around on the 50 yard line.

Suddenly, I hear yelling. I look up and see not 1, but 2 squad cars with lights rolling and 4 cops running down the stairs. I swear this is true, I walk over to the base of the stairs and as the first cop reaches me I say, "We do this all over the country. You're the first sumbitch to ever throw us out. Mind if I get a picture?" 😊

The cop chuckles and says, "Yeah, sure, you can have a picture." I asked, "Can you move over here so I can get the scoreboard behind you?" He moved and we both chuckled.

Then he says, "There are motion detectors in the stadium and for some reason they set off the alarms in every building. We thought we were under attack from terrorists!" He went on to say they find people like us in the stadium every now and then and it wasn't a big deal, but we still get a kick out of reliving that day.

By the way, I've seen nothing like Neyland Stadium when standing on the field. It is the deepest stadium floor ever. Just amazing how high the stands appear. It must be an incredible place to play. Certainly worth visiting.
 
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By the way, I've seen nothing like Neyland Stadium when standing on the field. It is the deepest stadium floor ever. Just amazing how high the stands appear. It must be an incredible place to play. Certainly worth visiting.

Went to the TN / Notre Dame game in 99 when the Vols won the National Championship. They beat up the Irish pretty bad that night. Loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.
 
Been inside the stadium. Almost got arrested.

GREAT STORY

One of our hobbies is visiting D1 football stadiums. Circa 2007, Mrs. Herk, our son, and his soon to be wife are driving to North Carolina. We stay all night in Knoxville. It's Easter morning and before leaving town we go to Neyland Stadium. Don't ask why, but one of our games is to drive under the structure. We're right by a gate and I notice a chain is loose.

I jump out of the car and sure as heck I can get in. The others follow and we all head down the steps. Those 3 jump the fence and start wondering around on the 50 yard line.

Suddenly, I hear yelling. I look up and see not 1, but 2 squad cars with lights rolling and 4 cops running down the stairs. I swear this is true, I walk over to the base of the stairs and as the first cop reaches me I say, "We do this all over the country. You're the first sumbitch to ever throw us out. Mind if I get a picture?" 😊

The cop chuckles and says, "Yeah, sure, you can have a picture." I asked, "Can you move over here so I can get the scoreboard behind you?" He moved and we both chuckled.

Then he says, "There are motion detectors in the stadium and for some reason they set off the alarms in every building. We thought we were under attack from terrorists!" He went on to say they find people like us in the stadium every now and then and it wasn't a big deal, but we still get a kick out of reliving that day.

By the way, I've seen nothing like Neyland Stadium when standing on the field. It is the deepest stadium floor ever. Just amazing how high the stands appear. It must be an incredible place to play. Certainly worth visiting.

So...I drove through yesterday. My take:

-Campus is "OK". Nothing fancy, part of "the strip" was pretty rough looking. Most of the P5 campi I've visited were nicer.

-The Pat Summit statue was cool, indoor sports arena pretty "meh" from the outside.

-I snuck inside Neyland, they were setting up for graduation so the access gate was open. After a few minutes a guy started walking toward me, told him my son was graduating and I just had to take a look. Thanks. Holy hell...it's huge. Like you said, it's a deep bowl, must be awesome on game day. It also looks old as hell, not sure how much longer they'll be playing here without some serious rehab work. It's slightly older than Kinnick and looks it.
 
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So...I drove through yesterday. My take:

-Campus is "OK". Nothing fancy, part of "the strip" was pretty rough looking. Most of the P5 campi I've visited were nicer.

-The Pat Summit statue was cool, indoor sports arena pretty "meh" from the outside.

-I snuck inside Neyland, they were setting up for graduation so the access gate was open. After a few minutes a guy started walking toward me, told him my son was graduating and I just had to take a look. Thanks. Holy hell...it's huge. Like you said, it's a deep bowl, must be awesome on game day. It also looks old as hell, not sure how much longer they'll be playing here without some serious rehab work. It's slightly older than Kinnick and looks it.
I love old school stadiums, so revel in the history. I probably like that. I recall nothing about the campus. I also regret not paying attention to the proximity of the river. The cops got me so wound up I didn't pay attention to other things. Glad you like it. It really is fun to see the stadiums on TV after you've been there.
 
Figured I'd drop this in the football forum as football drives the bus.

Will be in Knoxville, TN in a couple of days, plan to make the requisite swing through campus and the football stadium. Recommendations on local watering holes, favorite campus hangouts, etc around UT?

Thanks!
Say hello to the mayor.

iu
 
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Good food and service @ Calhoun's. A couple of locations now, I think.

5 now ..... one in downtown by the river near Neyland stadium, one on Kingston Pike near Pellissippi Parkway, one in Turkey Creek in West Knoxville, another in Lenoir City on Lake Loudon and one in Oak Ridge.
 
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Went to the TN / Notre Dame game in 99 when the Vols won the National Championship. They beat up the Irish pretty bad that night. Loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.
That had to be incredible. With the depth of that field, I can only imagine the sound.
 
That had to be incredible. With the depth of that field, I can only imagine the sound.
It's relatively unusual because the entire stadium is built from the ground up, rather than partially sunken into the ground which is more common outside the Southeast.

I was always under the impression that sunken structures amplified sound better, but what do I know.
 
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I'm not moving there, just looking for a cool bar on/near campus.
Lived there for 8 years. Try The Original Copper Cellar on Cumberland at 18th across from Campus. Calhoun's on the River for BBQ and ambience (by campus and downtown). Knoxville is about the size of Des Moines with a 30,000 size student body at UT. Can't go wrong. Talent is pretty good
 
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