University of Tennessee Athletics
Vol Fans Around World Respond During Broadcasts
September 07, 2001 | Football
Sept. 7, 2001
From Bells, Tennessee to Paris, France they were listening.
From Tullahoma to Toyko they heard Tennessee's 33-9 season-opening win over Syracuse at Neyland Stadium.
Bob Kesling's call of Casey Clausen's touchdown pass to Donte' Stallworth on the Vols' first play from scrimmage was heard around the globe as the internet brought home Vol Network coverage to Big Orange football starving fans.
Broadcasting Tennessee football over the web is nothing new for the Vol Network, but last Saturday marked the first time fans could e-mail their questions and comments to Kesling and analyst Tim Priest during the game.
The response from around the globe raised some eyebrows as messages from Japan, Kosovo and Brazil came rolling into the network's laptop computer on the John Ward Broadcast level at Neyland Stadium.
"We knew people listened around the world, but to have interaction with them during the game lets us know how important the broadcasts are to people," said Kesling. "We were really amazed by the response."
All told, the network got responses from almost 20 different countries and from coast-to-coast around the nation. Many of the responses from the listeners were thank you messages for having an opportunity to following Tennessee football while being in a foreign country.
From London, Sam Garrett wrote: "Hello from London, where at midnight there are more than a few Vols listening by the internet. The sun never sets on the Volunteer Empire."
From Camp Zama, Japan, Mark Watson wrote: "We are from Sevierville, Tennessee, and are listening from Zama City, Japan, near Tokyo. Miss home and those Big Orange games."
From Tokyo, Japan, Glenn Gainer wrote: "Listening in Tokyo! Thank God for the internet. Go Vols!"
From Hong Kong, Todd Lowe wrote: "Hi, Bob. No questions, but I'm listening in Hong Kong at 6:30 a.m. Great descriptive call on that fumble. I could see it bouncing across the turf."
Andrew and Jim Rodgers, from Brisbane, Australia, could not pass up the opportunity to ask why the Vols weren't running the ball more.
Fans online were also able to log into the new FansLive "GameTracker," a live stat feed from the official statistics being kept in the press box. GameTracker will be available for all UT home games and the Vols' road games at Notre Dame and Kentucky.
The Vol Network was one of the first in college sports to begin making its football broadcasts available on the internet in 1996. Fans may also listen to Vols and Lady Vols' basketball and UT baseball via the internet.
"It is very gratifying to hear from such enthusiastic listeners who rely on the internet to follow Tennessee athletics," said Kesling. "The internet broadcasts have improved and have been embraced by Tennessee fans around the world."
