Column by Carl Steward
TROY TAYLOR remembers the nonstop, mega-decibel noise. He remembers the swaying ocean of orange. He remembers the constant playing of "Rocky Top" and the equally incessant T-E-Double N-E-Double S-Double E-TENNESSEE cheer. “I still know all the words to 'Rocky Top,'" Taylor recalled Monday, nearly 20 years after the University of California's last daunting football venture into Tennessee. "That's how often they play it."
Taylor has some other vivid memories of Knoxville's intimidating Neyland Stadium, fabled home of the Tennessee Volunteers, from way back in 1987.
"We had some of those little empty whiskey bottles thrown at us, emphasis on the empty," he said. "People were screaming things like 'Surf's up, dude' and getting on us real good. It was a pretty hostile environment."
Now the color commentator on Cal's radio broadcasts, he can't wait for his return trip to Knoxville since that'87 game — Taylor was the starting quarterback for the Golden Bears at the time. He also unfortunately remembers the Bears getting pounded 38-12 against a 10th-ranked Volunteers team that finished that season 10-2-1 and sent a number of familiar names — former Raiders corner Terry McDaniel, former 49ers linebacker Keith DeLong, tailback Reggie Cobb and receivers Anthony Miller and Alvin Harper, among others — to the pros.
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