Mark WiedmerThe Tennessee Titans had just begun signing autographs at their annual caravan stop at Academy Sports + Outdoors in Hixson on Saturday afternoon when Rossville native and longtime Titans supporter Randy Waterhouse stood near the players, cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Titan Up!"
Almost instantly, a crowd of 200 or more yelled back, "Titan Up!"
Perhaps that's why, despite the team's overall won-loss record of 5-27 over the past two seasons, Titans defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said of these events, "It's so great to see so many fans come out who can't always come to the games. It's an amazing thing, really."
Despite never owning season tickets, Waterhouse almost always finds a way to get to Nissan Stadium for the team's games, even if, by his account, "It's section 344 and I'm in row ZZ. I'm so high up that when the planes fly over, my head's even with the pilots."
But he's almost always there, so much so that his wife, Teresa, said, "The cheerleaders know him by name."
The Titan most likely to become a household name - second-year quarterback and 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota - wasn't penciled in for Chattanooga. But former University of Tennessee wide receiver Justin Hunter was more than happy to critique Mariota's first winter with the team after the former Oregon star struggled to find time to run or pass behind an underwhelming offensive line in the 2015 season.
"He's a very coachable guy, a very likable guy," Hunter said. "Marcus can kill you through the air and he can kill you with his feet. He absorbs everything the coaches ask him to do. And when he's out there (working on his passing), I'm out there with them."
No one's out there with the Titans in spirit more than 23-year-old East Ridge High School grad Denzel Mason.
"On Sundays, the living room is his," said wife Tiffany, who's about to give birth to the couple's first daughter, joining 5-year-old son DeMari. "He calls off everything else on game days. No phone calls, no anything."
Superstitions?
"Every Titans hat he has he puts on his head," Tiffany said with a smile. "There might be four or five of them up there."
How far up there does Denzel Mason think his heroes can climb under coach Mike Mularkey, who had the "interim" label removed from his title in the offseason after coaching the team down the stretch last year following the firing of Ken Whisenhunt?
"I'd be good just getting to the playoffs," he said.
The Titans haven't made the playoffs since 2008, and longtime fans Cindy and Bobby Haynes don't expect that to change this season. Bobby's predicting a 7-9 season. Cindy, who recalls first watching the Titans when they were still the Oilers and playing an exhibition game against the Washington Redskins and former UT quarterback Heath Shuler at Neyland Stadium, is expecting only a 5-11 record.
But perhaps the second most enthusiastic verbal exclamation of the afternoon was when Cindy spied Titans mascot T-Rac.
"We're fans of the mascot, too," she said. "We love watching T-Rac rappel down to the field before games. They've had a couple of tough years, but we're sticking with them."
A 10-year-old student at Snow Hill Elementary, Joshua Payne wore a Titans T-shirt to Academy and left with a poster signed by Hunter, Casey and Rishard Matthews.
"I'm going to nail it to my wall," Payne said.
Asked how often he watched the Titans, his mother, Summer, laughed and said, "We make him watch."
If Casey's goal is achieved, everyone will watch this season.
"We're trying to get to the Super Bowl," said the Southern Cal product. "I think we'll be a top-five defense for sure. We want to win the division, make it to the playoffs."
Even with the shrewd drafting of Michigan State offensive lineman Jack Conklin, Heisman Trophy winning running back Derrick Henry and defensive demons Kevin Dodd and Austin Johnson, these guys would still appear to have a lot of holes.
But they also have their players believing they're suddenly making all the right moves instead of far too many wrong ones, just in case the Titans Nation has forgotten former first-round draft picks Vince Young, Jake Locker and Pacman Jones.
"We got players in places we needed a lot of help," Hunter said.
If those players provide enough help, T-Rac rappelling to the field before the opening kick might no longer be the Titans' best moment of any given Sunday afternoon at Nissan Stadium. If not, Waterhouse may soon find it much easier to get seats closer to the field than row ZZ in section 344.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com