BARRY COURTER: Lisa, one of the greatest days in the whole wide world is coming up - opening day of the college football season. It's great. Everybody is still undefeated, so there is still hope and all that.
Anyway, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs begin their season at home at Finley Stadium on Thursday against UT-Martin. There are really high expectations for UTC, my alma mater and, while we've been down that road too many times before, things look really promising for this year's squad.
LISA DENTON: I like how UTC quarterback Jacob Huesman put it in a recent story in our Sports pages: "It starts off being fine because you're playing football again, but you want to hit somebody other than your teammate."
Sounds like he's had enough practice and is ready to get in a game. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. General-admission tickets will only set you back $8.
BARRY: And Finley is a really good place to watch a game. The stadium is great, getting in and out is easy, and First Tennessee Pavilion is a perfect place to tailgate. Sure beats watching bad football surrounded by 100,000 people. I kid. That other UT team will be back. Eventually.
LISA: If you feel like a drive, there are two events in Crossville, Tenn., coming up. The first is tonight, when Phil Dirt & the Dozers play at the Cumberland County Fair. That's one of the best band names ever, by the way.
BARRY: That's a doozy. Speaking of names, the Screaming Orphans are the final Nightfall act on Friday, and that name gives no hint to the Celtic/pop sounds that they perform.
LISA: As long as we're talking Chattanooga shows, don't forget blues guitarist/singer Ana Popovic at Riverfront Nights on Saturday. She's from Memphis, by way of Serbia, of all places.
BARRY: She breaks all kinds of stereotypes, but the bottom line is whether she's channeling Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan, she does it extremely well and looks great doing it.
LISA: The second Crossville event is Sunday afternoon when Jason Petty performs "Hank and My Honky-Tonk Heroes" at the Cumberland County Playhouse. The Lookout Mountain native won an Obie Award for an off-Broadway musical called "Lost Highway" that had him performing Hank Williams songs.
BARRY: And Doyle Dykes, a world-class guitar player who lives in the Cleveland area, is doing a benefit concert for Prison Prevention Ministries at Calvary Chapel on Broad Street. I don't know if you know this, but our old friend David Johnson, he of Memorial Auditorium and Tivoli Theatre fame, is now running the ministry.
LISA: He's a great guy, and this is a great cause. The show will help PPM continue its work of using the Gospel to prevent at-risk youth from going to prison and inmates from returning to prison.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow or online anytime at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.