All About Tennessee Sports

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers won the first two AFL championships, before joining the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The team relocated from Houston to the state of Tennessee in 1997, first playing in Memphis for one season before moving to Nashville. For two seasons, the team was known as the Tennessee Oilers before changing its name to Titans in 1999.

The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play their home games at Sommet Center, formerly known as Gaylord Entertainment Center and Nashville Arena.

The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Along with the Toronto Raptors, the Grizzlies were established in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada. The team originated that year in Vancouver, British Columbia and relocated to Memphis in 2001. The team's majority owner is Michael Heisley, who controls a 95% share of the franchise; the remaining 5% is controlled by several local owners, including AutoZone founder J. R. ("Pitt") Hyde, his wife Barbara Hyde, equity manager Staley Cates, and former NBA player and University of Memphis point guard Elliot Perry.David Williams, Grizzlies partners truly in minority, The Commercial Appeal, March 27, 2008

The Memphis Redbirds are the Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They play their home games at AutoZone Park in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The stadium's capacity is 14,320. They entered the Pacific Coast League (PCL) as an expansion team in 1998, and are owned as a non-profit community entity. In September 2008, the Cardinals extended their player development agreement with the Redbirds through 2012. The parent club is also currently involved in negotiations to purchase the Triple-A affiliate.

The club operates a number of programs in the community. The Memphis Redbirds Foundation is a non-profit program that uses its funds to enable children to participate in sports across the Memphis area. The RBI (Returning Baseball to the Inner-City) program is an instructional baseball and softball summer program for boys and girls ages 6 to 15. The STRIPES (Sports Teams Returning In The Public Education System) program runs during the school year, and helps fund baseball and softball teams for middle and junior high schools in the Memphis City School System.

Since the team's inception in 1998, the Redbirds have made it to the PCL playoffs twice. The team has gone all the way to winning the league championship in both years.

The Tennessee Volunteers football team, is the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), NCAA Division I football team. The team is a member of the Southeastern Conference.

The Vols have amassed a successful tradition since their beginning in 1891. Their all-time record of 776-327-53 ranks the Vols second on the list of winningest SEC programs, and ninth on the list of all time winningest major college programs, just behind Alabama and ahead of Southern California. They rank third all-time in bowl appearances(tied with USC) and fourth all-time in bowl victories. Their last national championship was in the 1998 college football season. The Vols boast six national titles in their history.

The Vols play at historic Neyland Stadium, the second winningest home-field in college football history. Tennessee has won 422 all-time games at Neyland Stadium. That is the second highest win total for any school in the nation at its current home venue. Only Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium (428 wins) has hosted more victories for its team-and Bobby Dodd Stadium (1913) opened eight years before Neyland Stadium (1921). It is also one of the largest; its 100,011 seat capacity makes it the fifth largest stadium in the nation.

On November 3, then-Head Coach Phillip Fulmer announced that he would be stepping down from his position as head coach at the end of the 2008 season after winning 152 games at his alma mater.Fulmer agrees to step down

On November 30, 2008, UT announced that Lane Kiffin (Oakland Raiders former head coach) had been selected to replace Phillip Fulmer.

The Chattanooga Lookouts are a minor league baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. They are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team, which plays in the Southern League, has been a Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club since the 2009 season. The Lookouts play in AT&T Field, located in Chattanooga. Opened in 2000, the stadium seats 6,160 fans. From 1930-1999, the "Looks" played at historic Engel Stadium.

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx are a minor league baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The team is located in Jackson, Tennessee, and plays their home games at Pringles Park; opened in 1998, the park currently hold 6,000 fans.

The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in the Knoxville, Tennessee metropolitan area. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball as of the 2009 season. Smokies Park, the team's ballpark, is located near Sevierville, Tennessee in the town of Kodak, opened in 2000, and seats 6,412 fans.

The team's nickname, "Smokies", refers to the Great Smoky Mountains mountain range which permeates the region; mountains in the chain are often clouded in a hazy mist that often appears as smoke rising from the forest.

Prior to 2005, the Smokies were the Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals and before that the Toronto Blue Jays. However, when the Cardinals purchased the El Paso Diablos, which had been the Arizona Diamondbacks' AA affiliate, the Diamondbacks retained the Smokies as their new AA affiliate. On September 21, 2006, the Chicago Cubs reached a two-year player development contract with the Smokies through the 2008 season. The contract was renewed for the 2009 season.

Some notable major league baseball players that have played for the Smokies are Roy Halladay, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, and Felipe López.

The team was based in Knoxville, Tennessee and called the Knoxville Smokies for many years before moving and changing its name in 2000.

Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee (though the track has a Lebanon address), United States, about 30 miles (48 km) east of Nashville. It is a concrete oval track 1 1/3 miles (2.145 km) in length. Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, which owns Dover International Speedway.

The track was built in 2001 and currently hosts three major races: two NASCAR Nationwide Series races and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race (an IndyCar series race was run at the track from its opening until 2008). Current permanent seating capacity is approximately 50,000 Welcome to Nashville Superspeedway. Additional portable seats are brought in for some events, and seating capacity can be expanded to 150,000.Welcome to Nashville Superspeedway As of 2005, NASCAR has shown little interest in staging a Sprint Cup Series race or other major event at the track, though NASCAR would likely not object if track ownership moved one of its races from Dover International Speedway to Nashville. Management has shown no inclination to move either of its two successful races away from Dover. Nashville Superspeedway is the only track to host two NASCAR Nationwide Series races without hosting a Sprint Cup Series event.

As is a Nashville metropolitan tradition, specially-designed Gibson Les Paul guitars are presented to race winners in place of conventional trophies. The track also has a reputation for producing many first-time winners.

The track is referred by the classic term of a "superspeedway" (a track of one mile (1.6 km) or longer, compared to a short track), and is named to differentiate itself from the .596 mile Nashville Speedway USA (now Music City Motorplex) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville. Until 1984, the Nashville Speedway USA had conducted a pair of 420-lap races in the Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series), but NASCAR pulled its sanctioning license from the circuit after disputes over who would manage the track took place prior to the start of the 1985 season.

See also: List of NASCAR race tracks

Drag racing is a competition in which vehicles compete to be the first to cross a set finish line, usually from a standing start, and in a straight line. First gaining popularity in the USA after World War II, the sport steadily grew in popularity and spread across the globe. By 2009, there were hundreds of dragstrips in operation, mainly in developed countries.

Most drag races begin with a standing (stationary) start and are just 1/4 mile long (1320 feet). Races last between 3.9 and 17 seconds, with finishing speeds ranging from 80 to over , depending upon the type of vehicle being used.

As of July 2009, the world record for a 1/4 mile standing start pass is 4.428 seconds set by Tony Schumacher. Schumacher also broke the world speed record in 2005 at Brainerd, MN, and holds the top speed record for the quarter mile at , set in Hebron, OH that same year. [http://www.nhra.com/points/national-records.aspx] NHRA Quarter Mile Record Holders