Fans of Tennessee football spent much of their Saturday obsessing over Jon Gruden's lunch plans.
When it turned out the "Monday Night Football" analyst was actually 2,500 miles away from the Knoxville restaurant he maybe/maybe not was spotted in, the state's hockey team of record, the Predators, couldn't pass up the opportunity to poke fun at the social media circus in the middle of their game against the Avalanche.
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The Preds just announced Gruden was in the house from Knoxville and showed a pic of some random dude on Jumbotron. Great trolling.
— Mark Block (@chuyblock) November 19, 2017
Lmao the Preds are just showing randoms on the screen and saying it’s Jon Gruden
— J.R. Lind (@jrlind) November 19, 2017
Even getting trolled about Gruden at the predators game....
— Tyler Pugh (@tcpugh5) November 19, 2017
I️ can confirm that Jon Gruden is at the Nashville Predators game!!!! He is wearing longer hair as a disguise!!! It’s real guys!! #Grumors pic.twitter.com/iqegNE4Mrh
— Cody Carson (@ccarson23) November 19, 2017
Gruden May have eaten at Calhoun’s but he got introduced at Predators game tonight!
— Rick Clemens (@RickReclemens) November 19, 2017
The Gruden-to-Tennessee rumors — aka #Grumors — have run rampant in the week since the Vols fired longtime coach Butch Jones. So when a picture circulated of Peyton Manning and some orange-haired guy dining inside Knoxville's popular Calhoun's restaurant before the LSU game, people started drawing their own conclusions.
@VolRumorMill @Jon__Reed Is this Gruden with Peyton at Calhoun’s? pic.twitter.com/KECq8K48tc
— Brandon Darnell (@bdarnell) November 18, 2017
My college roommate is a manager at Calhoun's on the river. He confirms Gruden and Manning were there tonight.
— Patrick Murray (@PatMurrayWBIR) November 18, 2017
Calhoun's Twitter account joined in on the fun itself. But after all the speculation got out of hand, the restaurant's management released an explanation and apologized for the ordeal. ESPN's Bill Hofheimer, who oversees communications for Gruden and "MNF," also dispelled the rumors, revealing Gruden had been in Seattle all along.
We’d like to take a moment to clear things up as well as apologize. We got excited- like everyone. Please read: pic.twitter.com/AIyVvmppKC
— Calhoun's 🐷🏆 (@calhouns) November 19, 2017
For all those wondering, Jon Gruden is actually 2,500 miles away from Calhoun's ... in Seattle prepping for #MNF. Production mtgs w/ the Seahawks this afternoon. https://t.co/vWwPfnhkg6
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) November 19, 2017
Final answer. https://t.co/lQsmbgLEfG
— RockyTopTalk (@RockyTopTalk) November 19, 2017