Tennessee Vols fans' anger at least shows they still care
John Adams
The best thing about Tennessee’s last-second loss to Florida in The Swamp on Saturday was the reaction of Vols fans. They were angry.
Based on my emails and text messages during the course of a 26-20 defeat, no one was angrier than my wife’s Uncle Tommy. He fired off seven texts, all of which included multiple exclamation points and none of which were complimentary of his favorite football program.
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His first text: “1 yd line 1st down and pass the ball – fire them all.”
His second: “Pass the ball high from FL 7 yd line, fire them all!!!”
His third: “Fire every men’s coach, including football, basketball and track … blame it all on (former UT chancellor) Jimmy Cheek!!!"
Because of space constraints, let’s skip ahead to his final two texts.
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His penultimate text: “The secondary should have backed up with 9 seconds left, fire the secondary and defensive coach!!”
If you are still with me, you might have noticed that he just used two exclamation points instead of three. He made up for it in his final text, which read: “Any defensive coach should have known FL would throw a bomb!!!!!"
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Go ahead, count them: five exclamation points.
That’s what I call “finishing strong,” which, of course, is what Uncle Tommy’s favorite team failed to do Saturday.
My other messages from UT fans weren’t much different than Uncle Tommy’s. They expressed a similar level of anger over Saturday’s outcome, albeit without as many exclamation points.
Lesser fans might be wondering, “What’s so good about being angry?”
Answer: Because if you’re angry, you still care.
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You think an angry fan base is bad? Check out an apathetic one.
Apathetic fan bases find other things to do on a Saturday in the fall. Apathetic fan bases stop investing emotionally. Then they stop investing financially. Next thing you know, bricks start crumbling.
But there’s no danger of that with Tennessee fans. They’re angry. They care.
And they haven’t become hardened to the misery that has been inflicted upon the Vols in The Swamp. A seventh consecutive loss in The Swamp hurt them as much as the sixth consecutive loss in The Swamp. Maybe more.
That doesn’t mean they will fill Neyland Stadium for Saturday’s game against Massachusetts on Saturday (noon ET, SEC Network). That doesn’t mean they will be as loud and as animated for the next Vol Walk.
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The anger and disappointment of the Florida loss will have to be processed, just as last season’s crushing loss to South Carolina was. Remember how many Tennessee fans responded the week after the South Carolina upset? They ignored the rousing victory over outmanned Tennessee Tech that followed.
Some of them will take this Saturday off, too. But they will return to Neyland Stadium with a vengeance when Georgia comes to town a week later.
And if all goes well, Uncle Tommy might even advocate rehiring some of the people he wanted fired.
Reach John Adams at john.adams@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6284 and on Twitter @johnadamskns.
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