BruisedOrange
Well... known member
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- Oct 21, 2013
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This is intended as an observation, not an accusation.
Vol fans are understandably and appropriately cynical about our football program's immediate future. We've been here before; we've felt burned here before.
We will express it in different ways, depending on what's most important to us individually. The people closest to you and me can probably predict now what our reaction is going to be, regardless of who is hired as HC, and regardless of what they say at the press conference, and what they do in their first month / Spring / Summer / August.
For some, the most important thing will be to have something to be excited over and to anticipate--to get back to what it felt like being a Vol fan in times passed. They will see the glass half-full and express the most hope. It will make them feel happy.
For others, the most important thing will be to not feel like a patsy, a dupe who's always being manipulated by the next promotion machine. They will see the glass half-empty, and relentlessly attack the optimists and orange-tinted glasses crowd--despite hoping they're right. It will make them feel secure.
Another sub-tribe of Vol nation will withhold overall judgement, but will dissect each new decision and announcement made by the new coach and AD. They will see the glass sometimes getting fuller, sometimes getting closer to empty. They will focus on the process rather than predicting the future. It will make them feel smart.
There are probably other characterizations of Vol fans that are accurate, but I've gotta go to work.
For our mental and emotional health, as well as quality of life--we know we need to get our expectations in line with reality. We just don't know what that reality will be. Are we doomed to be average for the next 20 years? Are we at the start of a great rise back to perennial Top Ten-dom?
Since none of us know, we will go to our comfort zone. Some feel better erring on the optimistic side... some feel better erring on the pessimistic side... some feel better making no predictions and focusing on process. There's logic to support all three.
But one thing is certainly good for our mental and emotional health: realize why we individually do what we do, why others do what they do, and accept that none of us ever knows for sure what the future will be.
LATER EDIT: I wrote the above in a hurry, and after second chance to read it, it sounds diagnostic. That's not the way I meant it.
What I meant to say was, we are all fans because we want to feel something (excitement on Fall Saturdays most of all!). That's the reason for joining this tribe. I vascillate between all three camps, depending on the news (I tell myself) but probably as much depending on how my personal life seems to be going. (wish I could hire an AD for that job!)
Hopefully VFLs will use this thread to (LOL!) talk about our feelings. [insert joke here about OP getting in touch with his "feminine side"]
'Cause we sure as heck use every other thread to express our feelings--vehemently!
Vol fans are understandably and appropriately cynical about our football program's immediate future. We've been here before; we've felt burned here before.
We will express it in different ways, depending on what's most important to us individually. The people closest to you and me can probably predict now what our reaction is going to be, regardless of who is hired as HC, and regardless of what they say at the press conference, and what they do in their first month / Spring / Summer / August.
For some, the most important thing will be to have something to be excited over and to anticipate--to get back to what it felt like being a Vol fan in times passed. They will see the glass half-full and express the most hope. It will make them feel happy.
For others, the most important thing will be to not feel like a patsy, a dupe who's always being manipulated by the next promotion machine. They will see the glass half-empty, and relentlessly attack the optimists and orange-tinted glasses crowd--despite hoping they're right. It will make them feel secure.
Another sub-tribe of Vol nation will withhold overall judgement, but will dissect each new decision and announcement made by the new coach and AD. They will see the glass sometimes getting fuller, sometimes getting closer to empty. They will focus on the process rather than predicting the future. It will make them feel smart.
There are probably other characterizations of Vol fans that are accurate, but I've gotta go to work.
For our mental and emotional health, as well as quality of life--we know we need to get our expectations in line with reality. We just don't know what that reality will be. Are we doomed to be average for the next 20 years? Are we at the start of a great rise back to perennial Top Ten-dom?
Since none of us know, we will go to our comfort zone. Some feel better erring on the optimistic side... some feel better erring on the pessimistic side... some feel better making no predictions and focusing on process. There's logic to support all three.
But one thing is certainly good for our mental and emotional health: realize why we individually do what we do, why others do what they do, and accept that none of us ever knows for sure what the future will be.
LATER EDIT: I wrote the above in a hurry, and after second chance to read it, it sounds diagnostic. That's not the way I meant it.
What I meant to say was, we are all fans because we want to feel something (excitement on Fall Saturdays most of all!). That's the reason for joining this tribe. I vascillate between all three camps, depending on the news (I tell myself) but probably as much depending on how my personal life seems to be going. (wish I could hire an AD for that job!)
Hopefully VFLs will use this thread to (LOL!) talk about our feelings. [insert joke here about OP getting in touch with his "feminine side"]
'Cause we sure as heck use every other thread to express our feelings--vehemently!
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