A Student's Perspective (Warning - Long)

[VFL1800FPD]

Huh? No. Just wondered if students had to get up and go to work like we had to do. That's not condescending or spiteful.

O my bad, misunderstood you there.

Yes, unfortunately we still have to get up and walk to class, and I happen to do my best work at the library so I go there all the time as well. And that walk from around 22nd and Laurel to the hill in the mornings sucks, and it about to get much worse now that its getting colder

 

[armchair]

I feel for UT's older students and anyone in their 20s or even early to mid-30s, because we have suxed, to be frank, for a long time--approaching 10 years. I understand anyone who fell into an apathetic state--and yet I also credit the many, many great Vol fans who stuck with the program through thin and thin. There isn't a better fan base in the nation. I remember watching us drub a bad LSU team in the late 1990s, when the Vols were a powerhouse and LSU was bad--and had been bad for many years. I thought, 'wow, if LSU can be bad for a long time, in one of the best states for high school football and recruiting in the nation--it can happen to anybody." And I knew that once you fell, it is not so easy to get up in this conference--and we've been doubly unlucky in that regard as pretty much every program in the conference, with a couple of exceptions, has been especially strong the last several years--particularly georgia, bama, lsu and south carolina, none of which were great when we were flying high. In any case, I hope Jones can keep pushing us forward. It's past time for us to reclaim our status as an SEC big dog.

 

[slatermclean]

I don't know how many of you were at the game on Saturday, but I was section D row 25 (A.k.a. The heart of the student section) and that might have been the loudest I have ever heard Neyland. I am seriously surprised it didn't register on the Richter Scale. After halftime when Clowney was virtually invisible and out of the game, the student section had a "**** you Clowney!" Chant going. All I am saying is that the student section is for sure back alive.

 

[SmokeyX]

I don't know how many of you were at the game on Saturday, but I was section D row 25 (A.k.a. The heart of the student section) and that might have been the loudest I have ever heard Neyland. I am seriously surprised it didn't register on the Richter Scale. After halftime when Clowney was virtually invisible and out of the game, the student section had a "**** you Clowney!" Chant going. All I am saying is that the student section is for sure back alive.

Personally I think the GA game was louder, but I was in E for that one (F for the SC game).

Yah, the chant was great. I'm not sure how much y'all at home saw, but clowney was acting like an a** the whole game. (Taunting the student section, etc) That chant was awesome

 

[Vol-in-Atlanta]

The length of the article is only an issue if what you are saying is not interesting. Sorry, I only made it half way through because it is simply a detailed list of all the problems with the program over the last 6-7 years. It's just a list of everything the people who on on the site allready know. I don't really get your point. If it's too hard to be a fan during the hard times, find something else to do. But, if you follow a team, any team, there will be periods of disappointment......BTW, I think our period of disappointment is almost over. It probably won't be this week, but soon.

 

[Probably_in_Class]

The length of the article is only an issue if what you are saying is not interesting. Sorry, I only made it half way through because it is simply a detailed list of all the problems with the program over the last 6-7 years. It's just a list of everything the people who on on the site allready know. I don't really get your point. If it's too hard to be a fan during the hard times, find something else to do. But, if you follow a team, any team, there will be periods of disappointment......BTW, I think our period of disappointment is almost over. It probably won't be this week, but soon.

Should have read the whole thing then. He made a lot of valid points. You sir, did not.

 

[slatermclean]

Personally I think the GA game was louder, but I was in E for that one (F for the SC game).

Yah, the chant was great. I'm not sure how much y'all at home saw, but clowney was acting like an a** the whole game. (Taunting the student section, etc) That chant was awesome

Yeah Clowney asked for everything we said towards him. For him not doing anything the whole game with the exception of destroying Neal on a blown play, he deserved all of it. There was so many plays where I saw him hand on hips tired or getting drove by Tiny or 15 yards away from the ball. JaDaveon who?

 

[ksgovols]

A response. Not as long.

Dear Volnation,


Background

I'm 51 years old (born 1962)
I've got a Civil Engineering degree from UT
I grew up in Tennessee
I listened to John Ward on the radio and hoped for the odd game on television
I played baseball. So what.

Titles

The last time we won a National Title - 1951 - I was 11 years from being born.

The last time we won a Conference Title - 1969 - I was 7 years old

No Division titles in the 80's. All or nothing.

Translation?

We hadn't been nationally relevant since I was in elementary school.

Let that sink in for a minute before moving on


Childhood Experience

Yah, we're awesome!

Everyone who was anyone was a Vols fan and proud of it!

High School Experience

Meh, we're ok.

Most of my friends were fans of other teams… including bama (ugh…)

It wasn't "cool" to be a Vols fan

College Experience

We filled the freakin' stands every game and not just when Game Day was here. I-Crap, electronic devices, hell....games on tv weren't the norm.

Being a Vols fan is a privilege not a right. I owe everything that I am to the University of Tennessee. My education, my degree, my wife and by association.........my children. Every thing that is near and dear to me is because of UT.

Just to hammer home my college experience, here's some bold face facts

When I was a student at UT...

We were 5-6, 8-4, 6-5-1, 9-3, 7-4-1. That's with a 6 game SEC schedule. We lost to Duke and that other Kentucky loss before the streak.

Finished one season ranked. #17 in 1983.

Ever heard of the Garden State Bowl? Peach Bowl? Sun Bowl? East Rutherford, NJ, Atlanta in December and El Paso any time are not what I'd call bowl destinations of choice. We did qualify with 6-8 wins and went to 4 bowls with a maximum of 8 wins which we would fire coaches for later.

We were beaten by a combined 87-7 in the first 2 games of 1981.

We didn't beat Alabama for 11 straight years but then.....1982, 1983, 1984, 1985. We were 3-1 versus Alabama. Bama students threw a brick through one coaches window.

Who's Florida? We played them once while I was on the Hill.

All of this is in the media guide.:huh:

Everybody in the orange jerseys "gave my all for Tennessee". The results weren't always what I wanted or what I expected.

Never would a flood of "fans" leave the stadium in the 3rd/4th quarter.

We beat 3 ranked opponents between 1981-1984.

We were beaten by Kentucky. Yep it happened. 1984

****** VANDY! whupped us too. 1982

Geez! Cry me a river. This generation thinks the rest of us haven't seen hard times? To the contrary, the glory days of the 90's spoiled the X generation. They may have never paid dues. You have. So have others. I love this because I have one 21 year old son who feels much the way you do. It was a lot more fun to watch the Vols when Peyton and crew were marching up and down the field. Hell, I'm pretty confident that one child was conceived after the Auburn win in 1989 and one after the UCLA win in 1991. My 13 year old wasn't alive when Peyton played or when John Ward called the games, he cried his eyes out during the LSU debacle in 2010 and then had to watch it happen again live at the Music City Bowl. His first memory of UT football is 2006. But he keeps the faith. He wants to be a fan when it's turned around. He reads every old Athlon or Lindy's from back in the day. He's a fan. He's paying his dues and he will get to reap the rewards of his patience. We watched the game together this past Saturday after his ball game side by side in an O'Charley's in Nashville where nobody else cared one way or the other if the game was on or not. The ending was like Christmas. He told me it was the best weekend of his life. He believes!

 

[james_govols]

I'm glad we all found something to argue about after a victory.

Truth be told, a team that wins has more fans and a team that loses has less. That's the way the world works.

 

[ksgovols]

I'm glad we all found something to argue about after a victory.

Truth be told, a team that wins has more fans and a team that loses has less. That's the way the world works.

Only for bandwagon jumpers. True fans never waver.

 

[james_govols]

You're correct. True fans stick with the team through thick and thin. However, if Tennessee starts winning championships I guarantee we will have more fans...bandwagon or not.

 

[stephenk24]

Stephen, if you have related the story previously, I have not read it. What is the history behind your wise decision to adopt our beloved Big Orange as your college football team of choice?

As you can imagine, I have had to answer this question quite a few times in the last three years on here, but since you ask...

I go into football after watching Super Bowl 40. After getting more and more into football I decided I would research the whole "college" thing, as I wanted to know some of the players before they were drafted.

I researched various teams and got my head around the basics of how the conferences worth etc. I narrowed down my options to Texas (one of the few teams I had heard of), Wisconsin (because of the packers) and Southern Miss (because of Brett Favre).

I decided I would most likely go for Wisconsin because of my many friends who support them, so I spent a lot of the summer of 2011 researching them. But it all changed at a family wedding a few weeks before the season started. At the wedding a few Americans who were there got chatting to me for hours and hours about US sport. It just so happens that one of them is a massive Vols fan who graduated from UT - and when he found out I was searching for a team he spent hours telling me about the traditions at UT and inspired me to research them. I had never considered UT, partly because I had never heard of them....

So the next day I went home and watched the 2010 game against Kentucky on the SEC website. It was a pretty good game from what I remember, so I decided to stick with them going into the season. I then found this forum after the first week of the season, read it for the September month to get an idea of what the fan base was like - I joined that October and the rest is history. The Vols are now my favourite team. :rock:

 

[SmokeyX]

A response. Not as long.

Dear Volnation,


Background

I'm 51 years old (born 1962)
I've got a Civil Engineering degree from UT
I grew up in Tennessee
I listened to John Ward on the radio and hoped for the odd game on television
I played baseball. So what.

Titles

The last time we won a National Title - 1951 - I was 11 years from being born.

The last time we won a Conference Title - 1969 - I was 7 years old

No Division titles in the 80's. All or nothing.

Translation?

We hadn't been nationally relevant since I was in elementary school.

Let that sink in for a minute before moving on


Childhood Experience

Yah, we're awesome!

Everyone who was anyone was a Vols fan and proud of it!

High School Experience

Meh, we're ok.

Most of my friends were fans of other teams… including bama (ugh…)

It wasn't "cool" to be a Vols fan

College Experience

We filled the freakin' stands every game and not just when Game Day was here. I-Crap, electronic devices, hell....games on tv weren't the norm.

Being a Vols fan is a privilege not a right. I owe everything that I am to the University of Tennessee. My education, my degree, my wife and by association.........my children. Every thing that is near and dear to me is because of UT.

It's cool seeing things from your perspective so thanks for that

But...

Stop trying to make this a my generation vs your generation thing. I lace up my shoes every morning just like you. I love the Big Orange, just like you.

 

[SmokeyX]

The length of the article is only an issue if what you are saying is not interesting. Sorry, I only made it half way through because it is simply a detailed list of all the problems with the program over the last 6-7 years. It's just a list of everything the people who on on the site allready know. I don't really get your point. If it's too hard to be a fan during the hard times, find something else to do. But, if you follow a team, any team, there will be periods of disappointment......BTW, I think our period of disappointment is almost over. It probably won't be this week, but soon.

In the future, kindly refrain from commenting on something you did not read in its entirety. It makes you look foolish to claim not to "get it", when you didn't bother to finish reading it

 

[Volwalker2110]

Only for bandwagon jumpers. True fans never waver.

Had a friend, die hard Vols fan, tell me after the Georgia loss " I finally feel really good about wearing orange Monday." Called me up after the win and said I'll be wearing orange this whole week. I think this might have been the mindset of a lot of ppl the last couple years wrong or right.

 

[ksgovols]

It's cool seeing things from your perspective so thanks for that

But...

Stop trying to make this a my generation vs your generation thing. I lace up my shoes every morning just like you. I love the Big Orange, just like you.

I bet your knees don't hurt like mine when you lace up your shoes.

One of the best things that you get with age is perspective. It's a thousand times better to see things through your child's eyes and appreciate that perspective.

Waking up on third base is not the same as hitting a triple.

 

[Vol-in-Atlanta]

In the future, kindly refrain from commenting on something you did not read in its entirety. It makes you look foolish to claim not to "get it", when you didn't bother to finish reading it

Sorry SmokeyX, in re-reading my message I don't think I sounded "foolish" but I did sound critical. We're on the same team. Better days are ahead.

 

[JohnMarxism]

As a student between 2008 and 2012, I appreciate OP's post. It's much easier to play the veteran fan card and offer some cheap wisdom, but if everyone is honest, not a single fan would pick 08-12 or 09-13 as the four years to be a UT student based on the football team's performance.

 

[SmokeyX]

I bet your knees don't hurt like mine when you lace up your shoes.

One of the best things that you get with age is perspective. It's a thousand times better to see things through your child's eyes and appreciate that perspective.

Waking up on third base is not the same as hitting a triple.

Seeing as I can't objectively evaluate which is "better" until I've reached your age and had children, I'll respectfully bow to your wisdom.

My point in all this is that I'm tired of hearing complaints about the students. I just want some older posters, such as yourself, to use that perspective to
A) understand my experience as a vol fan

And

B) stop being so judgemental

 

[knoxvols11]

If you build it, students will come! Hence the U! But lame/dumb azz decisions by the AD to raise prices and try to squeeze more money out of students isn't helping things any either!

 

[SmokeyX]

Sorry SmokeyX, in re-reading my message I don't think I sounded "foolish" but I did sound critical. We're on the same team. Better days are ahead.

It's cool. This is what I want to hear! Better days are most certainly coming my orange brother! I Hurd something about the 2014 recruiting class having a few studs ready to bring us back

 

[ksgovols]

Seeing as I can't objectively evaluate which is "better" until I've reached your age and had children, I'll respectfully bow to your wisdom.

My point in all this is that I'm tired of hearing complaints about the students. I just want some older posters, such as yourself, to use that perspective to
A) understand my experience as a vol fan

And

B) stop being so judgemental

A- Students from about 57-64 and 73-83 plus or minus pretty much had the same experience. If anything, my post was more judgemental towards the group in between our two (1984-2008 more or less, 1988 definitely less). We didn't wake up on third base thinking we hit a triple. I understand perfectly what it's like. That was my point.

B- Meh. It's a message board. If you put yourself out there, you are going to be critiqued. I'm ok with judgemental if that's how you see it. I prefer opinionated.

 

[jjay2518]

I feel for UT's older students and anyone in their 20s or even early to mid-30s, because we have suxed, to be frank, for a long time--approaching 10 years. I understand anyone who fell into an apathetic state--and yet I also credit the many, many great Vol fans who stuck with the program through thin and thin. There isn't a better fan base in the nation. I remember watching us drub a bad LSU team in the late 1990s, when the Vols were a powerhouse and LSU was bad--and had been bad for many years. I thought, 'wow, if LSU can be bad for a long time, in one of the best states for high school football and recruiting in the nation--it can happen to anybody." And I knew that once you fell, it is not so easy to get up in this conference--and we've been doubly unlucky in that regard as pretty much every program in the conference, with a couple of exceptions, has been especially strong the last several years--particularly georgia, bama, lsu and south carolina, none of which were great when we were flying high. In any case, I hope Jones can keep pushing us forward. It's past time for us to reclaim our status as an SEC big dog.

Nah, I'm 30 and I've had a lot more good memories than bad regarding UT football. Middle school and high school during the glory years in the 90's, going to games with my dad every year. The 2001 season was my freshman year and was a complete blast until the SECCG. There were some decent seasons after that while I was still in school. Anybody much younger missed out on a lot though.

 

[VolFan4Life87]

Respectfully, it sounds to me that your generation should learn to love something even when you don't win. It builds character that will benefit you greatly in life.

Yes learn to love losing. No, not only losing, but quitting - as that's what the team has done for years under Dooley.

Some of you older fans need to take a step back and try to see things from a different perspective. I'm not like OP, I remember the glory days very well. I was in high school & college when we were still hammering out 10 & 11 win seasons. But I've seen the crap of recent years and am still young enough to realize that if you didn't grow up in the glory years, it's easy to think "meh." Atleast OP goes to all the games and WANTS UT to be awesome.

 

[volfaninutah]

A Student's Perspective (Warning - Long)

Dear Volnation,

I started writing this as a reply to another thread, but it got to be a little long so I decided to make my own thread.

I thought Volnation might enjoy seeing things from my perspective, so here goes...

Background

I'm 22 years old (born 1991)
I'm a Senior Mechanical Engineering Major at UT
I grew up in Knoxville
My parents were season ticket holders for most of my childhood
I played 10 years of football and have two state rings

Titles

The last time we won a National Title - 1998 - I was 7 years old

The last time we won a Conference Title - 1998 - I was 7 years old

The last time we won a Divisional Title - 2007 - I was 16 years old

Translation?

We have not been nationally relevant since I was a sophomore in high school

Let that sink in for a minute before moving on


Childhood Experience

Yah, we're awesome!

Everyone who was anyone was a Vols fan and proud of it!

High School Experience

Meh, we're ok.

Most of my friends were fans of other teams… including bama (ugh…)

It wasn't "cool" to be a Vols fan

College Experience

We are terrible. What have we done to anger the football gods?

Being a Vols fan has been downright embarrassing the past few years. Most of my high school friends went to either bama or georgia for college, so yeah… getting together to watch games for the last few years has been painful. Also, my mother's side of the family are all die hard LSU fans…

Just to hammer home my college experience, here's some bold face facts

Since I have been a student at UT...

We have not had a winning season

We have been unranked except for a single week as #25 in 2012

We have been to exactly 1 bowl game, which we lost

We were beaten by a combined 107 - 27 by Oregon in 2010/2013

We were beaten by a combined 122 - 29 by Alabama 2010-2012

We were beaten by a combined 132 - 77 by Florida 2010 - 2013

Until this year, I have not seen a single game where the Vols "gave their all for Tennessee"

Every year, I have watched as a flood of "fans" left the stadium in the 3rd/4th quarter

We didn't beat a ranked opponent until October of my senior year

We were beaten by Kentucky with a WR as a QB

We were curb stomped by ****** VANDY!


So, for all of those repeatedly calling out the students and saying "well in my day…", heed this. I've sat in the student section in every home game for four years for every snap. For every student who came in when I did, all we've known is losing. All we've known is heartbreak. We didn't have the privilege of seeing Peyton play. We didn't get to see a nationally relevant team. We didn't get to enjoy beating any of our rivals. We didn't get to see the Vols win at anything. Instead we got Dooley and the amazing disappearing vols. It's been the norm for us to play for a half or a quarter of a game and then fold like a cheap tent. So excuse me if I don't blame my fellow classmates for not coming to games. or being apathetic.

Butch certainly has the team on the right track and is doing all of the right things. However, the taint of the last few years isn't going to magically disappear. We are going to have to build this team back "brick by brick", and teach this team how to win. This includes the fans! When we beat South Carolina, most of the students had no idea how to celebrate. Trust me, the excitement is there. The desire is there. We just have to let Butch show us the way to win.

For the student section to be back and rocking like it used to be...

We don't even have to win!
We just have to have a reasonable expectation to be competitive (i.e. not quit halfway through a game or get beat like dogs)

Moral of the story?

Cut us some damn slack. It's been a tough few years to be a student fan.

So, that's my $0.02. I hope it gives a few of you some perspective

Sincerely,

SmokeyX

I hope we are able to keep the staff together. We seem to be making progress faster than originally planned. When that happens, other people want your coaches. If you listened to Spurrier's post game, you can tell. He usually doesn't pass out praise for the other team like he did the other day. I went to the Gamecock nation website Sunday night, and it was reading like Volnation for the past few years. Everyone was wondering where the gamecocks are headed, should Spurrier be fired because of his play calling. I fell like we are on track. I can see big things acomin' next year. I think we give Bama a game this week. The guys are playing with confidence. It shows week to week. Even if we lay an egg at Bama, if we win out and get some help from Carolina and A&M, I think we would have the tie breaker on Mizzou. So I am looking forward to the future with new enthusiasm. :rock: