How long a vol fan and do you care anymore?

#51
#51
Raebo said:
A fan all the time. Just a lot more invested, enthusiastic when we are doing well. Very disappointed when we lose.
During bad years still watch and hope but my expectations aren’t high so not to disappointed when we lose.
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That’s been my mindset for 20 years. 2022 was the only year I was fully believing we should win every game.

Tennessee is my home and I enjoy a rowdy football crowd. I’m going to pull for my home team. Tennessee football has been the only football I cared about for 40 years.
 
#52
#52
50 years a Vol fan. I don’t like to lose as I’m very competitive. I used to have a temper that ran so hot it would set the woods on fire if I walked through them. So, I know Heupel and these players like it even less than I do.

There’s a lot to be happy about considering the depths of football hell we descended into for over a decade. I certainly care if the VOLS win and am disappointed more in our performance than the loss itself last night, but it doesn’t ruin my life if we lose. For the league we are in, it takes a monumental effort to get yourself in the playoff. It was a good season overall.
 
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#55
#55
I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember. I still supported them through all the dark years, but had to make myself not get emotionally invested so all the losses wouldn’t hurt so bad. I’ve allowed myself to really start caring again over the past few years especially since my kids have really gotten into it as well. The losses hurt, especially what happened last night.
 
#56
#56
cdb88 said:
I've been a vol fan 32 yrs. My care level is at basketball level oh we won good after this loss. If we don't heavily spend money this off season we won't ever win another title. Coaches need replaced as well. This is our only chance to fix and catch up to the elites. Nico is a mediocre QB. Historically we are a 8-10 win team. Next season we look to be 7-5 or 8-4 if we get lucky. Embarrassing night and year ahead as this game will be brought up all off season.
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Go find a new team, see yah
VFL
 
#57
#57
37 years, and always care. Always. (longer in actuality but that's when I started to really get into it. Many memories that go further than that
Imagine going through the dysfunction and then get to this point and bail after a playoff beating. Not me, fam.
 
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#58
#58
teeball said:
Been a fan for 59 years and no, I do not care as much if Tennessee loses. I still don’t like it but it doesn’t wreck my entire weekend like it used to (stupidly, of course). However, this NIL and portal situation is becoming an issue for me and slowly dampening my enthusiasm. Players making hundreds of thousand of dollars and bouncing from school to school is not what college sports is about to me. I have never enjoyed professional sports near as much as college sports but now the two are becoming the same. That’s my 2 cents (or maybe I should say my 2 mil in order to keep up with the times).
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I agree with you on the NIL and transfer portal. On the one hand it is helping us to be more competitive than we have been in a long time, but at the same time most of the players have no allegiance to the school. They are just as happy to go play somewhere else for more money. The actual games and program history mean more to the fans than they do to many of the players.
 
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#59
#59
I care more than I did 4 years ago. That’s for damn sure lol
 
#62
#62
First game 47 years ago. I still cared enough to make the trip to Columbus. I don’t regret it because I enjoyed the takeover immensely. Columbus yesterday was glorious (for as glorious as this depressing-ass town can be). Let’s be honest, our fan base has evolved into part of our identity. We all love the team and the university but I think most would agree that it wouldn’t be as fun without Vol nation. So to the original question, yes last night sucked but I would do it again and hope to next year. It hurts but not as much as 2001 LSU or 2022 South Carolina.
 
#63
#63
I went to the game and I’m very disappointed we were not at least competitive. Coach Heupel owes those fans that spent the money to show up to fill as much as 40% of that stadium an apology. That was a damn embarrassment! Humiliating having to hear their fans hollering SEC as we left the stadium. We no more deserved to be there than Indiana or SMU.

One thing is for sure. tOSU did the fans a favor. They exposed Tennessee and Josh Heupel as a fraud this year. They also at least brought me to realize that we are not even close to being there yet. My son and I were talking on the way home and come to the realty that there is absolutely nothing to look forward to for next season. At least before this season we hung our hopes on Nico being great. He’s been above average and there’s lots of promise for him. If Heupel does not make drastic changes to his coaching staff we will continue to have more of the same. He’s nothing but a just above average coach at the end of the day. And loyal to his assistants to a fault.

Go ahead and tell me I’m overreacting after one game. Yeah I’m glad we’re much better than we were a few years ago and I do appreciate that. But I’m 58 years old and been following this team since I started caring about sports for about 46 years now. I have every right to my opinion. If Heupel’s mentality and coaches stay in place then we will never make it to the top with him. I’ve zero confidence in him. But thankful that he has at least pulled us out of the depths of hell we had been going though for the past fifteen or so years. May need somebody else to step in and take us to that next level if he does not make drastic charges.
 
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#64
#64
My dad took me to my first Vols game in the late 70s. Not sure when or against whom. We had 8 season tickets back then, 4 in front of 4, just under the overhang at midfield. I think we had those tix since the early 60s. So I can claim to have been a fan since the late 70s, but honestly, I didn't really pay much attention until the Heath Shuler years. I got rabid about it when Peyton Manning emerged.

I still care, more than I should, tbh. Sometimes, it doesn't feel healthy. Interestingly, I gradually became equally crazy for UT's men's and women's basketball in the 90s, and that has kept me from going over the edge with football because I can get my fix over a longer period.
 
#65
#65
Since 1981 I have been going to Knoxville. I converted my then girlfriend now wife from a Georgia fan to a Vol fan in 1992. Our kids' first games were before they could even walk. My wife, and I now get to show it all to our grand daughter. I will never quit following Tennessee. It sucks knowing 1998 may never come around again but there will never be another place like Knoxville.
 
#66
#66
MAD said:
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It's a nice sentiment, but this is exactly the sort of marketing and language that doesn't make much sense in the NIL transfer portal era. It just doesn't. All the talk about being committed and being in or out, how can anyone say then, when the reality is that people are only in this as long as you're paying 'em? Because that's where we are now.
 
#67
#67
cherokeeeVOL said:
Been a fan since 1992. If the game had been competitive but we lost I think I would feel better. My initial reaction towards the beginning of the game was it felt like the old Florida games where we just didn’t show up but unfortunately it looked like we were legitimately outmatched talent wise on both sides of the ball and it wasn’t close. Kinda feels like we’re not anywhere close to being good enough to hang with the top teams. We looked pretty bad and I don’t feel like doing the offseason thing where I get excited about “next year”. I was hoping we would at least be competitive. Brutal loss all around. We have serious issues on both sides of the ball going into next season. I like coach Heupel but we have a long way to go to be an elite team and I had convinced myself we were much closer than we are. Also, every year minus 2022 seems shaky for the O line and it’s just getting to the point that I’m probably not going to be as invested. I feel like a Cowboys fan at this point talking about the glory days that never really return…
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For whatever reason, the players were not ready to play. We looked very slow and it was not because Ohio was faster. We were just sluggish last night. Something is going on with what our players are doing when playing road games. I don't know if they were up all night or what. But its not just this game, its the same all year on a road game.
 
#69
#69
Voltopia said:
It's a nice sentiment, but this is exactly the sort of marketing and language that doesn't make much sense in the NIL transfer portal era. It just doesn't. All the talk about being committed and being in or out, how can anyone say then, when the reality is that people are only in this as long as you're paying 'em? Because that's where we are now.
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If you want to switch to a different team, go ahead.
 
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#70
#70
cdb88 said:
I've been a vol fan 32 yrs. My care level is at basketball level oh we won good after this loss. If we don't heavily spend money this off season we won't ever win another title. Coaches need replaced as well. This is our only chance to fix and catch up to the elites. Nico is a mediocre QB. Historically we are a 8-10 win team. Next season we look to be 7-5 or 8-4 if we get lucky. Embarrassing night and year ahead as this game will be brought up all off season.
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You obviously are not prepared TO GIVE YOUR ALL TO TENNESSEE TODAY.

We will be better off without you and like minded.

Attended my first games during the end of the Wyatt era. Been thru lots of ups and downs, but never sold out to defeatism. You have obviously given up a portion of your fandom, so VFL STATUS is NOW beyond your reach. SAD.
 
#71
#71
TNHopeful505 said:
Of all of the 134 Division 1 NCAA Football Programs, we were one of the only 12 teams left standing at the end of it. That means we were in the Top 8.9% of all of football.

It was only what, 5-10 years ago that we were 0-8 in the SEC? That we lost to Georgia State? That we made headlines for scandals and cheating? That we were the laughingstock of college football with trash cans and orange dogs and brick by brick?

Yeah we sucked last night. But we were at least there. And I am proud that we were there. I hope we are there many many more times.

This program has come a long ways in a short time, and I'll be damned if people want to act entitled because we only finished Top 12 and not National Champions every year.

Appreciate where you are, or else you'll wind up where you've been.
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winner right herruh
 
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#72
#72
I've been a Big Orange fan for over 40 years. What I hate is all the hoopla and big money that has flowed into the game. It is making me lose interest in anything but the VOLS.

I won't watch one down of the rest of the FBS championship. I'd rather watch Montana State and North Dakota State. That's still college football.
 
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#73
#73
A funny thought I had from reading through some of these takes. Right now Ryan Day is actually on thinner ice now than he was Saturday morning. Because of fans thinking in the ways that are being expressed in this thread. After plastering UT IF (and its a very likely IF) they lose to Oregon its game over for that guy. They lost 4 in a row to Michigan and then lose twice in one year to Oregon? Who cares that Oregon is the 1 seed.

The game gets played on the field and there are a lot of things that come into play to determine who wins and loses. One coaches wife could get sick and create a butterfly effect.

We have had issues at WR for the last 2 years. Health, consistency, talent level and so on. We have had issues at Oline the past decade at tackle, same reasons. The portal does not help the WR issue or the issues at oline. CJH offense really needs veteran healthy WR's. We have not really had that in a while... our veterans are rarely healthy and the healthy guys don't have enough experience. Losing 4 WR's to the portal is going to hurt a lot more than people think it will. Even when we have brought NFL level guys in through the portal there has been a year of transition into the offense.

But the biggest problem this fan base has is realism. UT football has and pretty much always will be top 15 team more often than not. We are in a small batch of about 10 teams that are in that club. We might have some lulls but that's pretty much who we are until something changes. People act like we have a history of like 70 nattys or something. We have one in the last 55 years.. aka in the age of modern football. Most of the people complaining weren't even alive the last time we won one.

UT will be a good football team until it takes the next step. The lovely thing about this new age is if you really want it you can directly affect it by supporting the players and team. Because nowadays its gonna take a lot of money (which we have) and time to build that up unless we get a lucky run. This wasn't our year but we proved we can get there and Nico knows what needs to be worked on.. can he improve himself and the coaches adjust to his skill set?
 
#74
#74
pimo1 said:
A funny thought I had from reading through some of these takes. Right now Ryan Day is actually on thinner ice now than he was Saturday morning. Because of fans thinking in the ways that are being expressed in this thread. After plastering UT IF (and its a very likely IF) they lose to Oregon its game over for that guy. They lost 4 in a row to Michigan and then lose twice in one year to Oregon? Who cares that Oregon is the 1 seed.

The game gets played on the field and there are a lot of things that come into play to determine who wins and loses. One coaches wife could get sick and create a butterfly effect.

We have had issues at WR for the last 2 years. Health, consistency, talent level and so on. We have had issues at Oline the past decade at tackle, same reasons. The portal does not help the WR issue or the issues at oline. CJH offense really needs veteran healthy WR's. We have not really had that in a while... our veterans are rarely healthy and the healthy guys don't have enough experience. Losing 4 WR's to the portal is going to hurt a lot more than people think it will. Even when we have brought NFL level guys in through the portal there has been a year of transition into the offense.

But the biggest problem this fan base has is realism. UT football has and pretty much always will be top 15 team more often than not. We are in a small batch of about 10 teams that are in that club. We might have some lulls but that's pretty much who we are until something changes. People act like we have a history of like 70 nattys or something. We have one in the last 55 years.. aka in the age of modern football. Most of the people complaining weren't even alive the last time we won one.

UT will be a good football team until it takes the next step. The lovely thing about this new age is if you really want it you can directly affect it by supporting the players and team. Because nowadays its gonna take a lot of money (which we have) and time to build that up unless we get a lucky run. This wasn't our year but we proved we can get there and Nico knows what needs to be worked on.. can he improve himself and the coaches adjust to his skill set?
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What makes Nico so special? Maybe he isn't our best option given the system and players we have or can get. Maybe he doesn't really fit CJH's system as good as someone else. My point here is should the team completely retool for one player???
 
#75
#75
I'm 50 this year and I recall listening to the Vols on Armed Forces Radio around age 7 or 8. Definitely recollect watching the SugarVols on TV. So I've been up the mountain and back down again. My friends we are definitely back closer to the top of the mountain.

I'll be a Vols fan until I breathe no longer...even if the unthinkable happens and we slide all the way back down.that mountain.
 
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