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.
 
#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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#61
#61
Am 33 and have been a fan since Peyton. Don’t care if UT goes 0-12 each year, I’ll route for and cheer them on. When UT is good, there is nothing like that feeling.

The day I stop caring is when I’m dead.
 
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#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.
 
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