Ok, so this is a bit of a long story. One of my best friend's relatives bought him a VOLS blackout jersey (#14, ERIC BERRY, for the win) shortly after the game in 2009. He wore it on and off through 2011. When we came to UT in 2012, he started wearing it to games. We noticed about halfway through last season that we would lose every game he wore it to. We determined that he wouldn't be wearing it to any more games, obviously. However, without realizing, he wore it again to the Troy game. We were down a TD with just about three minutes left when I made the connection. He removed the jersey and threw it down on the seat next to him (he was wearing an undershirt, btw). Two plays later, Justin Hunter catches a pass over the middle and sprints into the endzone. The defense shows up and gets a three-and-out, and the offense drives for another TD to win.
We were certain that something had to be done, but since we were both usually not superstitious, we realized we'd have to do something crazy to "fix" it. We came up with an...interesting plan. One night during the week between the UK game and Butch's hiring, we went down on the pier on the river below Calhoun's and dipped it in the Tennessee River to "cleanse" it. Once we got down there, I played "The Battle" on my phone while my buddy dipped his jersey into the river 16 times (PEYTON'S NUMBER IS SACRED!!!). We then took it to the restrooms down the river a little bit and put the jersey under the automatic hand dryer while "Rocky Top" blared from my phone. We then headed back to the dorm. On the way back, he held the jersey out the window to air dry it as we drove along NEYLAND drive, PHILLIP FULMER avenue, PEYTON MANNING pass, VOLUNTEER boulevard, and PAT SUMMITT drive, songs of VOL tradition playing all the way. We then placed it in a plastic grocery bag and laundered the jersey, afterward declaring it "cleansed". Butch was hired a few days later and the rest is history. The only home game he hasn't worn it to this year was the Georgia game...just sayin. He even took it off during the second half against south bama...he put it back on for the last few minutes. He has assured me that he's wearing it this Saturday. So we'll see.