Atlanta Braves Thread (I HURT MYSELF TODAY TO SEE IF I STILL FEEL)

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#5,043
#5,043
When I was growing up this was the most important sports day of the year. When you played football out in the yard it was Tennessee and Alabama. When you played paper football across the coffee table it was Tennessee vs Alabama. When you drew a football field on a sheet of paper to play pencil-flick football you wrote TENNESSEE in one end zone and ALABAMA in the other. The NFL wasn't really in the south yet (the Falcons and Saints might as well have not existed up in Tennessee, given the media coverage at the time). Alabama-Auburn was barely a thing yet and Tennessee never played Georgia or Florida. The third Saturday in October was always the canonical, platonic ideal of a football game.

The men in the family would sit down at the kitchen table and you'd turn on a radio and sit there more or less in silence for three hours and listen to John Ward describe the action and, at least during my childhood, we'd always lose. When we finally broke the streak in 1982 and won for the first time in my life I was stuck lying in a cold bath because I had a fever of something like 106. I lay in the bathtub listening to Ward go over the final game stats and I cried and I think it was the last time I cried until my grandpa died 20 years later. Three months later Bear Bryant was dead and I was thrilled about that too.

At some point they're almost certainly going to stop playing this game every year, and many -- maybe even most! -- Vol fans are going to be fine with it, and from a competitive standpoint they'll be right. But part of me will die a little when that happens. Nothing that ever happens in sports will ever mean as much to me as lying there crying in that bathtub.

God I hope we beat those motherfsckers down tomorrow.
 
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#5,044
#5,044
Vercingetorix said:
When I was growing up this was the most important sports day of the year. When you played football out in the yard it was Tennessee and Alabama. When you played paper football across the coffee table it was Tennessee vs Alabama. When you drew a football field on a sheet of paper to play pencil-flick football you wrote TENNESSEE in one end zone and ALABAMA in the other. The NFL wasn't really in the south yet (the Falcons and Saints might as well have not existed up in Tennessee, given the media coverage at the time). Alabama-Auburn was barely a thing yet and Tennessee never played Georgia or Florida. The third Saturday in October was always the canonical, platonic ideal of a football game.

The men in the family would sit down at the kitchen table and you'd turn on a radio and sit there more or less in silence for three hours and listen to John Ward describe the action and, at least during my childhood, we'd always lose. When we finally broke the streak in 1982 and won for the first time in my life I was stuck lying in a cold bath because I had a fever of something like 106. I lay in the bathtub listening to Ward go over the final game stats and I cried and I think it was the last time I cried until my grandpa died 20 years later. Three months later Bear Bryant was dead and I was thrilled about that too.

At some point they're almost certainly going to stop playing this game every year, and many -- maybe even most! -- Vol fans are going to be fine with it, and from a competitive standpoint they'll be right. But part of me will die a little when that happens. Nothing that ever happens in sports will ever mean as much to me as lying there crying in that bathtub.

God I hope we beat those motherfsckers down tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I really don't see this happening. At least not for a very long time.
 
#5,045
#5,045
Yankee_Vol said:
I really don't see this happening. At least not for a very long time.
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Only 4 out of 14 schools want to have a permanent opponent now, so there's already pressure. Both LSU and Florida want to get out of it for competitive reasons.

I think it seems pretty clear that we're headed for a future with four 16-team conferences, and that'll probably be the final straw. Unless they're willing to ditch divisions and go to some kind of pod format, which is hard to see happening.
 
#5,046
#5,046
Vercingetorix said:
Only 4 out of 14 schools want to have a permanent opponent now, so there's already pressure. Both LSU and Florida want to get out of it for competitive reasons.

I think it seems pretty clear that we're headed for a future with four 16-team conferences, and that'll probably be the final straw. Unless they're willing to ditch divisions and go to some kind of pod format, which is hard to see happening.
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Exactly. Adding more money to the bottom line is all anyone in the power positions cares about anymore. Many annual rivalries have already been ditched without a second thought in favor of a few extra dollars, so it's hard to see how UT/Bama will be above the fray when it inevitably comes to the chopping block.
 
#5,047
#5,047
bleedorange0037 said:
Exactly. Adding more money to the bottom line is all anyone in the power positions cares about anymore. Many annual rivalries have already been ditched without a second thought in favor of a few extra dollars, so it's hard to see how UT/Bama will be above the fray when it inevitably comes to the chopping block.
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It's not that there won't be second thoughts; it's that Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn are badly outnumbered. Everyone else either actively wants to dump permanent cross-division opponents or is indifferent to it. It's not like UT-UA and UGA-AU mean anything to Miss State and Mizzou and the Cocks and Kentucky and everybody else. LSU and UF's active mutual distaste for their own rivalry game doesn't help.
 
#5,048
#5,048
Tennessee plays Alabama today. I am from Tennessee. My father is from Alabama. We will watch the game together. It's a natural tradition. Never forced. Likely the last time I watch it with him. He's not well.

It's just a silly game.

But we all care. It's important.

Perhaps it represents time together. The outcome of the game doesn't change life or alter a destiny. It's a privilege to experience. It is the stars aligning. No war. No tragedy. No despair. No loss of liberty. It's a game, but it represents an important perspective of peace and life.

Find your loved ones and create a tradition around this game. Be human. Everyone wins.

Tennessee vs. Alabama. For my dad.
 
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#5,049
#5,049
PK Subban got the first goal of the year.

Preds got that dub

If Vols get this dub I might transcend into a beautiful alcoholic coma tonight
 
#5,050
#5,050
underscore said:
Tennessee plays Alabama today. I am from Tennessee. My father is from Alabama. We will watch the game together. It's a natural tradition. Never forced. Likely the last time I watch it with him. He's not well.

It's just a silly game.

But we all care. It's important.

Perhaps it represents time together. The outcome of the game doesn't change life or alter a destiny. It's a privilege to experience. It is the stars aligning. No war. No tragedy. No despair. No loss of liberty. It's a game, but it represents an important perspective of peace and life.

Find your loved ones and create a tradition around this game. Be human. Everyone wins.

Tennessee vs. Alabama. For my dad.
Click to expand...

My dad and I went to our first game (of anything) together two years ago and it was TN vs. Bama. He still brings it up.

Your post is good perspective for today. I hope you guys have a great time.
 
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