I doubt you are old enuf to remember this, but back in the 70s I had a shirt that read....
God, Family, and the Big Orange (and not necessarily in that order - in fine print).
Those of us that are long in the tooth, like me, hold Tennessee football as a large part of our very persona, our essence, being a Vol is who we are. For better (and a whole lot of worse in the 2000s), we have seen something that is part of us that we deeply love slowly die.
So forgive us geezers for venting our sadness here each time we get another shot to the nads.