I'm in complete touch with reality, but what's done is done. Whoever can't play Saturday won't play. But several people on this forum (not saying you) have the attitude of "oh well, too many injuries. At least we have an excuse when we lose". That's true and everyone knows it. Are the chances of us winning significantly worse without our captains and starters? Sure. I'm not an idiot. But when, in this whole season, has this team not given you a reason to believe that they can and should win?
I know that I started this with a rant, but (gonna have to do this to make a point) when you compete for this school, you come away with a lifetime's worth of pride for UT no matter what the situation is. You don't walk into a fight with one of your biggest rivals with the attitude "eh, might not win this one". Now I'm not saying you had to have competed for UT to be extremely proud of them, that's not my point, just trying to explain where I'm coming from.
I'll end it on a quote from Inky Johnson "Tennnesee doesn't take the back seat to nobody". That whole speech he is talking about what this team is epitomizing, never quitting and understanding that we are one of the best programs in the country. The past 8 years or so we sort of lost that attitude. But we are back! Let's get behind our team, like I said earlier focus on the good thing and advantages we have in this game and stop talking about how I wish we had this person or this person healthy. Snap and clear, let's move on.
nothing. i'm proud of them for it. i agree with you and Inky on all that "stuff".
how i feel about this game has less to do with us, as much as it does to do with a) the opponent being really, really good, and a lot healthier than us and b) that we are really undermanned on defense.
i don't have any doubt that whoever plays will play hard and "give their all for Tennessee". and i think offensively we'll score and cause them some problems.
that's not what this is about though. if all you want to discuss is the "candy and nuts" part of Tennessee football, great....i'll probably agree with you on all that stuff.
i'm just really sick of this "i'm a better fan because i just believe...next man up, GBO!" like our current situation injury wise just shouldn't, or doesn't, matter (i know you addressed this, but this type of thread just brings that out, and damn anyone that think otherwise.)
this picture some of you paint, while very pretty, is just a collection of memories. you can have all the heart and want to, and slap all the signs, shake all the shakers you want. reminisce about all the times we came up big in similar situations etc....
i love all that stuff. really, i do. i sing rocky top to my girls every night at bed time, woot and all.
but i have this nasty habit of separating those narratives, to what is actually in front of us.
and if by chance we get to add another story that we can reminisce about years from now, tomorrow, GREAT. i'm for it. i'll be right there with you telling it.
Generally though, just stop telling me (or anyone else) that we're bad fans because we have the gaul to to look at this game for what it is, consider the opponent, injuries etc...and say "yeah, it's likely we lose".
doesn't mean we don't want to win, or that we'll be happy if we lose. doesn't mean that i don't think there's a chance we could win. but i wouldn't bet on it. and it doesn't mean we should fire the staff, kick guys off the team or anything else. it probably means we just got beat by a better football team. and we still have all our season goals in front of us.
hmy:
