Fan Fatigue

[coffeevol]

Anyone else kind of burnt out after the last freaking decade. I still watch and care but with each passing year of subpar on the field performance it is terribly hard to get excited. I use to follow recruiting like a mad man, my 10 year old daughter has never seen TN beat Alabama. She has only seen the Gators go down once. She has seen a team at or below the level of the bottom tier of the SEC. A decade ago South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy were all wins every year. I know it has gotten more competitive but how about you all.....Do you care as much as you use to?

 

[FLVOL_79]

Anyone else kind of burnt out after the last freaking decade. I still watch and care but with each passing year of subpar on the field performance it is terribly hard to get excited. I use to follow recruiting like a mad man, my 10 year old daughter has never seen TN beat Alabama. She has only seen the Gators go down once. She has seen a team at or below the level of the bottom tier of the SEC. A decade ago South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy were all wins every year. I know it has gotten more competitive but how about you all.....Do you care as much as you use to?

The 4-8 season was almost the nail in the coffin when it came to my excitement about UT football. I was very apathetic when the 2018 season started and remained so pretty much till the end except for a few games (Barn,SoCar, Kensuck). Its going to take a great OC and/or some stellar phenom type recruits to get this team going again and resurrect a lot of the fan bases excitement, mine included. I just want to see some good football, not the sh!tshow thats been on the field the past two years.

 

[Doberman]

Care just as much....that will never change.

My investments in other areas have dwindled, however. Meaning time and cash spent.

 

[southpaw75]

Fan fatigue? Definitely. These fans have worn me out.

 

[volfannbama]

Im much like every other fan I guess. I get excited when I think we have a shot, but I still love watching. My main issue is UT admin is not dedicated to winning football. The more that sinks in and becomes reality, the worse it will get for me.

But yeah, I definitely think more about spending 1000-1200 to go to a game.

 

[TBvol]

Not as much as before
Always looked forward to watching the games now not as much
Didn’t watch some games last year
After getting butt stomped by the last 2 teams doubt I would go watch them play if I was given tickets
Sad to say this but I don’t even look at hats or clothes to wear anymore that’s how depressed I have gotten with the product I watch or even check scores of

 

[davethevol]

I’m burned out. That doesn’t mean I don’t root for the team or wish them success, but it’s hard to continue investing time and money into a shoddy product where the people at the top are knowingly ripping off the people at the bottom.

 

[TBvol]

Im much like every other fan I guess. I get excited when I think we have a shot, but I still love watching. My main issue is UT admin is not dedicated to winning football. The more that sinks in and becomes reality, the worse it will get for me.

But yeah, I definitely think more about spending 1000-1200 to go to a game.

This is the part that really gets to me .
They don’t even care if the teams win or even plays anymore

 

[Chilmonty]

Can't.....type.....to much.......fatigue.........aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!

 

[RollerVol]

yep, for sure, many in VolNation are tired of losing, carousel of coaches, etc., etc., etc., but we've also been Vol fans way too long to even think about stopping...

GO VOLS...RECRUIT LIKE HECK!

 

[MoodyVol]

Yeah, DoDS has been pretty hard to shake. I’ve balanced my expectations vs reality with increased alcohol consumption.

 

[utvols74]

UT football is no longer an important part of my Saturdays. It used to be, but no longer. Still a fan, just allocating my time differently.

 

[Samuellbronkowitz]

I still love my Vols and will always support them. However, there are certain games that I don't watch much of anymore as I know that we will get our @$$es kicked (Bama, Georgia).

 

[NEO]

This honestly has helped me.
Up to the middle of the Butch years, I was God then Vols then family.

I missed Saturday get togethers to watch the game, my day was ruined when we lost.

I once left an annual sporting day with my family that was about 200 people from all over Metro Nashville. We had qualified for the championship game and I bolted to watch the Vols/fl game.

Those days are gone.

I don’t re arrange my day over a game. I record it or follow it on my phone. If we start to lose I don’t care as much or oddly care at all sometimes. It is just not a priority anymore.

 

[General Jack]

Tennessee football used to be part of my identify and a great source of pride. Now its the least successful element of my life and an embarrassment.

I'm still a fan, will always be, but it just had to become less important to be less of a drain on me.

 

[volgrad500]

If I was a UT administrator, this thread would scare the bejesus out of me. They can't afford to let the cash cow up and die. The sooner they realize that, the better for all of us.

 

[AM64]

Anyone else kind of burnt out after the last freaking decade. I still watch and care but with each passing year of subpar on the field performance it is terribly hard to get excited. I use to follow recruiting like a mad man, my 10 year old daughter has never seen TN beat Alabama. She has only seen the Gators go down once. She has seen a team at or below the level of the bottom tier of the SEC. A decade ago South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy were all wins every year. I know it has gotten more competitive but how about you all.....Do you care as much as you use to?

Fans of almost every other team that plays AL regularly probably have sons and daughters who have never seen their team beat AL either. Bama has probably destroyed more coaching careers than any other team ... certainly in recent history. Target fixation at beating the top teams when they were at a peak was what put us in the position of failing to beat the mediocre teams because we (and others) fired good coaches and filled the position with a series of losers - even Bama did that before Saban. One of my greatest hopes is that some day people will realize that changing coaches is a risky proposition and that there are no sure things.

 

[Hacksaw11]

Good topic. I am 68 and have literally endured the ups and downs of UT football. In HS I remember the Doug Dickey years in which UT was one of the few teams competitive with the Bear. I was shocked when Dickey bolted for Florida and equally shocked when UT chose to hire a 27 year old unproven Bill Battle as its head coach. Until the Dickey talent ran out, we had a good run for 2-3 years but once again began to fade. Here comes the legend Johnny Majors to save the day fresh off a NC with Pittsburg and Tony Dorsett. Johnny's early philosophy was to fill the roster with Tennessee recruits which turned out to be horrible as there were simply not enough quality players from which to field a competitive team. Johnny was not a good football coach and while we had a couple of good runs against Bama, more often than not they were having their way with us over a decade. The most memorable games during Major's tenure were Bear's last year and the 35-28 win in Neyland where the goalposts came down (UT had a mediocre team that year), the Johnny Jones run to win at Legion field, the 16-14 win at Legion where Dale Jones intercepts Shula to preserve the win and of course the 35-7 Sugar Bowl thumping of the Canes with Jimmy Johnson, Vinnie and Michael Irvin. Majors still struggled with Florida as well. As Majors began to fall off (remember the 9-6 loss to Bama at Neyland during Stallings first year when Bama had lost the first 3 games of the year, internal struggles were occurring which I believe two years later led Phil to take over when Johnny had his heart problems. We know how that soap opera played out but it resulted in UT enjoying its most prosperous football years during the 1990s (sounds and feels like a lifetime ago- difficult to realize that it has been 20 years since the NC). This run was also during a time when UGA was weaker with poor coaches resulting in UT having recruiting success in GA and Bama being on probation and having a carosel of coaches. After the championship game when we lost to LSU and Saban you could see and feel things beginning to change. We had blown another golden opportunity to play for a second NC. The downturn was gradual but noticable and when it came, we were being beaten by the likes of Wyoming. Out the door goes Phil and so begans the sad saga of the decline of what was once the proud Tennessee football program. What transpired next could have been a classic tragic comedy as no program could have screwed things up worse than UT if they had intended to do so. During the last 10-15 years we have now settled in as the worst football program in the SEC. Having your hopes dashed each and every year has taken its toll on lifetime fans. The players that are now recruits were not even born when UT was last great and the college football landscape has changed to make it more difficult if not impossible to recover once that tailspin occurs. We have nobody to blame but the administration for having let the program fall so far when the warning signs were so obvious . I have thoroughly enjoyed the highs of UT sports but likewise I have also suffered simply because I care. I'll still be there week end and week out but it will not be with the same zest and zeal unless and until the program is on the right track. Used to you could depend on the Lady Vols to get us through the hard times. Now even that has become something lost in the past.

 

[coffeevol]

If I was a UT administrator, this thread would scare the bejesus out of me. They can't afford to let the cash cow up and die. The sooner they realize that, the better for all of us.

You are 100% correct. I use to live and die with this team. Hell now I wont drive the 3 hours to Knoxville for FREE tickets. I can remember acting a fool and being pissed for a week over Dooleys LSU game. Now I just do not care anymore. Watching Vandy take 3 games, it is what it is. I will watch when able but no more controlling my weekend or attitude.

I am numb and complacent to losses. No more gatherings for TN-Bama like we use to or even TN florida. It just isn't the same.

 

[winsec]

apathy for many has set in. Admin needs to wake up but they won't. we are 4=5 years away from competing for any type of title other than champions of life. hamilton, hart, currie and chancellors and presidents didn't make winning a priority. so here we are. not sure fulmer is going to help. one of his first moves was to extend holly. that is laughable.

 

[winsec]

majors was not a good coach. laughable and fulmer losing to Wyoming. again laughable. already been told he was gone. some people have serious recollection problems or maybe they do just to fit their narrative.

 

[VolAllen]

The last 2 years have been some of the worst for me and my fandom. I only went to 2 games in 2 years. I can't tell if it's because I have an 18 month old and a business and my priorities/interests have changed, or if it's the product on the field that's causing it.

On a 1-10 scale, I'd put my excitement for the 2019 season at about a level 5. Start 3-0 and it'll jump up to a 10. Lose to Florida and it'll drop down to about a 3.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

I think most of us who post here are still emotionally invested. That's why it pains us when we watch a team that wasn't prepared for and quit during the Mizzou and Vandy games....

 

[CINCYVOL]

Im much like every other fan I guess. I get excited when I think we have a shot, but I still love watching. My main issue is UT admin is not dedicated to winning football. The more that sinks in and becomes reality, the worse it will get for me.

But yeah, I definitely think more about spending 1000-1200 to go to a game.

And gender neutral pronouns and stringent requirements for athletes particularly football players above and beyond SEC and NCAA regulations. No blue font, I am serious as a heart attack. I would take the Fulmer Cup days in a NY minute.

 

[coffeevol]

I think most of us who post here are still emotionally invested. That's why it pains us when we watch a team that's not prepared and quit the past 2 games.....

Agree, we still care but it is less with each week. Losing to Vandy was not a surprise, could we have imagined that a decade ago. Much less 3+ times.