For anyone who's wanting to skip the games, take it from someone who lives half a world away and has to spend 600+ dollars and rearrange schedules for weeks to travel to Knoxville: go to the game. GO.
There is nothing else on this Earth like a crisp fall day in east Tennessee, with the Vol radio network in your ear and the Pride of the Southland marching down the street to Neyland. There is nothing else on this Earth like it. You want to despise the coaching, sure, fine, despise it, go and complain, but go all the same. When you live in east Tennessee it's all to easy to take it for granted, but when you're far away you realize just how rare it is. And you realize how quickly those precious days slip by. You get, what, about 7 home games a year? Let's say you live to a ripe ol' 75, a good life filled with Vienna sausages and moonpies and please God please many years of Alabama without Nick Saban, so you get 75 years out of it ... and you probably didn't pay much attention before you were 8 or 9, so ... let's say that's about 400 games total. That's it. That's all you get. Roughly. Estimating.
Sooner or later, you won't be able to attend. Distance, age, money, changes in life, they'll all rear up and throw you off the horse. You start looking at taking multiple days off and burning through more and more resources just to sit on a cramped bleacher seat, and it weighs you down. You fly halfway across an ocean and endure four days of jet lag to realize your eyes don't see the field clearly anymore, and climbing those steps hurts more than it ever did -- and skipping those games gets easier and easier. Easier to check out. All while that little clock is ticking down.
Yeah, I know, that sounds depressing as hell, but I don't view it as depressing - it's just life, and that life is always coming at you. Your ability to go to the games is never guaranteed. The best Tennessee game is the one you get to see next. The next game is always the best time to go and cheer for the Vols. We may be in the wake of a lost decade for Tennessee football, but seriously, don't let a need for a coaching change impact your attendance. A home game in Neyland is a precious thing. Go and wear orange, and have fun, and get loud for the Big Orange.
