WhatinVolNATION?
Anti-Hatvol
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Fellow VolNationeers,
During a recent move I uncovered a clipping that I had saved from the middle of the 2005 football season (when we went 5-6) from the student newspaper. It was a letter to the editor from a UT alumnus about Tennessee Pride and it fires me up every time I read it:
Dear Editor,
There is an old quote by Thomas Paine, who, for those who don't know, was big in George Washington's time. The American Revolution was going badly, and he wrote that, "This is not the time for the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot." Those are folks who run when it gets tough. Fans who wear bags on their heads when it gets tough disgrace the university and are sunshine patriots as well.
To me Tennessee is a white helmet with an orange T -- it is the greatest helmet in all of football (although I think we should go back to the fat stripe on it.)
It is Neyland Stadium. It is yelling, "Whoo," during Rocky Top. It is a real dog that could actually hunt something, not some bulldog named Uga that sounds liek a caveman's grunt. It is orange blood.
It is the band coming down the hill. It is the checkerboard, Lord have mercy, it is the checkerboard; whoever invented it should get a million dollars. "It's great to be a Tennessee Vol!"
It's the Volunteer statue who has a black arm from the perpetual flame. That statue represents what it means to be a Vol, and he is no sunshine patriot, either. Volunteers bailed out Texas in 1846 and Pearl Harbor in 1941. Volunteers stand by their own - always.
It's good music and good defense, and General Neyland, and hating Bear Bryant, even though many of us are too young to remember him. The same goes for Steve Spurrier, too, for that matter. He ruined enough seasons to be put in the same category.
It is Peyton Manning, it is Tee Martin, Conredge Holloway, it is Johnny Majors as a player and a coach. It is Phil Fulmer, and the hundreds of others like them who say, well, there will be another, men know that the T on the side of their helmet is more important and larger than the name on the back of their jerseys.
Because a possibility of 3-8 is nothing but one year, but Tennessee is a program. Sometimes programs have down years, but programs bounce back.
I spoke to some South Carolina guy Saturday night who was grinning ear to ear because they beat Tennessee. Did he care that this may be the worst team in a decade? No, because it means something to beat Tennessee. It doesn't mean crap if you beat Vanderbilt, or South Carolina. That's what Tennessee means to me.
Al Davis says that, "Real Men wear Black." Real fans show their faces through thick and thin. This state was built by people who were not sunshine patriots and bag heads. We are Volunteers, from Davy Crockett, to Andrew Jackson, to me, and hopefully to you.
Saturday, we root for the Vols, why? Because we are Tennessee and they are Notre Dame, and there is no other reason needed. I will be in South Bend, and I will be wearing orange.
Mike Mozingo
UT alumnus
Thanks to all of the guys on here who are not sunshine patriots. We have weathered the storm. WE ARE TENNESSEE.
20 Days...12 Hours....23 Minutes...21 Seconds...20...19...18...17...
During a recent move I uncovered a clipping that I had saved from the middle of the 2005 football season (when we went 5-6) from the student newspaper. It was a letter to the editor from a UT alumnus about Tennessee Pride and it fires me up every time I read it:
Dear Editor,
There is an old quote by Thomas Paine, who, for those who don't know, was big in George Washington's time. The American Revolution was going badly, and he wrote that, "This is not the time for the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot." Those are folks who run when it gets tough. Fans who wear bags on their heads when it gets tough disgrace the university and are sunshine patriots as well.
To me Tennessee is a white helmet with an orange T -- it is the greatest helmet in all of football (although I think we should go back to the fat stripe on it.)
It is Neyland Stadium. It is yelling, "Whoo," during Rocky Top. It is a real dog that could actually hunt something, not some bulldog named Uga that sounds liek a caveman's grunt. It is orange blood.
It is the band coming down the hill. It is the checkerboard, Lord have mercy, it is the checkerboard; whoever invented it should get a million dollars. "It's great to be a Tennessee Vol!"
It's the Volunteer statue who has a black arm from the perpetual flame. That statue represents what it means to be a Vol, and he is no sunshine patriot, either. Volunteers bailed out Texas in 1846 and Pearl Harbor in 1941. Volunteers stand by their own - always.
It's good music and good defense, and General Neyland, and hating Bear Bryant, even though many of us are too young to remember him. The same goes for Steve Spurrier, too, for that matter. He ruined enough seasons to be put in the same category.
It is Peyton Manning, it is Tee Martin, Conredge Holloway, it is Johnny Majors as a player and a coach. It is Phil Fulmer, and the hundreds of others like them who say, well, there will be another, men know that the T on the side of their helmet is more important and larger than the name on the back of their jerseys.
Because a possibility of 3-8 is nothing but one year, but Tennessee is a program. Sometimes programs have down years, but programs bounce back.
I spoke to some South Carolina guy Saturday night who was grinning ear to ear because they beat Tennessee. Did he care that this may be the worst team in a decade? No, because it means something to beat Tennessee. It doesn't mean crap if you beat Vanderbilt, or South Carolina. That's what Tennessee means to me.
Al Davis says that, "Real Men wear Black." Real fans show their faces through thick and thin. This state was built by people who were not sunshine patriots and bag heads. We are Volunteers, from Davy Crockett, to Andrew Jackson, to me, and hopefully to you.
Saturday, we root for the Vols, why? Because we are Tennessee and they are Notre Dame, and there is no other reason needed. I will be in South Bend, and I will be wearing orange.
Mike Mozingo
UT alumnus
Thanks to all of the guys on here who are not sunshine patriots. We have weathered the storm. WE ARE TENNESSEE.
20 Days...12 Hours....23 Minutes...21 Seconds...20...19...18...17...
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