The game that broke me and gave me PTSD. Here we go again?

#1

7toejones

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#1
It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach and I had a strong feeling that this would be the game we would show all of college football that we were back to the form of the 90’s/early 2000’s. As that sure victory slipped away in slow motion in the last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…
 
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#7
#7
It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach. As the sure victory slipped away in slow motion in that last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…
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#8
#8
Mine was also LSU, but in 2001. We were No. 2 in the country, LSU 21. Had airline and hotel reservations for the National Championship game at the Rose Bowl for my son and I. And LSU beats us with their backup QB, in the SEC CG 31-20. And we ended up....you guessed it.....in the Citrus Bowl.
 
#10
#10
I don’t explain to doubters and constant whiners!!!! GBO!!!!! If your a Vol, you never quit believing!!!!
 
#12
#12
Yea I don’t know why 07 vs the eventual national champions was the one. And honestly I didn’t realize that was a crossroads moment for me until this morning just thinking about why I was having this feeling and it just hit me. You can draw a line at that moment as a change in my fandom for whatever reason. There was just so much build up personally like this is when we’re finally gonna show we’re back to 90’s/ early 2000’s form and then it was like why did I let myself get so invested that this loss is having this kind of effect. Somewhere in my brain I-was like “I'm never doin that again”.
 
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#13
#13
Yea I don’t know why 07 vs the eventual national champions was the one. And honestly I didn’t realize that was a crossroads moment for me until this morning just thinking about why I was having this feeling and it just hit me. You can draw a line at that moment as a change in my fandom for whatever reason. There was just so much build up personally like this is when we’re finally gonna show we’re back to 90’s/ early 2000’s form and then it was like why did I let myself get so invested that’s this loss is having this kind of effect. Somewhere in my brain was like “we ain’t doin that again”.

To be fair to you, we haven't played in a nationally relevant game (that we had a chance to win) after the middle of October since the 07 SECCG...
 
#14
#14
It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach. As the sure victory slipped away in slow motion in that last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…

Seriously, that is a great story -- a horrible story, but well-told.
 
#16
#16
It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach. As the sure victory slipped away in slow motion in that last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…
i heard somewhere that we have not been more than a touchdown favorite in over 40 something years. Got me to thinking about the last serveral years and I don’t remember us being favored in the swamp in a bunch of years, and if home field is worth 3 points, when we’re we last truly favored to win So all these past years and this past 16 of 17 don’t really matter
 
#17
#17
Mine was also LSU, but in 2001. We were No. 2 in the country, LSU 21. Had airline and hotel reservations for the National Championship game at the Rose Bowl for my son and I. And LSU beats us with their backup QB, in the SEC CG 31-20. And we ended up....you guessed it.....in the Citrus Bowl.

I’m with you. I stripped down in the driveway that night and burned my “lucky” UT shirt and pants that had been worn every game since the 98 season. Before anyone judges me for burning my clothes I was too poor back then to afford another mattress.
 
#18
#18
Mine was sometime in the Dooley era. It may have been the 2011 Arkansas game but I don’t remember with 100% clarity. It was then that I fully grasped the state of UT football. It was a shell of what it once was and wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
The 60+ yard punt return for td where the kid ran about 120yds while we missed 37 tackles...I was watching with my Hog fan buddy. I wanted to go chug a bottle of Rumplemintz while taking a shower in battery acid...
 
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#19
#19
The 60+ yard punt return for td where the kid ran about 120yds while we missed 37 tackles...I was watching with my Hog fan buddy. I wanted to go chug a bottle of Rumplemintz while taking a shower in battery acid...

I remember that horrible punt return, we made sportcenter's not top 10 plays and they made sportscenter's top 10! Absolutely horrible! Gbo!
 
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#20
#20
I remember that horrible punt return, we made sportcenter's not top 10 plays and they made sportscenter's top 10! Absolutely horrible! Gbo!
As if you needed more evidence that ESPN hates us, they doubled us up like that. Dools-Sunseri-whoever-the-hell-was-"coaching"-Special Teams was punishment enough.
 
#23
#23
2007 seccg is such a weird one to pick
We all had one through that time period though PJ. Mine was definitely 2001 SECCG. I was a freshman at UT and I saw people at the game with orange roses in their mouths before the game, and I got an uneasy feeling... I mean, I guess that game didn't BREAK me, because I still believed for a number of years after. I'm not sure when BVS truly set in.
 
#24
#24
It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach and I had a strong feeling that this would be the game we would show all of college football that we were back to the form of the 90’s/early 2000’s. As that sure victory slipped away in slow motion in the last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…
It’s different because this Florida team couldn’t lace up 2007 LSU’s cleats up for them.
 

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