"Worry" is an interesting term.
It's one of those words that implies life is like an on-off switch. Either you're worried, or you aren't.
But we aren't made that way. We evaluate our circumstances constantly. We identify threats and problems long before they come into being. Feeling a bit of unease about those issues is the source of worry.
So in that sense, we are worried all the time. About practically everything. At least, everything we consider important. Those of us who are parents have been worrying about our kids since before they were born. Sometimes just very low grade, easy to ignore but still there in the background. We worry on and off about our jobs. About our romantic interests. About global warming (or people over-reacting to global warming). About Covid-19 (or people over-reacting to Covid-19). About politics. About our finances. About...well, you get the picture.
The only people who can avoid worry entirely are those with no imagination.
So, for Vols fans, people who care about the Tennessee football program, we're going to worry about our team. All the time. Maybe just in small, almost sub-conscious ways, but it will be there.
I remember in the championship season, worrying greatly toward the end of the Arkansas game. I worried during the Syracuse game. I worried before and during the Florida game. I worried when we played Mississippi State for the SEC crown. And I sure worried at various points when we were playing Florida State out in the desert.
And that was the most dominant Vols team of my lifetime, probably. Worried on and off all season long.
Not in a big way. Not in any debilitating way. Not like an Eeyore. But a bit of concern about how things would go, how we would respond to this challenge or that one.
Long way of saying, I'll probably feel a bit of worry no matter how we do this season. It's not a light switch. It will never turn entirely off.
But I'll worry a lot less if we go 8-4 or better. And probably not much at all if we can get to 9-3.
Go Vols!