The Agony of Being a Tennessee Fan

University of Tennessee fans and fans of any Philadelphia professional sports team have one very important thing in common: they are quick to turn on their team when things start going so south and when they do so, they do it with a vengeance. Many a Tennessee football coach, including legend Johnny Majors, has seen moving vans arrive at his house when the three-loss threshold has been reached. Sometimes, the pranks are a lot worse.

As a typical Tennessee fan, myself, I am partial to screaming "YOU SUCK!" when we don't make first downs and laugh sarcastically when we get penalties. I see it as "tough love". People who watch the game with me, however, wonder why I get so angry watching the team that I supposedly love. I retort that it is the agony of being a Tennessee fan.

If normal seasons result in agony, this season has resulted in pure, electrode-clipped-to-nipples, flown-to-a-secret-CIA-prison-and-waterboarded torture. The first game against UCLA, our defense (which is amazing) forced four interceptions in the first half. But, our offense (which is abysmal) failed to capitalize on any of them. The then-quarterback, Jonathan Crompton, was a basket-case who, when he wasn't running head-first into the opposing secondary, was screaming at his receivers for not catching the pass he threw to the sixth row in the bleachers. Because of sheer offensive impotence, the defense spent way too much time on the field and was exhausted by the end of the game and ended up relenting in overtime.

And this has been the story all season. Two weeks after that heart-breaker, Florida marched into Knoxville and silenced the crowd of 106,000 by pile-driving us 30-6. The orange exodus from the stadium at the start of the third quarter was stunning. Subsequently, the nail-biting loss to Auburn of 14-12 (whose offense is also abysmal), the thorough defeat by Georgia of 26-14, and Saturday's lashing by arch-rival Alabama of 29-9, has given the Vols their worst season since I can remember. The only SEC team we have beaten was Mississippi State and the only other two games we have won were the gimmes against Alabama-Birmingham (who?) and Northern Illinois (huh?).

This monstrosity has led to more militant Tennessee bloggers to call for coach Philip Fulmer's fat head (some of them literally). Some want them to lose all of their games so it is clear he needs to be fired (the "Throwing-out-the-baby-with-the-bath-water" approach). No true Tennessee fan, including yours truly, wants to see him at the helm next season. But, is it really all his fault?

Yes, Fulmer lacks any sort of charisma or leadership qualities, does not inspire discipline, and his murky recruiting dealings have hurt the team's reputation. But, he was the only coach to give us a national championship since 1967. And, let's face it: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn are all really good teams. Maybe we shouldn't have lost to all of them, but I don't think any team this year, not even Texas, would be able to slay all of those beasts, especially not powerhouse Alabama. And even Alabama, as good as they are this year, still has to play at LSU November 8. The SEC is just the best conference in college football. Period.

As a cooler head in this debacle (yet heated up, nonetheless), I am prone writing this season off. We're not going to a bowl game, at least not a good one, and, needless to say, we are not in contention for the SEC East, let alone the entire conference. We will probably have a new coach next season and we will probably be back to our perennial second or third place in the SEC East. I might be deluding myself, but to use a mantra that Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs fans know all too well, "There's always next year".