Its the height of "Silly Season" in collegiate football. Fans with nothing better to do, are filling cyber-space with braggadocio based on nothing but wishful thinking.
Our very own University of Tennessee fans may be some of the biggest chest thumpers to be found anywhere on the internet. Perusing various UT message boards, I found a multitude of posts predicting that the Vols will win the the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division. In those same posts, there was rarely ever any mention of the Vols winning the SEC Championship. Why are UT fans so enamored with only winning the SEC Eastern Division title? Why have they given up on winning the SEC Championship?
Many fans are picking the Vols to defeat Florida, Georgia, and Alabama this upcoming season. What makes Tennessee fans believe that the Vols have what it takes to beat this trio of teams? The Gators will bring a much younger, faster, and experienced team than the Vols will field. This Gator squad, is nearly the same Urban Meyer-coached team that destroyed the Phillip Fulmer-led Vols by 39 points, in what may be the most embarrassing defeat ever inflicted on the Vols by a rival team.
One can understand why the Vols fanatics believe that Tennessee can handle Georgia. The Vols trashed the Pups easily the past two times that the teams squared off. However, it is difficult to swallow the propaganda dished out by Tennessee fans that the Vols will easily handle Alabama. Tennessee went into Tuscaloosa last season with a much more seasoned and talented squad than Alabama, only to get a waxing from the Tide that made Johnson & Johnson proud. This time around, Nick Saban has brought in some of the most talented players in the land to augment a slew of returning starters from last years Tide team.
In a couple of weeks, the freshmen will report, followed by the upperclassmen. Fans will eat up and swallow every practice report and rumor that is reported like a pack of hungry wolves. Its still "Silly Season" and count me as one fan who can't wait to get beyond the inane banter of it. Then we will go to "Rabid Season"
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2 comments:
Far too many Vols fans are in bed with the inane concept of shooting low and then being absolutely thrilled if the Vols do better than they imagined. It all follows the line of thinking coach Phillip Fulmer has imbued into this program.
When SC's Pete Carroll is asked what his view of the upcoming season is, he'll quickly respond with something on the order of, "What's my view...we expect to win the national championship. That's how we do things at SC..."
If Fulmer is asked the same thing, he exceeds the bounds of caution, offering something out of the Lou Holtz book of patterned "we're in big trouble against this team" responses when he was head-man at Notre Dame. The only difference: Holtz never meant a word of it. He flat-out expected to paste every team ND played.
I think UT fans have grown weary of expecting greatness. Even the ones who insist the Vols will defeat Florida, Georgia and Bama this season say it through closed eyes, having their fingers crossed and pinning their hopes on the idea that UT is still the UT of the mid-1990's...
They're not.
Christopher, your assessment is well thought out and right on the money. In fact, it deserves its own blog entry and discussion. Our own Volunteer football program has a habit of not reaching for the stars.
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