A bad season and a bye week brings up an issue...

I've been a Phillies fan since a boy, and that's a long, long time. Needless to say, I'm excited heading into the NLCS, for yet another year.

Once upon a time, though, that would be a pipe dream - that just didn't happen for very long stretches, season after season after season.

During those bad seasons, when my Phils would be virtually out of it by August 1, I would turn to another team and follow them for the rest of the way, just to keep interest in the game during the remainder of the season.

I have my favorite teams in every sport, but in each of those sports, I have my "secondary team" - a team that I like almost as much, or a team that I wish was my team but can't adopt because you just don't do that sort of thing, or a team that is simply too much fun not to watch because of their style or personnel.

And, that "other" team may change from year to year.

So here we are, in the midst of the 2010 Vol season, and we may be headed for the bottom of the deepest, darkest barrel imaginable. And, we're not playing this weekend - a perfect entry point to begin paying very close attention to a "secondary team".

You are a Vol, through thick and thin, but that doesn't mean that in times like this, or in any other time, you can't have your "other" team that you keep in your back pocket, or in the closet, hidden from everyone you know. Perhaps it's a school from your home state if you're not originally from the Volunteer State, or a school that you attended in addition to UT, or it's where a parent or sibling or son or daughter went to school, or it's a school that you picked by playing pin the tail on the donkey.

Whatever...

Who is your "other" college football team? And, what's the story behind that?

Give it up - no closet space is available.