A Plea to Big Orange Nation

When I was in high school and undergrad, I really only went to games if my Dad found a way to get tickets. About this time last year, I decided to be a little more proactive and make a concerted effort to get to any major event that held interest and was within driving distance (I know for you folks who live in Tennessee, it’s different, but the Vols rarely get within driving distance of me anymore). I can’t afford to fly to events, but just this change has brought me to a lot of great places just in the last year. I saw two of my favorite bands in concert (Muse in Boston, The Weakerthans in Boston), a World Cup Qualifier (USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago in Nashville), two UT football games (Kentucky in Lexington, Virginia Tech in Atlanta), and three UT basketball games (Auburn in Knoxville, San Diego State in Providence, Ohio in Providence). And more international soccer may be on the horizon, as one of the USA sendoff games is in East Hartford.

The point is, sometimes cost can be prohibitive, but sometimes just setting your mind to it can yield significant improvement (in my case, I’d previously seen just four UT games ever, all football, and only two this decade). My impression is that the people here do their very best to help the team, but this needs to spread throughout the Vol Nation (no, not that VolNation). Good luck to all those who will be making the trip to St. Louis, and do your best to entice more Vols to make the trip, wear their orange, and cheer the team to victory. GO VOLS!

There’s no way that there are events outside of Knoxville, right? All the away games are played inside of my TV.

With that being said, yes – I would go to St. Louis if the trip didn’t look like it’d cost me over $1,000 to do so. (Honestly, this year was terrible for going to basketball if you’re around DC; I think the closest set of games was Providence, followed by St. Louis – neither of which are drivable if you can’t take enough time off work.)

I, unfortunately, cannot get off work or can afford the trip. My days at UT were 20 years ago and life has blessed me with a wife from UGA and three major commitments(children) that I wouldn’t trade for the world. However, we prided ourselves, back in the day, of knowing in our Big Orange Hearts that NOTHING, and I MEAN NOTHING was more special than The Vols! So I hope that you guys understand that while life has taken guys like me out of the picture and physically away from Big Orange Country and the ability to drop everything on a dime and go to St. Louis, we still believe. We are watching and we believe. We believe in Coach Pearl, J.P., and this team. We have a great team and if this ride ends Friday night, it would still be considered a great one, and one we can be proud of!!!!! Only one other SEC team is left guys-c’mon! Three out of the last four years to the Sweet 16?!? That’s history on The Hill.

Don’t ever forget that IT’S GREAT TO BE A TENNESSEE VOL!

A boat, a brick wall that it’s about to run into, some undersea mountains that it can somehow sail across (despite all appearances), some random black videogame rectangle-eyes, three stars, some dots, and a random pong paddle on the top left.

Yeah, I totally get the relation with boots, Air Jordans, and various other bits of clothing. Because hey, the people on the time-and-space-transcending sea-mountain boat have to wear something, right? Why not basketball shoes and preppy t-shirts with handbag accessories?

give us a break…just because we are responsible with our money and spend it on things like food and shelter, doesn’t mean we are not good fans…just means that we have to pick and choose

people should spend all their money going to UT sporting events, obviously there are more important things to spend money on than tickets to sporting events. I was trying to make the point that compared to how many UT fans travel to away football games and bowl games are basketball fan base does not travel nearly as well. Volfanatetsu makes a good point about the Friday night game time, but seriuously if the Tennessee football team was playing in a Sweet 16 game in a mythical college football playoff on a Friday night, I gurantee you plenty of Tennessee fans would find a way to get there.

but I think a big part of it is that a lot of Tennessee fans just did not “grow up” on Tennessee basketball. I know personally growing up whenever UT was playing football my family would be in front of the TV or in the stands, but basketball was not that way. It was more of a “If I have nothing else to do I will watch”, but not a habit. I think a lot of Tennessee fans are just now getting used to having a good basketball team year in and year out. It is my hope that more continued success will really convince fans to travel more, because the home attendance is already at a elite level.