- A year ago yesterday, John Pennington was disappointed by the disappointed:
The Vols are 20-6 and 11-4 in the conference. They've swept Florida and split with Kentucky. They've won the SEC East and secured a first round bye in the SEC Tournament. All of those things are reason to celebrate.
But go back a few blogs and you'll see where I was writing "don't change your expectations." I took some heat for it (perhaps, rightly so). But this is why I wrote it. Because if you raise your expectations to the level of "I'll be disappointed if they don't make the Sweet Sixteen" (which has been a VERY common statement on Knoxville talk radio), then you're setting yourself up for disappointment, anger, and bitterness (my cell phone's been ringing with all 3 after the UK game) when this team, which was picked to finish in the bottom 2 of the SEC East, starts playing like a team with no frontcourt scoring threat, no inside defense and no rebounding (last in the SEC).
If you're mad, upset, angry, or bitter right now... if you've uttered the words, "I wish they'd have just sucked all year if they're gonna do it now" (which I heard walking out of Thompson-Boling after the game), then you've only got yourself to blame.
I said it last year, and I'll say it again this year: Let's just enjoy the ride, folks, whether there are two games left or ten games left.
- Also one year ago yesterday, I linked to a spring practice video and observed, "Lots of No. 8 (Jon Crompton, I think) and No. 11 (Slick Shelley, I think)." Something to keep in mind this year. Fall may not look much like spring.
Filed under: