Someone Needs To Show Some Pride

Enough is enough.

After a 2007-2008 school year in which both Mens Football and Basketball competed for SEC titles, there seem to be no remnants of either of those now. What happened? I'm furious as I'm watching the basketball game right now. They're getting raped by Old Miss. OLE MISS. It wasn't too long ago when Tennessee basketball was the outright SEC favorite, and was featured on ESPN just about every week. Every single time, the commentator said something like, "Now they may not be the best, but Bruce Pearl makes sure these Vols work harder than anyone in the country for the whole 40 minutes." And it was no lie. They forced a substantial amount of turnovers, dominated on the boards, and most importantly, won games they were supposed to win. Now the only constants seems to be Tyler Smith having a good, but quiet game, Wayne Chism steadily improving, and JP Prince embarrassing our school as much as he possibly can. Yea, he may score a few points with the occasional dunk, but the stupid decisions he makes astound me. Every game he gets called for charges, fouls on three point shots, travels, just anything he can do to sabotage the team. His stupid face that he makes every time he commits one of these treacherous acts, as he shrugs his shoulders and rolls his eyes, makes me want to punch him. It's beyond him playing poor basketball. Every game he furthers my assumption that he can't count to his single-digit ACT score.

Don't even get me started on football.

After staging a comeback that essentially made the last half of the season a constant playoff, and earning their way to the SEC championship (where they played to a respectable loss against eventual national champion LSU), the Vols had a deceiving 5-8 record this year. Although, they lost longtime quarterback Erik Ainge, the inexperienced Jonathan Crompton looked promising in his two performances prior to this year. He wouldn't inherit a grand offense, but he had a senior running back in Arian Foster, and a few receivers who had over 50 receptions the year before. Too bad for them, Crompton couldn't manage a pass that went over five yards. I don't mean a completion either, I mean a pass, which usually corkscrewed in front of a linebacker into the turf.

After dreaming about coming to this school for 10 years, hearing people tell me they wouldn't be surprised if I shed a tear at the first sight of a packed stadium, the only thing I did was get a sunburn every weekend. I was glad when the games were away, so I could sit in my dorm and get some homework done while I watched them lose yet another game. The only thing that made watching worthwhile was Eric Berry, probably one of the best DBs of all time.

Glorious? For the MAC maybe, but not my dreams of the SEC. There was no excuse for it. Tennessee is one the winningest football programs in the nation in the past 75 years, and had one of the best college football coaches of the past few decades. They lost to Wyoming, a school you've only heard of because it's a state, 13-7. Only after the announcement of Phillip Fulmer's resignation did the Vols put together decent showings against Vanderbilt and Kentucky to end the season.

My question is why did it take Fulmer basically getting fired to start the season? As usual it seems that football players are too good to care about anything. The attitude was the same for most of the football players at my high school as well. They walked around like they were something special, and didn't care about anyone but themselves. At least they went 12-0 before losing to the eventual state champions in the playoffs.

What these numbskulls have to get through their heads is that it's not about them, contrary to what they have been told their whole lives. It's not about the team either. It's about the school. The student body. The University of Tennessee.

If I hadn't seen my own blood before, I would assume it were orange. I love this school so much, and it was truly a dream come true to end up attending. When I was younger, I wanted to play soccer for UT. My dreams were crushed when I was told that UT doesn't have a mens soccer program (thanks Title 9). It's okay, though. It was a longshot anyway. So what can I do? I have to root for the guys who do represent the school. When they put on foul performances like they did this past season, they not only embarrass themselves, but it dishonors me, and all of the students here.

If I weren't 5' 6" and 140 lbs, I would go out there and give everything I had. I wouldn't be the best player, but no one would work harder than I would. Why can't the current players take this attitude? It's not like this is a pushover program in a mid-major conference. This is Rocky Top. BCS Champions just 10 years ago. Plus, the atmosphere Knoxville sets up for every single season has few matches throughout the nation.

An opportunity to compete in athletics here is a true blessing and honor, and it's about time some of these fools start acting like it. Show some pride. If not for your sake, at least do it for mine.