See I don't hate Alabama. I have a burning desire to beat them because for most of my 43 years they have been the gold standard in this league.
Less their fanbase I completely agree. There used to be a time where that feeling was mutual across the board. Heres to the day (whenever it comes) that it gets back to that.
I was fortunate enough to witness, and be old enough to appreciate, a glorious 8 year run, the Mike Price fiasco, Franchionne leave them feeling like a jilted (cousin) lover, and watch them eat each other alive with envy during our "decade of dominance." Now...we have surpassed them in every possible category, the wrong way. F**k Bama.
I just hate em. I guess its because I had it rubbed in my face when i was child. Then when we dominated them during the Peyton years and a few years after my hate when down a little. I will never let that happen again.
I don't hate them but I want to beat them more than anyone else. In 2006 I came down with a bad case of staph infection from a cut - and landed in the hospital for a time and missed over a month of work. I basically willed myself into getting better in time for the Bama game because I had tickets and had never been to a "big time" game at UT. I constantly try to forget losing to Vandy the prior year as that was my first ever UT SEC game. I thought seriously about hurling myself over the railing so I wouldn't have to see another Vandy fan get in my face walking out of the stadium. But there was something special about the Bama game and you could just feel it. Listening to the older people around me telling stories about how much they wanted to beat Alabama and being there so many years when Bryant would come in and kick our ass gave me a new appreciation for the Bama rivalry. I grew up as a teenager in the 90s so my hatred was for Florida and I wanted to beat Bama. But from that day on I realized what it really means to so many people to beat Alabama. To see old men break down and cry when we won was a really neat feeling. And I lost all respect (what little I had) for their fans during that game in 06 when one of our players went down with an injury and of course those morons cheered their asses off. If anyone was offended by the small F-U Florida chant a few weeks ago they would have been irate in 06 during the Bama game. My dad told me after the game when I called him that the FU Bama reaction by the ENTIRE stadium was the loudest chant he had ever heard on TV in unison. The chant went from 7 year old kids to 87 year old women that day. We don't give a damn about the whole state of Alabama, the whole state of Alabama, the whole state of Alabama, we don't give a damn about the whole state of Alabama we're from T-E-N-N-E-S-S-E-E.
That was the most well deserved **** you chant ever. I believe it was Coker that had hurt his knee on either a kick off or punt. Also, that 06 game saw a drunken Alabama fan in the upper deck get his ass whipped by 2 pride of the southland members. The band would split up into groups and play rocky top in the upper deck (I haven't seen them do this since 07). A drunk bama fan took a swing at one of the band members and two others beat the shit out of him. The KPD took him out in cuffs.
Was there too. Their freakin band started playing when Coker was down on the turf with trainers around him. The chant, it was "loud".
I remember seeing a great grandmother, with an antique knitted sweater, screaming "boo you, Alabama, boo you"
And yeah, Alabama Tennessee games are different than any other. I've been fortunate enough to see Tennessee play all over the country and have right at 80 games in Neyland under my belt. When Alabama comes to town, the place is just different.
