Confession: I stopped watching the game

At the end of regulation, I walked out of the bar and went home. Folks were pouring in to watch the Mayweather fight and paying a 10 dollar cover. I saw where that game was going based on the nonsensical in-game decisions that had been made. I didn't want to be cursing and yelling at the one tv on a football game while everyone else is trying to watch a boxing match they specifically paid to see. I just went home. I checked the score on my phone to see that it was in double overtime, and then again to see that we indeed lost.

I can't really articulate or explain why I think this is the worst loss I've witnessed since Dooley's Kentucky meltdown. Oklahoma isn't a bad team. I suppose it is simple: an average coach wins that game when up 14 in the fourth.

Do we still win 8 games? Maybe. But 8 win seasons are the ceiling for this guy, period. And I fear it will be a long, long time before Hart fires a coach for winning 8.

This is it. We are Nebraska at best. A generation of football fans will associate Tennessee with mediocrity. It isn't that I'm shocked. It's just incredibly depressing to see the team itself be way better than I expected, and the coaching and game management be so inept. And not even just inept, just balls-less. And stupid. And static.

We have the coaching equivalent of a practice dummy. That is our scheme.



I apologize/you're welcome, but I expect my posting rate to decrease quite a bit. For whatever reason, that game really, really got me. Not just because we lost, but because I wasn't even excited or celebrating when we were up 14 in the fourth. I was just waiting to see what would go wrong and that is an indication that it is not an enjoyable Saturday activity for me at this time.

 

Which is why, after the Tyndall disaster... if Jones sputters to 8 wins UT should fire Hart.

I doubt Blackburn keeps Jones if he wins 8 in 2016.

 

I almost walked out after regulation, and probably should have, honestly. It went totally downhill from there.

 

My wife went to bed when it was 17-10. She said "I don't want to stay up late just to watch them lose."

And that is not a slam against you, IP, as she is a big football fan and knows a lot about the game. So you were in good company. I am not sure I will watch much more this year, to be honest. I thought I would feel differently today, but it is just intensifying.

Fall is too beautiful a time to spend 4 hours a weekend getting pissed off.

 

When Dobbs took the knee at regulation, I made my way out of the stadium.

The game was over when OU scored to tie it up.

 

My wife reminded me last night that we have a bunch of friends coming in for Georgia and South Carolina, so I may end up going to those solely for the social aspect of the pregame and seeing friends I've not seen in a while. Make no mistake though, I officially have less expectations than Vollygirl for Team 119.

 

I watched it to the very end, and all I want to do is shove a tuba up Lyle's ass.

 

Yes. That is what I said to the poor unfortunate friend watching the game with me, and we left. 40 seconds and 2 timeouts? **** it, let's go to overtime on the team who just scored 14 unanswered. It's stupid. It's cowardly. Play to win.

 

I feel you brother.... I've been a Tennessee fan literally my entire life. My dad got his masters and PhD there. He still lives in Knoxville but I'm done with this. Boxed up every bit of my UT shit yesterday and put it in the attic until I figure out whether to sell it or keep it until the University cleans house from top to bottom.... I have to admit though.... On a certain level it's nice not to give a shit about football Saturday's. I could get used to it really quickly.

 

It isn't that I don't give a shit. It's that I have to ignore it because I am getting nothing out of it. It's like a bad relationship.

 

Yep. When my kids tell me to stop watching because they don't like me getting so angry, it is time to step back.

 

I said exactly the same thing to a Bama buddy... "Now I know what people feel like who finally walk away from an abusive relationship"... He still thinks I'll come around and forget about it but this loss was literally the last of 100 straws over the past 15 years....

 

If you weren't standing on top of a guy asking him if he wanted to lay another finger on you while his elderly father was screaming "you're a grown man" and then your wife not speaking to you for the rest of the night, then I don't want to hear it.

 

That was you? Prepare to get sued.

 

My bro's FIL got his whiskey confiscated at the gate.

 

I forgot you have to watch Butch shit the bed and you have to do it sober.

 

It's crazy to me how similar this loss was to Florida last year. Together, I think they were more painful than the UK loss. The UK loss just made me angry. These two losses have made me want to stop watching Tennessee football.

 

I told my wife that UT football is bad for my health, she agreed completely.

 

Yes.

 

Just like last year at Florida, I anticipated a loss the entire time. That game made me quit watching, posting, reading about UT football for about 2 months. This loss doesn't hurt as much because I lost a certain amount of "give a shit" after that game.