My hatred for Butch Jones and the entire administration isn't misguided. Neyland Stadium is a special place. Hearing Rocky Top still brings a pep to my step. Watching that T split open makes you realize you only get a set amount of times to see that in one lifetime. All of this was building and then two things happen. 1. Gus Manning is honored during a break. Jeff Jarnagin pointed out his ties all the way back to the General. His unprecedented 400 odd home games in a row. That's Tennessee. It's not a cliche spouting MAC good for nothing piece of shit. Especially got pissed when I described to those invalids in my section the crap that he put up with from Derek goddang Dooley. Gus is a microcosm to all of us. We only get so many trips. We only get so many Saturday's. I'll be damned if I'm wasting them accepting a mediocre coach selling me a false bill of goods. 2. If that wasn't enough, out trots Eric Berry. A guy who looked cancer in the face and tells it to go **** itself. I begin to think back to what a wasted career he had here on shitty teams. That guy deserved better. Jalen Hurd deserves better. The dumbass in section M that cheered every time he caught a glimpse of Butch Jones, he deserves better and doesn't even know it. Long story short, the place is special. It's always going to be special. Quit treating that place like its a place that accepts your fired, tired or mediocre. My kids, your kids, hell even we deserve the very best that the school can offer. What we have in place won't cut it. From the very top to the entire staff. If you're still on the fence about this staff, you're a stupid piece of shit... And you are the problem. Quit accepting mediocre. Quit having an orgasm over a guy recruiting well. If you merely get off your ass, you can recruit to Tennessee. He's not Dooley, blah blah ****ing blah. That isn't a job qualification. The place is special. We can either admit that and treat it as such. Or we can shut the entire operation down.
Gus Manning us one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He knows literally everything that's happened on that campus over the last 60 some odd years
And whether you are the president of the university or a fan stepping foot on campus for the first time he's going to treat you the same.
Well said, NYY. It is time for UT fans across the board to stop with the inferiority complex and demand we at least attempt to be a top 10 program like we should be. I know Nick Sabans and Urban Meyers do not grow on trees, but at least make the effort. It is good for the athletic department (more money to spread around to the non-revenue sports) and it is good for the academic side (what better advertising is there than UT being plastered all over Sports Center?)
We demanded it after Dooley got shown the door. The administration basically told us to suck it by hiring a guy that Dooley himself beat the shit out of.
Excellent post, NYY. Embracing all that is Tennessee has been and is, starts at the top. So does rejecting it. When you place ultimate authority with those who do not embrace all that Tennesse is, they will lead it in a direction where it should not go, and toward something else that is entirely unrecognizable, lesser and unknown. Whereas most Tennesse fans, like my father's generation, mellow and become more acquiescent over time, I am just the opposite. I become less tolerant of both mediocrity, and of bullshit. Perhaps it is because I am increasingly aware that we are all born with just so many years to enjoy this thing that we love, and which is so closely tied to our own identities, and that a wasted year is one too many, and we can never have, or live, again.
