VTTW Board Index

 :powert:

Pistol Boy sighting?   :eek:

Go big orange, boss.  :powert:

Yoda?  Is that you?

I've been scarce around here... sorry for that. I will be back more.

The last year has taught me a lot about message boards and my time spent on other boards has taught me not to take it or the Internet as seriously.

Work sucks. That has cost me a lot of leisure time lately.

Honestly I was pretty much done with the Internet as I knew it when they hired Butch. I knew 2 weeks before he was hired that he was who we were going to end up with... I could just feel it. It was the same feeling I had when they hired Kiffin. He made the most sense. However, as I posted on the VS at the time, if they hired him I was disappearing because I would feel that they were settling. They hired him, and I quit VTTW and the VS for a while.

I've never been more thrilled to be wrong. It's not a done deal that he will return UT to the top, but believing that he will is no longer blind faith (as it was with Fulmer the last few years, Kiffin, and Dooley). The guy gets it. He's as self-aware and forward thinking as any coach out there. People kept telling me after the UGa game that I shouldn't buy in because "Dooley did that too against LSU". But, the difference was that LSU in 2010 kept us in the game with horrible QB play and turnovers... and we not only lost the game but kicked victory away in an unprecedented outburst of coaching failure. UGa played well. They didn't turn it over. Murray played great. The Vols hung in. Yes it was a loss, but coming out of the game everybody knew the Vols were on the precipice.

Only one thing had to happen. We had to beat SC to make it matter. I firmly believed that going into the game. If we "shot our load" (so to speak) against UGa in a loss, then the losing mentality still perpetuated itself and UGa was just another moral victory lost by a scrappy but undermanned team who let the loss kill their season. The SC game was the biggest game since UF last year. In case you've forgotten, we HAD to beat UF last year. And didn't.

And so, they did it.

We're not going to beat Alabama. We will probably lose to Mizzou on the road. At the core, the Vols are still undermanned and not as talented as the rest of the league. But... at home... I think this team can hang with anybody this side of Oregon because they believe, and the fans believe. That UGa atmosphere was something special. I get choked up just thinking about it. I didn't go to South Carolina, but I did stand in front of my TV and feel my eyes well up with tears as I watched the guys celebrate. I flipped double birds to Spurrier and laughed at him for wasting those two timeouts (WTF was he doing??)

For just a moment, the magic was back.

One word (you said it) BELIEVE

The players do and the fans are beginning to.  You witnessed it two weeks ago.  I witnessed it again Saturday (it wasn't as consistently loud as the UGA game but when needed Neyland was loud and it really affected SC).  Many of us stayed till long after the players had left the field, soaking it in.  I have seen all three phases of the game improve, and in some areas greatly.  I saw a player get toasted on a 76 yard TD pass and on the very next SC play upend a RB at the LOS for minimal gain.  We never saw that the last few years.  I saw a coach that lived the Maxims for all four quarters and used them to guide the team to victory.  We are not "there" yet but I BELIEVE that Butch can get us there.

In a word... YEP.

I stood there in Neyland Stadium doing the same.  It was VERY emotional.  I had a great time before the game; great time during the game; and great time after the game.  It could have been better, but it was a wonderful day with family, friends, and "a host of Volunteers"!   :biggrin:

he had coached and his record, but after listening to him, his staff and the players, and watching his team, it's obvious Butch is a football coach and Kiffin and Dooley just happened to be guys who coached football. Butch knows how to build a team and has a plan for doing that, I'm confident he, and we, will be successful if the university supports him.  :patriot:

Welcome Revolver. It's always good to have new posters.

LOL.

Glad to be here! Please fill me in on the movers and shakers on the board. THANKS

I have been moving and shaking more this year than the last several combined! 

The actors/artists on the board tend to be, by far, the most knowledgeable.

yer pal,
VOLveeta

According to Droner, Droner is both a leading mover and shaker. He knows most everything, but he seems to be absent Friday afternoons.

Herb Tarlek has a Clemson fixation, Clockwork likes numbers, and Vinnie may have graven images of Ace Frehley.

Sometimes we talk football, and Holler offers profundities. 

I resemble that remark!!!  I do not use profundities very often....only when I am provoked!!!  And bammar sucks!!!

I can't move too fast, and my shaker broke down years ago.....but I know you'll be happy on this board. Welcome. :clap:

The only thing that would fix Kliempsein would be a couple of well place newclar (thank you, Dubyah) bombs.   :naughty: