VTTW Board Index

I don't know if it's just me, but I have lost some interest in the sport over the last 2-3 years. It's not just because the Vols are not very good either. I think the main culprit is that there's about 3-4 elite teams and then the rest. You've got Bama, Clemson, and then maybe Ohio state and Oklahoma, but not much else going on at the top. This has contributed to my reduction in interest. Now, I will still be watching but I am not as into it as I used to be. I feel like the best players are going to these schools as well. 3 of rivals top 10 are committed to Clemson. There seems to be more cheating as well.

Part of it for me has also been having less time, as I am very busy in my children's lives.

I don't know. I thought I'd check and see how many also feel this way.

living out of the country for two years has limited my excitement level
still have my season tickets (couldn't afford to let them go and then get new, probably worse location, seats when I return)

Is there any doubt Clemson or Bama will win it all? Honestly, there isn't.

My interest in CFB has not diminished (I'll still have 3 TVs going in my living room when the season kicks off) but I do find myself longing for the "old days" of CFB more and more. And on the whole, I suspect most people would say their interest is waning.

I actually made that point about a lack of competitiveness the other day. Even as Clemson has emerged as Nick Saban's kryptonite, there's less parity in CFB right now than I can ever remember. Sure, there have been times in the past where you had a really, really good team dominate a season (like Miami in '01), but not a situation where it's the same 2-3 teams at the top year after year with everybody else trying to catch them.

I don't know what the solution is, but I feel like we've seen the peak of CFB as a spectator sport.

I love college football. I love UT.  But I'm over the mediocrity (and I am being kind) of the program and the arrogance of those in charge who take us, the fans, for granted. 

I love Army football, and I realize it is a totally different level from UT.  The style of play isn't for everybody, but I do appreciate that those guys can execute it well enough to have success. 

I still despise Kliempsein, although it's hard for me to personally dislike Dabo.  But the purple and orange that resides besides the sewer known as Lake Hartwell still makes me puke. 

I follow Duke.  For several reasons, but Coach Cut is one of the primary reasons. 

Back to UT, I am firmly in "show me" mode at this point.  Tired of being disappointed. 

I remember the days when I didn't sleep Sat night after a UT loss and I was still pi$$ed off come Monday....Not that way anymore, I just turn the channel and watch another game. The top programs in the country are committed to winning and UT over the past several years as in 15 or more it's just used as a event. Tailgate...Vol Navy...etc..etc...The football game is just a after thought. We've become what Vandy use to be....and we can't beat their asses either. If someone told me 20 years ago we'd lose 5 of 7 and 3 in a row to those folks on West End I'd a laughed in their faces and bet my farm and 2 mules against it. Glad I didn't !!!! UT and the piss poor leadership has made me lose interest in UT.  :bird: :bird: :bird:

Your condition is called maturity.

I am still just as interested in Vols football, just not as excited. That's something that could be cured by a resurgence in the program.

I do hate that power is concentrated in two or three teams. Especially since one of them is the danged tiglets.  :mad:

I haven't been to a UT game since Arkansas last visited, and that's o.k. Considering I'm just south of Boone, it's an easy day trip. I spend more time hiking and hunting, but that's due to UT.

The sport as a whole needs parity. Here's my garbage theory.
1) Saban may be the best in college football history.
2)  Recruiting is far more scientific than ever AND some sets of boosters are really good at inducing said recruits.

As an addendum, every game being on TV has greatly aided national recruiting.

Big South Fork is just an hour from Neyland Stadium. Saturday = game day. Sunday = hike day. It's the best of both worlds!

I still very much look forward to it, it's just a different experience when we're not good.  Home games are more about going with Dad and now introducing my sons to it a few games a season.

A.  Men. 

That's a solid plan Creek. When I lived in TN and we started stinking I'd hike Honey Creek the first Saturday of November in order to miss a game.

Like Vinnie, when I make a game it's about the social experience as much as anything.

Still exited on game day, still pumped over wins, but no longer allow losses to affect my mood for the next week (plenty of opportunity to alter this behavior).  Still allow myself to think we are about to turn the corner, but no longer sweat recruiting. 

Beyond the Vols, bama and clemson have pretty much ruined it for me. I have no problem with them always being a factor, I just won`t invest in something they own lock, stock, and bankroll.

My interest in college football actually waned in the early 2000s, and it wasn't just because Tennessee wasn't quite at the top anymore (although we still generally finished in the top 10).  It was just fatigue after following the Vols so closely through the 90s (in my 20s and early 30s) and the realization that it's kind of cyclical anyway.  I mean, basically you're going to be disappointed to some extent unless you win it all, and there are ~ 120 teams competing for it.

More recently my interest has waned even more. Part of it is just getting older but definitely the Vols lack of success is a big part of it.

On a side note, some of you aren't old enough to remember the 70s.  In the pre-scholarship limit era, the sport was dominated by a handful of big teams.  Notre Dame, So Cal, bammer, OU, Nebraska and to a lesser extent OSU and Texas, but mostly those first five. As the decade passed, they would shuffle positions, but those five teams won every single national champiionship in the 70s, including a couple UPI/AP splits.   bammer won 3, USC won 2, ND won 2, OU won 2, and Nebraska won 2.  The only break from those 5 was when Johhny and Dorsett won one for Pittsburgh in 1976.   

So yeah, not a lot of parity in the 70s either, but the schollie limits changed that.

For me, I started losing interest back in the mid-2000s. I should have seen it earlier, I suppose. The realization that UT (not talking about the fans) simply does not care as much about winning at football as Bama, Florida, Auburn, UGA or LSU finally set in and it has been difficult to be enthusiastic since.

I do believe that it is possible to get back on top but we will need a break here and there and once momentum starts, we cannot let off on the gas. In other words, win a big game we are not supposed to win and capitalize on that and don't look back.

That's the interesting thing... do we still believe this to be true?  Because we know what kind of $$$ we dropped on OC and DC this year (Chaney is now the highest paid OC in the conference I believe).  Add to that we are spending in recruiting with Bama and UGA and more than the rest on your list. 

Maybe things are changing for the better.

It would have been so much simpler to press forward in 2001 when Spurrier retired rather than go belly up like we did. Oh well...…...

2002 is one of my most disappointing seasons.   And the Florida game...... :banghead:  We should have dog whipped them, instead freaking Casey fumbled four times.  And that was one thing I could.not.stand. about Fulmer.  He would never yank an under-performing starter.  A classic example is he let Aaron Hayden fumble four times against MSU in 1994.  Another one is towards the end of 1997, Terry Fair started coughing the ball up on punt returns.  Fulmer just let him keep fumbling.  I know it would be tough to pull our starting QB against the gators for fumbling, but I think Saban or Spurrier would have done it in a heartbeat.  Not Fulmer though!   :banghead: