I‘m a hopeless optimist. Ask anyone who knows me well. I stay to the bitter end, hoping against hope things will get better: my jobs, relationships, food. You name it. Don’t fault me for wearing orange. I have no more say in the matter than I do over my skin or eye color. It’s game day Saturday? Bet your best watch Amy’s wearing orange. It’s almost indeliberate and automatic. If we’re not in attendance, we’re watching from wherever we are (including the Walking Horse Celebration and a bar in Florida) and looking for the checkerboard with every play. Sure, I’ve lost hope several times this season. It’s depressing. I’ve said for a long time-it’s hard work to be a true fan. Anybody can root for a winning team. But to support a program when they’re down and out takes a special kind of loyalty. Some may call it stupidity. But Rocky Top does something to me. And orange is never wrong. Additionally, you can always cheer on whoever is playing Alabama or Florida. Lots of ways to keep occupied as a Vol fan. If nothing else, I can be proud of our band. Pride of the Southland never makes a false step. They’re the majority of the pageantry: the Power T that the team runs through, the…
You wanna know what its like at the last home game of the season? Its a roar. Its the stadium shaking so hard from the pounding from almost two hundred thousand feet that it makes your liver quiver. Its Vandy, whom as a rule aren’t even worth the energy it takes to scream yourself hoarse & then take a coughing fit because the air is so cold you can watch it float away from your mouth. Its being so chilled from the slight breeze out of the north that you can’t feel your fingers or nose but you’re vaguely aware that its dripping. Its fans not leaving in the fourth quarter because we’re only ahead by three. Its Rocky Top. Again & again. Its UT football. And I love it…