Tennessee Vols Starting Over: Still Proud

Breaking News: Lane Kiffin managed to tie his shoes today without a blogger remarking on whether or not Tennessee will be affected by Kiffin's absconding.

Breaking News: USC is going to dominate recruiting in the PAC 10 while the rest of the NCAA scrape up the leftovers that Lane Kiffin's staff...blah blah blah.

Do we really care what anyone writes anymore in regard to comparisons between Tennessee and USC? Or whatever Kiffin does from this point on? It seems to be an ugly pattern we are unwilling to break; short of Kiffin getting in trouble or being fired, I don't think there are many Vol faithfuls left who want to hear anymore headlines concerning him or his genius father. 

I believe people across the NCAA world have been entertained by our reaction to Kiffin's departure, and they have prodded, and continue to prod and poke, for further reaction. One torched mattress turned into multiple bed paddings lining the streets ablaze; a dozen students with signs magically turned into hundreds. All of this took place while the media and hateful bloggers fed off a frenzy of pissed-off students.

In Bleacher Report alone, at least half a dozen writers have typed away with glee as we cried foul at their remarks, innuendos, and slander. The chuckling is still audible as we continue to fall for their baiting by defending our fans, beloved university, and football team. We have defended ourselves to a fault; we are what we are, and we are still Vols (minus the headache) even though half the country believes we all have moonshine stills in our backyards.

The only person left in the state of Tennessee who needs to defend himself is Mike Hamilton, and to my knowledge a public apology from him has not been issued and no real excuse has been issued on his part for ever hiring He Who Must Not Be Named (apologies to J.K. Rowling and Lord Voldemort).

I think it's fair that he should at least make a public appeal and declare, "Hey guys that one is on me, shoulda looked a little harder and let Phil name a successor, won't happen again."

But we didn't get that; we got administrative bravado that nobody appreciated. Would we even care if he did apologize? I don't think so. Apologies must be heartfelt to be well- received, and at this point an honorable man would resign and walk away...at this point we know where integrity lies with him. At least he hired someone with integrity.

Genuinely, I am impressed by coach Dooley's efforts thus far. He has been relentless trying to salvage a one-time top five recruiting class, and soon after the last prospect signs, I believe a top 10 class is not unreasonable thanks to his expedient and gigantic efforts.

Whether he signs in the top five, 10, or 20, he feels like family and for that Mike H. can sigh with relief, but I believe the Illuminati of Tennessee have put him on notice and for that I believe he might want to start appearing at the games painted ala Coach Pearl and see if he can garner a little love from the faithful, it certainly wouldn't hurt his lackluster personality.

I was literally in tears from laughing when I asked an elderly lady from my hometown what she thought about the whole mess. Her reply was this: "Well, for the life of me I just can't understand why they didn't fire him when he hired his daddy to help. I would've sent him down the road kicking his lunchbox and sent that fatboy Ojee-won with him." Oh, the golden wisdom of our elders.

For the rest of us watching from the cheap seats, we embark yet again on another year of hope rather than expectations. We can readily expect Dooley to do his best. We can expect loyalty from him; he exudes integrity (he still reminds me of my Pastor ) with every word he utters.

We can also expect a different kind of team now that we have someone who cares about the program and the players. What can we hope for? Success? It will come, maybe not overnight but eventually. What I hope for is to forget Kiffin and USC, and concentrate on what we do best: loving and supporting our Volunteers, laughing at Smokey as he barks at every touchdown, painting every form of graffiti on our "Rock," the Vol Navy, rich traditions that span two centuries, and singing "Rocky Top" 60 times in the span of three-and-a-half hours.

I believe we still have a lot to look forward to, and the future looks orange to me.

I am encouraged now and would like to celebrate, so excuse me—I have a jug out back about to run over, and nobody wants that stuff running into the creek and killing the fish.

-Godspeed Vols