In the midst of a disappointing Tennessee football season, fans are sometimes so consumed by the darkness they can't see the bright spots. Media-types often fall into the same trap.
That's why I've compiled a list of feel-good facts about UT's 1-3 season.
n UT got to play in the Rose Bowl.
n The Vols haven't lost a night game at home since September of 2006.
n The Vols play Northern Illinois in Neyland Stadium on Saturday night.
n The special teams are improving.
n "Vol Calls" is more interesting.
n Brandon James will never return another punt in Neyland Stadium.
n UT running back Arian Foster has rushed for 2,657 career yards. The school record is 3,078.
n The Vols lead the SEC in defending fourth-down conversions.
n Traffic won't be bad before or after the Northern Illinois game.
n Mississippi State hasn't beaten a Division I-A opponent in four tries.
n Mississippi State is coming to Neyland Stadium on Oct. 18.
n The defense is improving.
n Arian Foster didn't push a defender after the whistle in the Auburn game.
n The G-Gun has gone airborne.
n The Vols haven't lost a starter to injury since the season started.
n Georgia will be overconfident (Oct. 11).
n The Vols will have two weeks to get ready for nationally ranked Vanderbilt on Nov. 22.
n In losses to Florida and Auburn, the team never quit.
n Wyoming ranks 117th out of 119 teams in points per game.
n Wyoming is coming to Neyland Stadium on Nov. 8.
n No one has recovered an onside kick against UT.
n Punter Britton Colquitt is in the last week of his five-game suspension.
n Tim Tebow will never gain another yard in Neyland Stadium.
n Alabama will be overconfident (Oct. 25).
n UT has gained more yardage than three of its four opponents.
n Strong safety Eric Berry is having an All-SEC season.
n Kentucky has lost 23 consecutive games to UT.
n Kentucky is coming to Neyland Stadium on Nov. 29.
n UT coach Phillip Fulmer got to shake Tim Tebow's hand after the Florida game.
n The Vols have won six consecutive games in November.
n If you attend the UT-Vanderbilt game in Nashville, you can watch the UT men's basketball team play in nearby Murfreesboro the night before.
n The Vols won't lose the SEC championship game.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
Notre Dame beats Tennessee 72-44…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 77
LargeOrange writes:
Way to go John Adams. See you don't have to try that hard to give some of us True Vols something to hold on to until the team turns it around. If you really wrote this (instead of an intern) I commend you for the clever tongue in cheek article. Keep um coming, it is too easy to be negative especially the way things are going.
vtvol#210290 writes:
John Adams has many reasons to feel good:
Won't have to worry about being late to receive a pulitzer prize.
Won't have to worry about shrinking deadlines due to national syndication of his columns.
Won't be needing a Garmin GPS while down on the strip (becasue we Vol fans will all tell him where to go)!
dvols writes:
last i hope!
wmhorton#209780 writes:
Hotel rooms are getting easier to find in Knoxville on football weekends.
You no longer have to wait in line to buy UT souvenirs at the UT bookstore on game day.
Bathrooms at the stadium are no longer crowded at halftime.
You can now easily purchase tickets from scalpers at less than half the face value.
TommyJack writes:
The old Adams is back.
chrisw2967 writes:
the most important reason to feel good is Crompton not never taking another snap at Tenn.
we can all hope anyways.
jcherrie#219531 writes:
Yes! It's like hitting yourself on the top of your head with a hammer! It feels great when you stop!
VOLKING writes:
Things can only get better...I hope.
WereInTrouble writes:
Fulmer/Chavis and Hamilton have been fired? That would be the number one reason for Vol fans to feel good.
Come on, John, keep your identity. You don't try to feed us propaganda like the other Homer Hamilton puppet sportscasters so keep up the good work and help us run Fulmer and the Good Ole' Boys Club out of town.
xvolx writes:
how close is foster to the games fumbled away record.
BNR10 writes:
Wow... that just shows how bad we suck
OrangeRush writes:
One more reason to feel good: you could be John Adams.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
Poor John Adams, how does it feel John to be used by people like this, instead of having true Big Orange fans as better friends, who do not use you, but would appreciate you as a brother Vol.
newtonrail writes:
In the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's, we had the Brass Rail downtown for all the experts to dissect the Tenn football program. Apologies to the many Barbershops that also had some heated discussions. Now we have Talk Radio and GVX, along with Adams the Sarcastic to beat a dead horse. Folks, as Yogi said, it ain't over till it's over, and we have 8 more regular games to play. Things can get worse or maybe, just maybe a lot better.
VOLS85 writes:
Mr. Adams,
Thanks for denigrating Tennessee...really makes me feel better about the situation. Your cynicism and asinine comments really lift the morale of the fan base...I want Phil gone too, but you're just rubbing it in. That's something that is offensive considering that you're the editor of goVOLSxtra.
You seem to be basking in your personal victory. It's just too bad that it is at the expense of the very program that supports your paycheck.
Hooray John; sucks for ya, Tennessee. Tuscaloosa gets paid!
And oh yeah...FIRE FULMER. (this is for the Tennessee program, not for Phil, and undoubtedly not for JA).
cdonsbach writes:
Hilarious!
I'm going to the rest of the home games this season because I'll be able to get cheap tickets.
Also, I'm going to try to make the weekend trip to Nashville to see the basket-vols play MTSU on Friday, Nov 21, the foot-vols play Vandy on Saturday, Nov 22 (my birthday), and the incredible Tennessee Titans take on the New Jersey-ERRR-New York Jets on Sunday, Nov 23.
If we lose to Vandy, which we very well may, oh well; like Meatloaf said, "Don't be sad, 'cause 2 out of 3 ain't bad".
cdonsbach writes:
How is he "basking in" his "own personal glory"?
John Adams gets paid to write opinion pieces, he isn't paid to be the head Vol cheerleader in the local media. Besides, he's not saying anything that any of the other local pundits aren't. Even Tim Priest, of the Vol Radio Network, was critical of the team during the Auburn game broadcast last Saturday.
MrBamSeydu writes:
hahaha I love it
All True, John! Just like your original Fire Fulmer article in which you got so much negative criticism about then..... but you aren't hearing it anymore now are you? Hmmmm
I bet you feel about as good as Johnny Majors does watching Fulmer go down in flames.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
I enjoy getting your tee-shirts.
The truth will always set you free.
MSU tickets should be around $12 or so.
rootin4volz writes:
And finally:
John Adams is still a self-serving putz.
shipperman#280095 writes:
Get mad all you want Adams is right. And Tennessee will go 5-7, if they are lucky
gillblog writes:
Reminds me of the story about the Russian Optimist and Russian Pessimist during the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Russian Pessimist says, "Things can't get any worse than this." To which the Russian Optimist answers, "Nonsense! Of course they can!"
rocky_topper writes:
Actually, if we as fans are lucky we will go 5-7 or 4-8 and maybe we can finally get rid of Foolmer!
Stop going to the games! This makes the greatest statement!
rusty_shackleford writes:
Looks like pennington wrote this smart-alecky article!
ect1983 writes:
Sorry VtVol------Adams is the savior of those of us who haven't been fooled by Foolmer....Keep up the GREAT WORK John..........And obviously, even your detractors love to read you. By the way , JA has won MANY writing awards
khelton657 writes:
Adams is one of the very few to have enough chestnuts to say it the way it is, thanksJohn....good article too.
shipperman#280095 writes:
I am going to support these sponsers of the News Sentinel. If you are happy with loser Foolmore, thats your business. most of us are not. Way to go John Adams, keep up the good and accurate job
GreerVol22 writes:
True Vol fans will attend. True Vol fans will cheer, not boo. True Vol fans will buy orange stuff even if they don't need it. True Vol fans will donate like good patrons. True Vol fans will always "wooo" when Rocky Top is being played.
Tru Vol fans have always yearned for a Nebraska/Notre Dame stigma. Now you have it.
BrUTalVOL writes:
Remember, folks, that at 6:52AM on September 30, 2008, there was a poster that calls itself "rocky_topper" that wrote that it would consider itself "lucky" (its word, not mine) if the Vols end up with a 5-7 or 4-8 record.
It's quote: "if we as fans are lucky we will go 5-7 or 4-8....".
You realize that that poster is hoping, and says it will consider itself lucky, for the Vols to lose. Pulling for Vandy to beat the Vols? Mississippi State? Georgia? 'BAMA?
As far as I'm concerned, "rocky_topper" is a big ball of red-elephant dung.
I'll never pull against the Vols. Regardless of who the coach is.
NEVER.
rusty_shackleford writes:
Amen, Brutal! I'm a Vol: win, lose, or draw!
thevoice writes:
Quite clever. Are you Adams' ghost writer?
Volalumnus writes:
Adams can be happy because he knows he will be here after Fulmer.
Volalumnus writes:
The end is near and its time to Kick Fulmer's end right out the door.
99gator writes:
you'd think a gator wrote this.
a little smug for effect, but true.
leedsvol2007 writes:
If you look at this football team we have two glaring needs better Quarterback play and a deep threat at wide receiver.
Everywhere else we are at least solid.
Crompton looks like he has all the physical tools needed to be an outstanding QB and the coaches say he plays well in practice.
Maybe the coaches need to look at themselves and ask if the pressure they have put on him not to throw interceptions is the cause of his problems.
Every quarterback throws interceptions but its how they learn and come back from them that counts. If you think back to Andy Kelley, Peyton Manning and most recently Erik Ainge all had critical interceptions in big games.
The big difference is they were more willing to try and make a play than worry about the interception.
Take some of the fear of making a mistake away from them. I remember David Cutcliffe and Andy Kelley discussing an interception Kelley threw that put us two scores down late in a game with Mississippi State. Kelley said that Cutcliffe had told him that just like a golfer a quarterback had to have a short memory. The next pass just like the next shot in a round of golf is the most important one.
Kelley lead us on two TD drives late in the 4th quarter to win that game.
The coaches need to coach them up in practice and just play on Saturday.
GoVols!
jobrando#216494 writes:
Never had anything to say neagative about this writer until now. He's is just sticking the knife in and twisting it and chuckling as he does. He must be miserable having to cover the VOLS
CoverOrange writes:
Fluff article. Funny, but fluff. Once again, didn't have to get out of his Lazyboy in his den at his mansion to write his daily column.
Lofton4Three writes:
Crompton's skills are best summed up in the great baseball analogy we used to use back in the day...
He's not a bad 5:00 hitter.
I can see it now...Friday the announcement will be. Jon Crompton has had a good week in practice, and seems to grasp the offense better. He will then proceed to the game Saturday and lay an egg. But man he does well in practice.
TheVolMan writes:
JA, thanks for a much-needed laugh. This season has been just awful. I bleed orange and hate to see our team continue to make mental errors and underachieve.
As for the anti-JA Weenies who post here, why don't you follow your own advice and boycott JA's articles? I guess you just can't resist. Must make you mad that John has had good points when he wrote of signs of trouble in the football program. I guess the Weenies think that true Vol fans should never criticize the coach. Great, then those same Weenies would still be arguing that Buzz is close to "turning things around" in the b-ball program!
DancingOutlaw writes:
All the people that blindly support fulmer sound like the same people that say if you question the president on iraq or anything else you're a terrorist and anti-american. The truth is you're not. If you're into blindly supporting a cause for the sake of supporting it, no matter how ridiculous it is, then you are an idiot. You obviously cannot think for yourself. When your kid does something wrong and you get mad about it does that mean you hate them? Nope, you still love them but don't care for their actions. If anything, being disappointed shows that you care more than most. If you're willing to grin through the worst of times, keep dumping time, money, and emotion into something that is obviously not working, you're just ignorant. adams is entitled to his OPINION the same way you are. He is not paid to report, he is paid to write. Though everything he mentioned in this article is factual.
98reax writes:
[The Vols won't lose the SEC championship game.]
Isn't it a bit early to say this? Dominoes fall. Look at Saturdays upsets. We only have 1 division loss, right? Who says we can't come back with a new field general and win every game down the stretch? Stranger things have happened. To quote a not so popular coach in the SEC, "It's not too late to turn this thing around."
I agree with leedsvol, this is 99% on the coaches. These athletes came to UT to be coached and to win. Coach 'em up. Call the right plays. Make darn sure you have the right man in the right position for the present situation. Take some chances for pete's sake and go for the winning flavor.
I know we've been vanilla for years, but that's not working right now. How 'bout a double dip #2 QB against NI and see what develops? Everybody loves the the flavor of the month, maybe #3, 2 for the price of 1 with a cherry on top.
rockytop4ever writes:
This article was pretty funny. I particularly liked the one about Fulmer shaking Teabags hand. Good stuff JA.
bobbarbilly writes:
Another great article by "The John".
Striker writes:
The Knoxville News Sentinel has reached an all time low.
jasonn1970 writes:
This is classic Adams. Should be required reading for the few remaining Kool-Aid drinkers.......
Orange4life writes:
thats the John Adams I am accustomed to, arse hole
Lofton4Three writes:
Isn't it almost time for you to go to Maryville and give ole CPF his daily spongebath?
Colliervol writes:
And we're supposed to feel better about that list? John, you sure know how to kick a fan when he's down.
NoMoreWooAfterGoodOleRockyTop writes:
The only reason we have "to feel good" is one more loss (in addition to UGA/Bama which are guaranteed) and FOOLmer is gone...FOREVER! Therefore, do we really want Cromp on the pine? I say NO! He gives us our best chance to win...at least in the future.
spvol writes:
Hack!
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