Mike Strange: Vols have plenty to be thankful for

Today, as a nation, we pause for a day of Thanksgiving.

Well, we pause to stuff ourselves and watch football on TV, but also to give thanks.

Jim Chaney jumped the gun.

Last Saturday night at Neyland Stadium when the officials ruled Eric Gordon's overtime interception would stand for a 27-21 Tennessee victory over Vanderbilt, Chaney thundered through the back of the press box toward the elevator.

"I give thanks we finally got a break,'' Chaney shouted, or words to that effect.

"Yes, I was certainly giving thanks,'' Tennessee's offensive coordinator confirmed Wednesday with a laugh.

"I was just so tickled. It seemed like we got a little break there at the end of the ballgame. It all just builds up on you and when things go your way ... ''

In the past year or so, it seems, so many things have not gone Tennessee's way. The athletic department faces challenges in all its major sports. The athletic department itself looks considerably different from what it did a year ago.

When the Vols or the Lady Vols are challenged, the ripples of worry and discontent spread across a wide pond. Few entities affect our extended community more.

It would do everyone good to pause and reflect that things are rarely as tough as they appear, especially compared to how tough some other folks have it.

"Oh, man,'' head coach Derek Dooley said Wednesday morning, "where do you begin?

"We get so caught up sometimes in winning and losing and the results of a game that we lose sight and lose perspective.''

The original Thanksgiving was in 1621. The Pilgrims were thankful to have survived crossing an ocean in a wooden ship not as big nor nearly as comfortable as some of the yachts in the Vol Navy.

Not thankful their luggage wasn't lost or that the buffet wasn't bad. Thankful they survived, literally.

President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 decreed the nation should set aside a day of Thanksgiving each November. It was a time of horrific strife, and not just between Auburn fans and Alabama fans.

Today, we worry about finding jobs or keeping jobs. But most of us will eat well and flip the remote between one game and another.

And, Tennessee fans, perhaps you can give thanks that the worst is over.

On the football front, 2012 will almost certainly bring more competitive days. Would you trade UT's problems for Penn State's or Ohio State's?

Men's basketball showed this week in Maui that the season shouldn't be as utterly bleak as projected in the first year after Bruce Pearl's exit.

There is a new athletic director getting up to speed and optimism that a new baseball coach will energize an underachieving program.

There's no sugarcoating the fact that UT's greatest icon, Pat Summitt, faces a difficult battle. Take heart that she has the unwavering support of her son Tyler and a veteran coaching staff. And wouldn't Oklahoma State's program take that scenario in a heartbeat?

"I'm just blessed,'' said Dooley, "not just because of the job I have. I'm lucky to have it, but just the health, the family, the love, all that.

"You've got to keep it in perspective every year and that's why I like Thanksgiving for everybody.''

Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/strangemike44 and http://blogs.knoxnews.com/strange.