David*Macinnis*Gill.com

            The Uni­ver­sity of Ten­nessee is my dou­ble alma mater. I took my under­grad Eng­lish and doc­toral Edu­ca­tion degrees from there.  Many of the land­mark events of my life occurred on cam­pus or were put into motion by cam­pus events. I remem­ber my uni­ver­sity fondly (but not fondly enough to increase my annual gift, so hold off on that let­ter, UT Devel­op­ment Office).

            The foot­ball pro­gram is more than a foot­ball game to me. Although I admit to being a rapid fan, I see sports as a way of stay­ing attached to a place that I left long ago but still hold in my heart. That’s what makes today’s loss to Florida painful.  The team didn’t just lose–the loss brought back mem­o­ries of sim­i­lar losses over the years and the obnox­ious com­ments of the most obnox­ious­est fans in col­lege sports–Gators, you know I’m talk­ing about you.

            On the other hand, the loss didn’t sting that much.  By tomor­row, I’ll be watch­ing the NFL, and this game will be set aside. This is a change from when I was younger, when a loss to Florida or Alabama upset me for a year.  You could say that it’s just me get­ting older and putting things in per­spec­tive. It’s not. Hon­estly, I’m not mature enough about sports to put things in per­spec­tive.  I think my atti­tude changed because Ten­nessee won a national cham­pi­onship in 1999.

            When UT beat Florida State in the first BCS, I was thrilled.  As a Ten­nessee boy, I’d been wait­ing for at cham­pi­onship for years and years.  But I real­ized that the effects of that win didn’t last nearly as long as the losses stung.  Nobody talks trash about a win. Nobody sends emails about how well your team played.  Also, nobody gives fans a mil­lion dol­lar bonus like UT gave the coach.  As a fan, your life doesn’t change much.  Bills still come due, the kids still have to eat, work still has to be done.

            So my UT friends will have to for­give me for not get­ting ticked that Urban Meyer ran up the score, that John Chavis’ defense once again quit play­ing, or that Phil Ful­mer was, as always, at a loss to make adjust­ments.  There are still bills to pay, kids to feed, and a lawn to mow before the Colts play tomorrow.

PS.  This doesn’t change the fact that Gators still–and always will–suck.