First Post: Dealing with the Hardships of Losing

Being a fan of a sports team is one of the most stressful and gut-wrenching tasks anyone can take on.  If your "fandom" was lucky enough to be drawn to the University of Tennessee's football team, then the feeling of being stressed over the Vols has become a weekly occurrence for you.  Whether you became a fan of Tennessee when you were admitted to the university or you have been a Vol since birth, you've seen your fair share of ups and downs.  As for myself, my first UT football game was in 2000 when we played Arkansas and won 63-20, and I have been to almost every home game throughout the last 13 years.  Therefore, I think I can say I have some of the best experiences of being a Tennessee fan, especially dealing with losing.  As the Fulmer era came to a close and I had seen about 8 years of UT football, it was hard for me to deal with the transition because a Fulmer-coached team was all I had known.  Obviously the Lane Kiffin era didn't help with my transition, but my early expectations for Dooley were moderately good: they weren't too high but I was hopeful for the future.  However, in epic fashion, Dooley failed me and the Vol faithful in a way that only he could.  So, after the downfalls of 3 coaches in 5 years, I did the only thing I knew to do as a UT fan of 12 years: deal with it and move on.  If there's one thing I have learned over the years, it's that losing happens and you have to deal with it at some point in time.  And as a UT fan right now, dealing with losing is becoming all too familiar for us.  So my advice to you is this: learn to expect for the worst but hope for the best.  UT football is at a state right now where we have to be patient and hope for the best in the future, and the way Butch Jones is building this team is showing great signs of success for years to come.  So as hard as it is to deal with losing almost every week without burning mattresses and rioting in Presidential Court, it's something that has to be done.