I Still Had Fun
On the Tennessee baseball season coming to a close after losing to Notre Dame in the Super Regionals on Sunday afternoon.
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It’s been a couple of days now since the Tennessee Volunteers were eliminated in the Super Regionals by Notre Dame. It was a result that certainly delighted a lot of folks who did not care for the way in which manager Tony Vitello’s group carried themselves during their all-time great season in Knoxville. Before I even began this piece, I saw a Twitter user revel in the fact that Tennessee turned out to be the only SEC school in the Super Regionals not to advance to the College World Series this year.
But then I closed my phone.
I closed my phone on Sunday afternoon, too. Losing was a bummer. Seeing the response to the loss to the Fighting Irish, especially by some folks with large platforms, was an even bigger one.
So I closed my phone again. I hopped in my car and I drove right to campus. I love to run, but I really love to run when I’m frustrated. There aren’t many things in this world quite like it. I ran all around campus, up the stairs to Ayres Hall, around Neyland Stadium, and somehow wound up at Gus’s Good Time Deli by the end.
The frustrations evaporated.
In recent months, I’ve made the switch to running with nothing in my ears. No podcasts. No music. Just my thoughts as I race around Knoxville. Malcolm Gladwell swears by it, and I’m a fan, so I gave it a shot. I never looked back. He was right. It’s better. With no AirPods clogging up my eardrums, I find myself thinking about my plan for the day, for the week, for the month and sometimes even for the year as my feet hit cement block after cement block. On this Sunday afternoon, though, I was not thinking about anything of the sort.
I was just grateful.
Sure, the end result over the weekend against Notre Dame is something no Tennessee fan wanted, but, man, what a year. What a ride it was. You can dwell on Vitello leaving Chase Burns in too long or you can simply move on. Winning is fun, and winning the way this Tennessee baseball team won is something I’ll never forget. I found myself feeling so grateful just thinking about how much fun I have had from football season to basketball season to baseball season in the past year. What a run it has been for Tennessee athletics as a whole.
I was fortunate enough to be in the building for so many Tennessee victories for all three of the major sports on campus throughout the last year it’s rather silly. It made me smile to just reflect on all the different moments of joy the Vols have brought me as both a graduate student and a fan over the last year.
Getting to experience it all, including Drew Gilbert’s charisma and bat flips in person was even better.
Timing is everything in life. It’s scary how much you notice it as you age. For me, the timing was just right in leaving Atlanta for Knoxville when I did. I maintain it’s the best decision I ever made. The timing of doing my undergraduate degree at the University of North Georgia before earning my graduate degree at the University of Tennessee was perfect. I was not ready for a big school then, like I was ready for a big school now. I met the woman I’m going to marry this fall here, but I met her at the right time for me and the right time for her.
Timing is everything.
As I continued running around campus, I thought about the future. Tennessee baseball is in a great place and only going to get better. Even if the Vols take a slight step back next season without Gilbert, Beck, Lipscomb, Russell and Lipcius, the Super Regionals showed that maybe just being one of the best teams in the conference is the better path to Omaha in 2023 than being the best team in the conference. Tennessee basketball is in a great place and only going to get better. Tennessee football is in a great place and only going to get better.
Listeners of the podcast know that I often joke about the fact that Tennessee is, in fact, an “Everything School” at the moment. I really do feel that way, though. Athletic Director Danny White has this thing humming all across the board.
It would have been nice to make it to Omaha. It would have been nice to see the Vols finish it out and cement themselves as maybe the best college baseball team of all time. It would have been just awesome for Vitello and his guys. However, as I ran past Stokely Hall I thought about this team and the men’s basketball team both winning the SEC Tournament in the same year, making history in the process. I have watched a lot more victories on Rocky Top this season than losses.
I’m grateful for that.
Sports are still, at their core, an escape for us. Tennessee baseball was an unbelievable escape for so many Tennessee folks this spring. Being there in person so often, and not in the press box, there was nothing like it. Fans had a good time. Often. Kids became Mike Honcho superfans. I saw how a fanbase and program had Evan Russell’s back when he needed it most, like they had Zakai Zeigler and his family’s back a few months prior, and I saw a team that played the game in a way that made Friday nights and Sunday afternoons in Knoxville electric all season long.
I’m not sure if Tennessee baseball will ever field a team this dominant ever again. I’m certain a lot of folks around the SEC are pulling for that to be the case. Tennessee baseball was not for everybody this season, but that’s OK. They did not ever pretend to be. They were who they were, and that’s part of what made folks on Rocky Top buy in so much last season and even more so this season. They won a lot of stinkin’ games by a lot of stinkin’ runs while hitting a lot of stinkin’ homers doing it their way. Like Drew Gilbert’s walk-up song said all year, the BaseVols wanted it that way.
As I walked back to my car, I looked over at Neyland. I thought about football season being up next, but I also thought about how fortunate I was to be here in Knoxville, both cheering on the Vols both as a student and a fan. I had the privilege of seeing one of the most dominant college baseball teams ever assembled up close and in person more times than I could count this season.
Omaha or no Omaha, I will look back at this year’s team years later and smile. They were a collection of superstar players and superstar personalities you won’t ever forget. Drew Gilbert, Trey Lipscomb, Chase Dollander, Jordan Beck, you name ‘em. I saw ‘em.
And, boy, am I grateful I did.
Go Vols.