Randy Smith: Some Vols' Fans Need A Time Out

When youngsters misbehave they are sent to "time out." That's when they are sent to another room, or even a corner by themselves to think about what they had done to get them in trouble with their teacher or parents. Some Tennessee fans need a big " time out ". Some of their comments on social media are absolutely made without thought or common sense and since the basketball Vols have been ranked number one in the country for almost a month, they have been really bad.

There is a Facebook site called " Vols for Life " where the recent comments have reached an amazing peak of stupidity. One guy had started a discussion about Vols' announcers and how much they missed John Ward. That's fine, but posts like that always opens the door for others to complain about other members of the Vol Network roster. One person out of the blue, makes a ridiculous claim that a certain announcer was " lit when the game started, and got drunker by game's end." I responded by saying that I had known this person for more than 35 years and I had never seen him drunk.

Other comments involved former coach Butch Jones and some guy wrote that he couldn't understand why there was so much disrespect toward Jones. Has this person been on another planet for the last three years? Several other fans took care of that guy.

Of course there have been really negative posts about women's coach Holly Warlick and they are probably justified. The Lady Vols may not make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the tournament's inception thirty-seven years ago. 

But what really gets my dander up are the whiny comments regarding a perceived lack of respect from the national media and especially ESPN. Every day there are several posts and comments taking issue with something one had said about Duke being the best team in the country. Sure the Volunteers have been on top of the polls for four weeks, but that poll means absolutely nothing. After tonight's game at home with South Carolina, Tennessee plays at Kentucky on Saturday and they still have to play at LSU down the road. Tennessee has won 18 straight games but few if any rational fans really expect the Vols to finish the regular season with just one loss. I personally think they could lose two or three times between now and the start of the NCAA Tournament next month. 

This has been a great season for the Big Orange and I wish fans would embrace the team's success and not stress so much about what could happen. That attitude is why we were the laughing stock in college football a little more than a year ago before we hired Jeremy Pruitt to coach our football team. We've never been this high on the mountain before. Just relax and enjoy the moment or take a " time out " and let things happen as they will.