Column by Austin Hill
I was born and raised in Jackson, Tenn., about an hour and a half west of Nashville. When I was 12, my mother and I moved to Maryville, Tenn., for five years, where I attended Maryville High School. The Maryville Red Rebels are the rival of the Alcoa Tornadoes — the high school Randall Cobb attended.
Both the Rebels and Tornadoes are football juggernauts defending state championships this weekend. Off-field, the rivalry is less than civil, as Maryville fans often fly Confederate flags at their games, perpetuating hatred on the gridiron and in the stands.
Knowing the blatant hatred Cobb dealt with throughout high school, I was one of many Tennessee fans who was skeptical of the Kentucky game last Saturday. I have lived in Lexington for 15 years, yet am still a Vol at heart.
I pull for the Cats every week and am a Kentucky student but a Tennessee boy. Anyone who believes that is an outrage should move away for a couple of years and then come back and tell me if you could just turn your back on your heritage. When you’re born a fan of a team, it gets in your blood and stays with you.
I believed Kentucky would beat Tennessee and the streak would end at 24 years. I believed Cobb would be the man to beat them. I had a birthday this week and decided to have some family up to attend the game.
My father still lives in Jackson and pulls for the Vols, but he also pulls for the Cats, and he definitely pulls for Cobb. Two tickets cost us $250 to sit 30 rows up on the 40-yard line, which was well worth it for the all-important rivalry game. I was able to score a season ticket sitting with my girlfriend in her seats on the other 40, and we were ready to go.
I wanted to see what it would be like from the other side’s perspective, being dressed as an away fan — a simple pullover and a hat. Before kickoff, I was already being harassed by the son of an owner of a local retail chain and his gang of 40-year-old frat boys. They were eyeballing me and making snide comments. Meanwhile, a man in his mid-50s sitting behind me is littering my stadium blanket with peanut shells, kicking them over onto the stairs any chance he could get.
I was not obnoxious, not screaming “Rocky Top,†just clapping for Tennessee when they made a play, the same way I suspect traveling Kentucky fans had done a week earlier in Georgia.
As I turned around, I noticed the man behind me and the group to the left were acting like they were going to throw me over the railing after a Tennessee touchdown. I simply made a comment about dropped coverage in the end zone being the reason for the score and went back to clapping.
Through the third quarter, I was bullied. A snotty 40-year-old father came over to my seats, taunting my girlfriend, baiting me to hit him, reminding me I was in Blue Nation.
With about six minutes left in the game, the old man behind me grabbed my blanket from my seat and threw it over to the posse of drunk bullies. I exclaimed at his childish act, only to be told if I wanted it back to come and get it.
Knowing I would be beaten for it, I said forget it, and turned to the man behind me telling him to act his age. He stumbled a bit on the beer cans below his feet and began to threaten me if I didn’t sit down. I said no, we exchanged words and then he sucker punched me in the teeth.
Season ticket holders bullying the away fans may seem like hardcore fans, but it is a black eye to the program. I have heard all the stories about Neyland, Death Valley and Legion Field. I would tell any fan at those stadiums as well that if someone pays to see a sporting event, they deserve the right to wear what they want, cheer for their team win or lose and not be subjected to childish bullying or harassment.
Even though UK fans hate Tennessee fans, remember there were four seniors from Tennessee that had families in the crowd. A neutral guy like my father wanted to see a good game, and if Cobb and the Cats would have buried the Vols, he would have cheered for them.
It’s about sportsmanship, and though there are differences in teams and rivalries, without it we are left with hatred and violence. Sports are supposed to be fun, and there is nothing fun about that.
Austin Hill is an English senior. E-mail opinions@kykernel.com.
As a Vol fan myself who was actually born and raised in Lexington (my father is from Oak Ridge and went to school at UT) I must agree with Austin. The lack of respect for fans of opposing teams is awful at UK! My father and I go to the UK/UT game every year whether it is here or in Knoxville and every time we go to Commonwealth it is an embarrassment to UK to see how their fans act. Remember it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. A couple of years ago when the game was here and UT won, we were cursed at and called some rather choice names for being Vol fans. One drunk fan started yelling at me and called me a whore because he was mad that UK lost, and I was cheering for my team. The bad thing was my poor father felt like he was helpless in doing anything to defend his daughter while this ignorant fool ran his potty mouth. It was pretty ugly, and I am sure his karma caught up with him at some point.
This year in the same fashion we were yelled at also and even though we were in the Vol section there was a UK fan who was taunting the entire section yelling rude remarks, so much so that the man who was guarding our section (a UK fan) called a police officer over to watch him and he finally had to come up in the stands and talk to the man. As we walked to the car a fellow Vol fan told us about being out in town at Garden Ridge shopping and that a UK fan had attacked them verbally telling them to go home and asking why they even came here. I agree with Austin that Tennessee has not had the best season and I was worried we would lose to the Cats this year, but even when we have been great I never talk smack to the opposing team or their fans because you never know what can happen. I am thrilled that my team won of course, and sadly not surprised that the UK fans acted this way. I have been to games at other venues and honestly I have never seen any team have nastier fans than UK. Their lack of respect for others only shows a lack of respect for themselves and makes them look like fools, not to mention sore losers.