Scorned

As a teenager in the '90s, I grew up with a massive satellite dish in the side yard that allotted me a wide breadth of entertainment options.  One of these options was Showtime.  If you find yourself reading this as a male of similar age and entertainment options, and you DIDN'T ever stay up late to watch Shannon Tweed movies, then you are a better man than I am (or any of my buddies for that matter; you know who you are).  One of Shannon Tweed's most iconic films is the 1994 classic Scorned where she plays a scorned vixen out to avenge her husband's death by systematically destroying  the people she holds responsible.  

The entire Jon Gruden debacle (Is he coming?  Is he going?  Has he rejected the offer?  Was he ever offered?  Are Hart and the big boosters crossed up?) has Volunteer fans feeling SCORNED (Hence, the Shannon Tweed title)!  Of course, the Gruden letdown will be an unfair welcome mat for the eventual coach that is actually hired at UT.  Instead of the red carpet, this coach will be met with second fiddle scowls from the Volunteer faithful.  Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse in Knoxville, the process of hiring a coach has elicited inaccurate reporting from the Bluff City to the Smoky Mountains.  Twitter has been a steady supply of rumors (or "Grumors" as it has been dubbed).  The entire fanbase is going crazy right now. 

Once this arduous process is concluded and the new Head Coach is introduced, I hope Volunteer fans will fully get behind the new coach and embrace him as as one of our own.  Whether it's Charlie Strong, Jimbo Fisher, Al Golden, Jim Mora Jr. or someone else, this new coach deserves a clean slate, not scorned scowls of contempt.  Would Gruden have been great?  Absolutely!  I wish that it would have worked out.  It just wasn't in the cards so it's time to release the scorned attitudes in favor of a positive outlook.