By Walt Barron: A close, personal friend to Rocky Top Insider, Barron is a lifelong Vol fan who will travel when he can but mostly cheers for the Big Orange from his home in Durham, NC.
The transfer portal has been on Vol fans’ minds a lot lately, hasn’t it?
Seventeen Tennessee football players entered it before the winter window closed, which sounds high compared to the pre-portal years but is right at the average of all SEC programs. Several of them didn’t even stick around for the opportunity to play in the historic 12-team College Football Playoff game versus Ohio State.
Two days before Christmas, highly touted Vol basketball player Cam Carr left the program 11 games into the season and supposedly without much warning. Carr was recovering from a thumb injury, but he was still a significant part of the team’s rotational plans for the rest of this season and beyond. Like his portal peers in football, Carr decided not to stick around for the opportunity to play for the current No. 1 team Vegas says has the third best chance to win a national championship.
I’m not equipped to judge any of these decisions or to say what impact these departures will have on their respective teams. But as a fan, I have to admit that some of them in particular really sting.
That sounds silly, I know. I’m a nearly 50-year-old man. My life shouldn’t be affected by the decisions of some 18-23 year-olds who I don’t know and likely never will meet.
But that’s part of being a fan, isn’t it? We don’t just cheer for the names and colors on the jerseys. We cheer for the people, too. We take the time to get to know them and their stories. We tell others about them. We buy their jerseys and wear their leis. Some of us contribute to the collectives that help fund their NIL earnings. Some even name children or pets after them (I’m not here to judge).
Even if they won’t ever have the slightest clue who we are, we still take the time to get to know them not just as players, but also as people. The more we feel we know them, the more joy we get when they succeed.
So it makes sense that the flip is just as true: when they lose, we hurt. And when they leave, we hurt even more.
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This dynamic was on display this past Saturday afternoon in the Food City Center. The Arkansas game is one I’d been dreading for months. I knew it would make me sad, regardless of the outcome.
It helps to know that I grew up in Knoxville but have lived in Durham, North Carolina, the past 20 years. Like other Vol ex-pats, I wear the orange and white with pride amongst the blues and red along Tobacco Road. My pride swells when a player from this area decides to play for the Vols.
Like Jonas Aidoo.
When the Durham native signed with the Vols in April 2021, I was pumped. Anytime the Big Orange can infiltrate ACC country for a talent like Aidoo, it’s a coup. Whenever he’d score, rebound or block a shot, I’d happily tell my wife and daughters, “That’s Jonas Aidoo, from right here in the Bull City!” For three seasons, we got to watch him grow into an all-SEC player (among many other accolades) who helped the Vols reach the Elite 8 for only the second time in program history.
But when he announced he was leaving Tennessee in April 2024, I was deflated. The fact he later chose to transfer to an SEC rival added insult to injury.
I knew I’d be conflicted about his return this past weekend. Of course, I wanted the Vols to win. But I didn’t want us to treat him like a traitor. Which we did. Fans showered him with boos, from the moment he was introduced to every time he touched the ball. They celebrated when he missed consecutive free throws – and not just because they got free Chick-fil-A as a result. They reveled in his misery.
Leading up to the game, Coach Barnes downplayed Aidoo’s return and any tension or bitterness that might still linger. When he saw Aidoo after the game, he was the opposite of bitter.
“I hugged him and told him I love him, because I do,” Barnes said. “I’ll always love him.”
I know it’s foolish to expect fans to show this type of unconditional love to a former Vol turned rival. I’m sure some fans believe their booing gave us more of a home-court advantage. And besides, spite is a natural, expected response to feeling betrayed.
But what a world it would be if we could all follow the example Coach Barnes set especially if and when we ever welcome back Cam Carr, or Squirrel White, or Tobe Awaka or (God forbid) another current Vol player. Once a Vol, always a Vol shouldn’t just apply to fans’ loyalty to the Orange and White, but also to how we view anyone who once wore the Orange and White. No matter what color they now wear. We are all Vols for Life. Right?
At the very least, I bet it will make the inevitable future portal departures sting a lot less.
