University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T - All About Fun
October 31, 2014 | General
By Brian RiceUTSports.com
Sports are supposed to be fun.
I was reminded of that a lot over the last week as various events have come and gone at Tennessee, all of them coming with a strong side effect of fun.
It started on Friday afternoon with the dedication of the Joan Cronan Volleyball Center. It's not every day a school opens a new athletic facility, particularly one as desperately needed as the new volleyball practice facility. The Cronan Center met the need of a program that has had plenty of success along the way, but no home to show for it.
Standing in the back of the room Friday afternoon, my look turned often to the players, who stood to the side of the stage beaming with pride at the new building they stood in. Rob Patrick had the same look on the stage. When all of us left, they would not have to. This was their place.
Was it any coincidence that two days later the team looked completely different in a win over Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling? Let's be clear, it's been a rough season for the young team. The win over the Rebels was the first SEC win of the year, but in that winning moment, they were having fun.
Tennessee soccer felt it as well. The team needed two wins in its last two games to qualify for the SEC Tournament. It was not the position that Brian Pensky wanted his team to be in by this point of the year. But he told them to relax and, most importantly, have fun.
In front of a Senior Day crowd that included over a dozen alumni that had returned for a reunion weekend and ESPNU television cameras, the team hammered Missouri, one of the SEC's better teams, 3-0. It really wasn't even that close.
A road game at Ole Miss still stood in their way. A 1-0 lead was fun, a 2-1 deficit was not. But fighting back to tie the game, then to win it in overtime produced more smiles and extended the season for at least one more game. One more chance to have fun together.
Events like Big Orange Madness last Friday night are all about fun. Whether it's seeing a freshman play for the first time, watching someone you've seen for years try to upstage teammates in a dunk contest or meeting a favorite player in the autograph line, it was all about fun.
Maybe the biggest reminder was Tennessee baseball's Halloween Extravaganza Thursday afternoon. Head coach Dave Serrano took one of his team's valuable fall practice days and dressed like a chicken.
His team took the field dressed up as everything from Forrest Gump to Gumby. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters was taking ground balls, President Obama was pitching and a giant orange was standing in the coaching box.
I'll be honest, it's hard to take a guy in a yellow chicken suit seriously. But something Serrano said in the media availability really struck me as I looked around and saw the fun every person on the field was having.
"I've seen a totally different attitude out of our guys today," he said. "Baseball is supposed to be fun and today is fun. We're actually giving up a legitimate practice day for us to come out here and dress up in Halloween costumes and enjoy being around each other."
It's certainly easier to have fun when you're winning, but sometimes you have to embrace the fun before the wins start to come a little more naturally.
