Tennessee warmed up in orange jerseys, then for a bit of a boost along with it being halloween, went into the locker room, changed, and ran out onto the field in black jerseys.  The U and T sections of the crowd immediately reacted to this by all having simultaneous hissy fits.  It was the most nose they’ve made at the stadium since the last time they told the youngsters to sit down.  Interestingly, the “whipper snappers” are now banned from all donor sections.

Judging from the reaction to rumors before the game of possibly having black jerseys, Tennessee how has about 500,000 less fans, so if you’re looking to get in on this bandwagon.  Come on board.

Online forums such as VolNation were understandably somewhat split, with some folks only screaming tradition tradition tradition, whilst others thought it was cool, with a 20+ page thread accompanying the subject.  Nevermind the old folks who are screaming that next we will be replacing the Power T with a butthole (and also nevermind the fact that the current Power T was designed by Doug Dickey back in the 60s), there are younger folks too screaming foul, or even reluctantly liking the design… but wanting this to be a one time thing.

One comment I particularly enjoyed was the following:

To all of you that dislike the black jersey…that was the loudest I have seen a crowd at the start of a game ever…the stadium wasn’t even full…the team was the most energized I have seen them at the beginning of game in years…a new era of Volunteer Football in upon us…embrace it…this is definitely more effective ‘hope and change’ than those that have promised “hope and change”…pun intended.

Now, I’m not an expert on puns…  But.  Hey reader, you really enjoy reading terrible writing.  Pun intended!  Zing!

Anyway, this isn’t the important part of this post.. Here’s the important part.  We here at fulmer’s belly.  Freaking CALLED IT!

Check out the original post here.

Now, let’s get to my favorite rendition (and one that I’m personally quite proud of, even though it could have been a little better, but you know, it’s sort of half assed).  The black uniform with the alternate black helmet with black britches:  (click the pic for a bigger version)

Woo! Feel the juke!

There you have it.  I think they look pretty fantastic (except with just the black pants), and you know, variety is the spice of life.  It’s time to start our own traditions, instead of just living in the shadows of Doug Dickey’s creative traditionalism.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Power T, and most of the things he’s enacted, but let’s not pretend that his innovations are the same thing as “tradition” and “history” in the real sense of the words.  The real tradition of Tennessee football is putting a competitive team on the field, and practicing the 7 Maxims of Football.  Other than that, it’s all child’s play.

Now, the black pants and the fancy helmets didn’t pan out (Georgia kind of took that idea and ran with it… which i personally thought looked kind of cool.. maybe next time, they could paint the helmets yellow, and the background of the G green… which would look sharp… but i digress), but the jerseys man.. were spot on.  Black shirt, orange numbers, white border, orange neck thingy part.  Damn I’m good.

Oh yeah, and Tennessee won.  yay?