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I will be on vacation when Tennessee football plays its spring game on April 13. The timing isn’t coincidental.
A college spring football game is one of the most meaningless events in sports. It’s so meaningless I once served as a “coach” in one.
It’s less significant than an NFL preseason game. At least, you can guess which players might get cut while evaluating the last quarter of a late summer exhibition. College players don’t get cut, though they’re sometimes encouraged to hit the transfer portal.
A spring football game is even less important than an NBA regular-season game. Points are pouring through NBA nets so fast these days, who’s to say some sharpshooter won’t hit a 100? You won’t see history at a spring game.
In fact, spring scrimmages can be more illuminating than a spring game.
Despite what I think of spring games, I wouldn’t discourage a fan from centering a spring Saturday around one.
Fans view spring games differently. It’s a chance for them to see their team for the first time in several months. At places like Tennessee, that matters.
Tennessee has one of the greatest fan bases in sports. That’s evident by how its fans fill up stadiums and arenas, and by how they sometimes lash out at the outside world on social media.
That’s why it bothers me that so few of them will be able to attend the spring game. Neyland Stadium is under construction, so seating will be limited to 10,000 fans. Tennessee could draw that many fans for an autograph session with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Colleague Adam Sparks can vouch for that. He covers every aspect of Tennessee football, which explains why he was at an NIL event featuring Iamaleava. Fans stood in line for two hours for an autograph and photo with Iamaleava, who played so little as a freshman in 2023 he was able to redshirt.
But his fame preceded…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-shouldnt-measure-tennessee-football-100343563.html
Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-02-27 10:03:43
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