University of Tennessee at Knoxville football fans who weren't paying quite enough attention in the last few days may have misunderstood the message.
Thursday was "Wear Orange" day.
Perhaps thinking Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam had signed a proclamation congratulating the football team on being ranked in the top 10 of several recent preseason polls, thousands of Vol fans may have donned their DayGlo orange and relished being able to talk about the team's mention - for the first time in years - in the top echelons of college football.
You could just imagine the premature speculation voiced about a win over Alabama, an undefeated season and, dare we say it, even a national championship.
Until the arrival of a non-Volniac wearing orange:
Vol fan: "I see you've finally come around. You're wearing orange like the rest of us."
Non-fan: "What are you talking about?"
Vol fan: "Your orange. You're finally on the Tennessee bandwagon."
Non-fan: "Oh no. I have this on because it's 'Wear Orange' day."
Vol fan: "Right the team we're going to be great this year."
Non-fan: "No, the 'Wear Orange' is for National Gun Violence Awareness Day."
Vol fan: "It's not for the Vols?"
Non-fan: "No, it's to raise awareness of gun violence to such a level that our lawmakers do something about the proliferation of guns in our communities."
Vol fan: "Proliferwhat? Oh, never mind. I'm taking this off. I don't want people to think I'm for gun control."
Non-fan: "It's not "
Vol fan: "But how will people know I'm a Vol fan if I'm not wearing my orange?"
Non-fan: "This is just one day. It's to highlight some of these senseless killings - like the random ones in which children and innocent victims get caught up."
Vol fan: "I don't know. It's gonna look pretty ridiculous in September when Neyland is rocking all that orange and one of those national media types says something stupid like, 'Look at that. It's a whole stadium full of people against gun violence.' How embarrassing would that be?"
Non-fan (after a beat): "A whole stadium full of people against gun violence? Hmm, yeah, I guess that would be pretty embarrassing."
Almost 50 percent of Tennessee households (46.4 percent) own a gun, giving it the 12th highest percentage of the 50 states. Its 15.4 percentage rate of gun deaths per 100,000 people ranks it 10th in the country.
But the chances are, if a Tennessee household is on record as owning a gun, it's likely to be a legal gun. And legal guns - ones bought legally and used by the people who bought them - are responsible for a minuscule number of gun deaths, perhaps as few as 3 to 6 percent.
So most of those Tennesseans - even the Vol fans - are not the targets of National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which was reported to be actively marked in 150 cities. They're not the ones who might have seen the Tennessee State Capitol and the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge in Nashville, Tiger Lane in Memphis, or the Henley Bridge in Knoxville lit in orange and had to worry about someone coming to get their guns.
Indeed, Jodi Jones, the campaign leader for the Tri-Cities chapter of Moms Demand Action, told WJHL news that the color orange represents human life.
"Orange is what hunters wear, and that is what keeps you safe from being shot by guns," she said. "Orange says, 'I'm human' it says, 'Please don't shoot at me.'"
In Chattanooga, someone shot at Bianca Horton recently and killed her. She was a mother of four and, most notably, the mom of a tiny daughter paralyzed by a previous shooting incident over which she was about to testify.
Someone, likely someone with an illegal gun, didn't want her to testify. Her assassin and those of the assassin's ilk are the ones to whom the annual campaign is directed.
Today, Vol fans can go back to proudly wearing their orange. And if for just a moment they ponder the need to keep illegal guns out of the hands of those who would perpetrate violence, and what might be done about it, that's all right, too.