Sports fans don’t look at the fine print. They pay their dollars and invest their emotions in hopes of a good time, which usually requires a victory on the back end.
And on that simple yet wholly understandable level, this University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball season has been a colossal disappointment.
You just don’t lose a school-record (as a Division I member) 20 games, finish winless on the road for the first time ever and expect the masses to pat you on the back and say, “That’s OK. You’ll get ’em next year.”
So whatever the vast majority of Mocs Maniacs are feeling these days, they’re entitled. They’re justified. And whatever scenario they wish for UTC’s future, they just might be right.
But players’ parents are made of different stuff. They want their sons to win, if only to make them happy. But they also want something more important. They want them to go from boys to men. Responsible men. Successful men.