The FanSided 250 fandoms ranking ignored the Tennessee Vols again. Rocky Top’s Volunteers get no love.
When it comes to fan bases, the Tennessee Vols are among the best in the nation. Tennessee football and Tennessee basketball are both consistently among the highest-rated in attendance, and the Tennessee Lady Vols have arguably the most robust fan base in the nation.
Unfortunately, though, they continue to get left off FanSided’s annual ranking of fandoms. For the third straight year, the FanSided 250 ultimate fandom ranking left UT fans off its list. These rankings include the 250 biggest and best fan bases of everything, from celebrities to sports teams to shows.
There were 26 college programs that made the list. Not one of them involved the Tennessee Vols. How could anybody believe that Rocky Top does not have one of the top 26 college fan bases in the nation?
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By the way, last year’s list had 21 colleges, and the 2018 list had 25 colleges. We should take into account that in each of those years and this year, the Vols were in the top 10 in attendance in football, women’s basketball and men’s basketball. No other team in the nation could say that last year alone.
How in the world could you see that fact and not think this is a top 20 fan base every year? Heck, Vol fans should have bought themselves a decade in the top five on this list simply due to Vol Twitter single-handedly killing a potential coaching hire in 2017.
Worse yet for UT are the programs that got in over Rocky Top. For the second straight year, the Memphis Tigers made the list. Sorry, but the U of M should never rank ahead of UT. The North Dakota State Bison, Stanford Cardinal and Baylor Bears were all in there too.
Regardless of the success of the athletic programs, Vol fans always belong near the top of this list. They are out in full force no matter what. Last year, with those attendance numbers we mentioned, UT failed to have a top 25 season in any of those major sports. Fans still showed up.
Simply put, Tennessee Vols fans are among the most dedicated in the country, and it’s always wrong to leave them off any list of fan bases. Leaving them off of this one three years in a row is the height of disrespect.