If you're only hating Tennessee one week per year, you are doing it wrong

It's the Third Saturday in October week, meaning one of the SEC's most significant rivalries - the Alabama Crimson Tide vs. the Tennessee Volunteers - will rekindle their rivalry on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville in the 106th meeting between the two schools.

You will undoubtedly see Alabama fans far and wide posting on social media about a "Tennessee hate week." Under normal circumstances, that's fine. You could call last week "South Carolina hate week" if you want. I'd even accept a "Georgia hate week." But for Tennessee, there is no such thing. Hating Tennessee is a seven day per week, 52 weeks per year, 365 day hate. Not a day goes by that you shouldn't hate the Viles.

Nick Saban might have rendered the rivalry mostly moot on a national stage by leading the Crimson Tide to a glorious 15-game winning streak over Tennessee from 2007-2021. That streak could have gone another 100 years and never have been long enough.

Regardless of its lost luster on the national stage, this rivalry is intense. Tennessee fans hate Alabama, and we have no problem returning the vitriol. Ask many older Alabama fans and they'll tell you they consider Tennessee a bigger rivalry game than the Iron Bowl.

The younger generation won't ever agree because of how mercilessly Saban beat Tennessee every single year. But for those of us who remember the 7 game losing streak to them from 1995-2001, and losing 10 out of the 12 meetings between 1995 and 2006, the hate never changes. From Peyton Manning directing the band following the 1998 game to the five overtime loss in 2003. It was misery.

The game mattered a lot back during Coach Bryant's tenure. It intensified with Phil Fulmer coaching the Vols, and his infamous "putting Alabama out of business line." Fulmer tried to kill this program. He failed, but you should never forget his goal. Instead, it was Alabama that put Tennessee out of business, rendering the Volunteers irrelevant for the vast majority of Saban's tenure in Tuscaloosa.

Fulmer is still around, wielding his influence over the program. The thought of that man getting a single shred of happiness out of a win over Alabama doesn't sit right with me. It's why I'm still not fully over the 2022 loss that ended the streak. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night from the nightmare of the phantom flag on Kool-Aid McKinstry's interception that would have sealed the game and we'd be talking about going for an 18th straight win over Tennessee this year.

I hate Tennessee. I hate the color orange. I hate Phil Fulmer. There's not a redeeming quality about that program and I wish them nothing but failure over and over again. That feeling doesn't change or even intensify just because it's the week of the game. I let that hate flow through me all year long.

My overall feelings on Tennessee can be summed up in one, epic video. If I feel the hate slipping, even just a little bit, I pull it up and watch it, though I don't really need to because I have the whole thing memorized.

Auburn has the creed, I have this video and live by it.

When you hear your friends or family members talking about a mythical Tennessee hate week this week, make sure you correct them. Because hating Tennessee is year around and never ceases.