As far as, recapturing the magic of the old rivalry goes, I agree with Tony, those days are happily gone and live on only in the night terrors of those who lived them.
One of the few positives, springs from the choice to place the “Summitt” behind bars…. [Good lord, for the sake of the children, I do hope that it remains forever shackled in its inglorious pit of doom and despair, its denizens shuttering under the grotesque thumbs of their overlords.]
Unfortunately, I suppose it is inevitable that UConn and UTenn will meet in the tourney someday, but for the sake of all that is good and holy, I hope that day holds off for as long as possible.
The truth is that the fanbases just don’t do well together… the typical Utenn fan may be a civilized human being outside of his/her/its world of WCBB fandom, but he/she/it is most definitely a barbarian inside that world. Fandom is a war to them. Not a fun, playful, normal kind of war typical of normal, emotionally healthy, semi-rational sports fans that can be found from north to south and coast to coast, but a dark, dank, dismal kind of war dripping with delusion, demonization & despair. Think typical fandom and magnify the devolution effect of fandom by several orders of magnitude… then add the equivalent of conversational brass knuckles, all manner of shanks, shivs & saliva. For them, outsiders must be stripped of their dignity & humanity and paraded naked in front of the little folk as a warning. Other teams coaches and players must be discredited on a personal level. Disagreement must be destructive and completely disagreeable.
Obviously, those few UTenn fans that are closer in fan temperament to LV9 and AVF are engaging and easy to deal with in a forum like the BY. BUT, be advised…. this is a Pandoric box that will be opened… the phantasmagoria, ghosts, grotesque sprites, malicious, mischievous and malevolent goblins will once again be set upon WCBB fandom. The question is::: Are you ready for them?
So, for me, there is little else to be said other than BOO, hiss, bah to a Uconn – Utenn game.
Old-timers will see my post for what it is, a true softening of my long held opinion on the topic…. For the more recent members of our BY community, believe me.., I’ve mellowed.
Have a nice day
Boooooooooooooooooooooo