Tennessee has a big trash can that it carries on its sideline. It says “Team 121” on it. Per ESPN’s Maria Taylor, the bucket is meant for Tennessee players to dunk footballs into it after they get takeaways on defense. That’s a nice little tradition.
Tennessee is now openly celebrating its turnover trash can on social media
It’s time for the can’s day in the sun.
In the season opener, a dunk missed:
A couple days after Tennessee’s 42-41 win over GT, Vols head coach Butch Jones expanded on the trash can’s significance.
And now Tennessee’s leaning into the trash can on social media.
Something cool Tennessee does is number itself every year. By that, I mean that the Vols count how many years they’ve been playing football in their history, and they call each year’s squad “Team XXX” or whatnot. So 2016 was Team 120, 2017 is Team 121, and on and on. It’s not a revolutionary thing, but it strikes me as unique and good.
Jones has a penchant for weird motivational stuff.
You probably know about the Life Championship, which Jones rhetorically awarded to his players last year, when they failed to win the SEC East after a 5-0 start.
But Jones has a whole history of oddball sayings and motivational tactics. He’s referred to his players as having five-star hearts, which is basically a Life Champs sequel.
Lots of other teams have props that are sort of like this.
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