Perfection. Shout out Tennessee grounds crew. Neyland is pristine.
Third Saturday in October.
Crisp chilly air.
Home jerseys.
College football at its best.
Tennessee fans :
Pre season : True freshman QB. Iโm leaning towards 8-4. Texas, A&M and LSU are probably losses.
Lose by 3 to #1 Texas*
โHeupel ainโt the guyโ
โSame story every yearโ
โFaizon isnโt a 5 starโ
โFaizon is leavingโ
โฆโฆ..
USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then โ I must report this calmly โ the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did weโฆ?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished โ an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
@TJStats@BobbyFi How about a straight pride hats that we pressure yall into wearing. The rest of the team didnโt wanna wear that stuff anyway, theyโre just afraid of the backlash from the woke/lgbtq mob.