Vol fans get in on the fun selling and sporting Classless vs. Catholic shirts for Super Regionals

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Lindsey Nelson Stadium was filled with fans across Vol Nation, lined up outside the park wearing all sorts of UT gear Friday night.

One t-shirt was catching the eye of nearly everyone; a white shirt with orange and green lettering saying ‘Classless vs. Catholics’.

”It’s a throwback to the 80′s Catholics vs. convicts and you know the Vols have taken on that classless mantra that we’re here to play ball whether you like it or not,” said the man selling the shirt who didn’t want his identity revealed.

Friday night with shirts ready to go to the presses, he received a cease and desist letter from UT lawyers, advising him that his plans for the shirts, couldn’t move forward.

It wasn’t the writing on the front, but the writing on the back using “Vols” and “UT”, both copyrights the university owns.

What was written on the front, was good to go though, and he sent them to the presses hoping to sell 250.

“The success of Coach Vitello, his program, and this staff, it’s unimaginable,” he said. “There’s a ton of die-hard Tennessee baseball fans that you know, kind of go unnoticed because of football, basketball, Lady Vol basketball, softball and this is just their time to shine and I’m pumped to be a part of it.”

Just outside the gates with a box of shirts, a wad of cash, and his phone, he peddled the shirts to students, parents, and fans of Tennessee baseball.

As students filed in wearing their $20 shirts, in the field of fans without $300 tickets at the free watch party, one mom stood out among the rest, proudly showing off her shirt.

“I found this highly entertaining, I saw it on Instagram on the way here and I found the guy selling them and I’ll say, it’s the best $20 I’ll ever spend,” she said.

She wasn’t the only one wearing it, and surely not the only one embracing what Vol fans love about UT Baseball, a feeling that no one in the dugout cares what the outside world thinks of them.

“So it means we have to embrace the way we are kind of perceived in the world because like this team they’re the villains of college baseball and like the University of Tennessee is not a villain of the college athletics world, but, we’re treated that way, in large part, ever since 2017 we’ve been treated that way, I think it’s really fun to kind of think, it’s a fun entertaining thing to embrace,” she said.

The man intended to return Saturday to sell the shirts again.

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