'What I saw yesterday out of Tennessee fans left an impression' - Legendary broadcaster makes strong statement about Vols fans

Tennessee Vols fans don't necessarily have the best reputation in college sports. 

That's mostly because opposing fan bases confuse the passion of Vols fans with malevolence.

Perhaps that might be fair when it comes to social media interactions (which tend to bring out the worst in everyone), but that's not necessarily the case in "real life". 

You don't have to take my word for it, either. Just listen to what legendary CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz had to say about Tennessee fans during the Elite Eight in Indianapolis this past season. 

Nantz, a Houston alum who was in attendance for the Vols' loss to the Cougars on Sunday, joined 104.5 The Zone's 3HL earlier this week to specifically shout out Tennessee fans. 

"I'm an observer, basically, as my world. I'm an observer and I tell people what I see," said Nantz, who resides in Nashville. "And what I saw yesterday (Sunday at the Elite Eight) out of the Tennessee fans really left an impression on me that I wanted to tell your audience about. Because I'm around fans all the time. And they were so kind and generous, and not because they were pointing these comments in my direction -- I had other people at Houston say they could not believe how classy the Tennessee fans were in defeat. And I wanted you guys to hear that. It made me very proud, even more proud, to be a resident here.

"Repeatedly, as the Volunteer faithful were leaving, and their hearts were broken -- trust me, I know that feeling very well -- they would look up at a Houston fan and say, 'you guys played great today, good luck at the Final Four, we'll be pulling for you'. It was a constant stream of comments like that. As I hung around after the game yesterday, I heard it from other people, just openly talking about how generous the Tennessee fans were to the Houston fan in defeat."

"It just made, as a Tennessean now, very proud," added Nantz.