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Commodore Notebook: February 6 2/6/2006 By Rod Williamson When Results Don’t Meet Expectations The other day I read where Google made record or near-record quarterly profits but its stock took a nosedive when those quarterly profits didn’t meet Wall Street expectations. I found that confusing. The company appears to be rolling in revenue, yet apparently it is not enough for the outside experts. Few would define our basketball seasons to date as “record or near-record profits” as in Google’s case but both teams are comfortably above .500. Yet I read some of our faithful on chat lines posting as though the sky has fallen on Memorial Gymnasium. Our teams and our coaches are in this to win, let’s get that established. But while everyone in Black and Gold has been disappointed with a couple of critical losses — as in the case of our men – it is a good time to step outside the paint and call a 30-second timeout. First of all, the season is not over. We hit a shot in the last 10 seconds of the Georgia game and we would be talking about beating ‘Bama and Kentucky this week. That shot misses its mark by an inch and suddenly some fans are throwing in the towel on the year. Is that a loyal, competitive spirit? Secondly, let’s try to remember collegiate athletics is being played by real people — kids 18-22 years old. These are not video games where the pretend players never have a bad day; these are youngsters that have lots going in their lives. I don’t know about you but sometimes I’m less than 100% because I am thinking about something else that might be more important to me at the moment than my job. Why would college student-athletes be any different than us? No doubt some of us have a kink in our neck from peeking eastward at what is going on in Knoxville. The Vols are one of the surprise teams in the nation — so far. But I seem to recall our game last week in Thompson-Boling was not decided until the last minute of play so I’m not buying they are suddenly out of our league. A reminder, Gerry DiNardo was SEC Coach of the Year in 1991 after taking over for Watson Brown; we had a 5-6 record but it beat expectations. Show me a fan base that doesn’t care if their team doesn’t win and I’ll show you an apathetic program that is in trouble. But let’s take a few deep breaths from standard talk show gloom and doom. It’s still just early February! Victory in Knoxville Sales Strong The pubic response to the “Victory in Knoxville” DVD has been good. Officials at the Vanderbilt Bookstore confirmed that over 2,000 copies have been sold. The DVD features highlights of our football victory over Tennessee last November along with interviews by Joe Fisher with many of the key Commodore participants including Coach Bobby Johnson, Jay Cutler, Moses Osemwegie, Earl Bennett, Marlon White and others. A few copies remain on sale at the Vanderbilt Bookstore. Additionally, about 3,000 Victory in Knoxville t-shirts were also sold. Big Blue Here Saturday Don’t forget the Kentucky game Saturday begins at 2:00 p.m. and is being televised by Jefferson-Pilot Sports. The featured sponsor will be the United States Army, whose participation will be highlighted by a halftime swearing in ceremony for new area recruits taking their oaths. Girl Campers in Free Thursday There is free admission to the women’s basketball game with Arkansas Thursday evening for any girl who attended a Vanderbilt summer sports camp last summer. All that is required is that the campers wear her official camp t-shirt to the game. Game time is 7 p.m.
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