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Commodore Notebook: 9/19 9/19/2005 Notes and Commentary A Tradition is Born Vandyville was happening Saturday and for those of you who have yearned for more pre-game atmosphere, you got your wish. By 9:15 Natchez Trace was active and by 9:45 you couldn’t get from one end to the other without snaking your way through the throng. Grills were smoking, ESPN’s GameDay was on the giant video screen and there was more gold than Sutter’s Mill. Star Walk? Wow! A tremendous crowd gathered about 10:15 to cheer the Commodores as they walked from McGugin Center to Dudley Field. The reception they received sent shivers through many of the faithful. With the band blaring, cheers reverberating and that sea of gold shakers glittering in the morning light, the team and coaches inched their way single file toward the televised showdown. A newspaper report Sunday referred to the post-game return across Jess Neely Drive as the “Walk of Stars” (which might be more appropriate) and described an even more enthusiastic scene, if that were possible. By dusk, GameDay and other national media would be talking often about one of the Cinderella stories in college football — Vanderbilt. Yes, winning is fun and enthusiasm is contagious! Spied in Vandyville Kevin Stallings, Gordon Gee, Marshall Chapman, Matt Freije, Vandy Lance, Brian Reames, David Williams, John Rich, Tim Corbin, Brad Frederick, Bill Orand, Tom Richardson, Tommy Frist, Jeff Jackson, Matthew Tant, Joe Biddle, Walter Knestrick, Lindy Fowler and many more. How ’bout Those Students! Our much maligned student body, accused of coming late and leaving early in years gone by, turned in a winning performance. Their cheers could clearly be heard from the press box during the entire game and no question helped our team get through some rough spots when momentum was wearing an Ole Miss helmet. And did you notice the football team spring to the student section for the alma mater at the end of the game? Bobby Johnson was impressed enough with their spunk to write a letter of appreciation that appeared as a full page in Monday’s student paper. Stat Pages It is nice to look at the SEC football statistical leaders and see Vanderbilt at or near the top in many offensive categories. Perhaps the stat of this week is our SEC leading and No. 20 national ranking in total offense. Jay Cutler leads the league in total offense individually by a wide margin. Richmond Tickets a Bargain Unlike the price of gasoline, ticket prices for Saturday’s game with the Richmond Spiders are near rock bottom. Tickets are on sale for just ten bucks. Despite all the buzz, it appears unlikely that the game will sell out. It is physically almost impossible to sell more than 1,500 tickets a day since nearly all are sold in pairs or threes. A word to the wise: if you are starting to wish you had a ticket, or extra tickets, for upcoming games with MTSU, LSU, Georgia and Kentucky, you better be getting them soon. Tickets can be purchased 24 hours per day on-line at commodoregameday.com, by calling 615-322-GOLD and using “option 2” once you are connected between the hours of 8:00 a.m. — 8:00 p.m. (CDT) or by stopping in at the McGugin Center ticket office Monday — Friday from 8:30 — 5:00. Kudos to Soccer Are you following our women’s soccer team — now 7-1 and ranked No. 24 on the heels of goal keeper Tyler Griffin’s six straight shut-outs? It was a school record streak. Cross Country, too! Women’s cross country won the Commodore Invitational Saturday with a sweep by the strong stable of VU runners. Leading the 5k course were Erika Schneble, Amy Huss and Julie Eckerly who were the first to cross the line with times of 18:13, 18:17 and 18:31 respectively. Schneble’s time earns her the third best time in Vanderbilt history to be run at the challenging Vaughn’s Gap course. “The weather was a huge factor and contributed to the fast times,” Coach Jim Spivey said, “Our top three runners had an incredible race.” On the men’s side, sophomore Austin Williamson was the individual winner — the first time a Vanderbilt runner has won the men’s competition. |
