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Commodore Notebook For November 21 11/21/2005 Every passionate Vanderbilt fan has a story relating to Saturday’s memorable football victory over <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Tennessee. My inbox has been inundated with unsolicited accounts, each of which helps tell a personal story of why that game and series is important in their life. Here are two reflections that can explain the thrill of victory better than I can. Last names have been omitted to protect the passionate and both stories have been shortened for brevity. Doug, about 30 years old, father is Vandy alumnus but he is not:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />
I feel connected to you and would like to share with you my day yesterday. Growing up?, my sports life has been “interesting” to say the least. When most kids learned the names of household items, various nouns and verbs, and the names of their cousins…my father taught my sister and me the nicknames and conferences of college teams?.And finally, most kids learn how to root for winning teams…oh the tragic tales of Vanderbilt football (the Chicago Cubs tale is one for a different psychologists and email). Well fast forward 26 years, past the blunders, past the could’ve beens… I’m now a law student here in Knoxville, fresh out of the service but I have not forgotten my core values: dislike UT. Many of you know that I was in Iraq and the week before we were scheduled to leave, we got extended for three more summer months. I say that only to tell you that I thought the loss to MTSU and Kentucky were perhaps harder for me to deal with than that extension. Rational, no. Real, yes, unfortunately. So it is that bit of background that I went to the game. Oh the tears, oh the joy. My stomach is still sore from cheering, my back from flinching, my shoulders from shaking. My voice was lost somewhere between Bennett’s catch in the end zone and the final play. The game itself was a great football game to spectate, and I would have said that had Vanderbilt lost. UT had a freshman running back that has played better than anyone on his team… VU’s Offensive Coordinator Cain had a wonderful game plan that worked in the first half against one of the best defenses in the country. Vanderbilt’s defense did everything they could?. People up here say that Tennessee played poorly — oh no it didn’t. They had one turnover, made crucial plays when they had to and changed game plans at half to get back in the game. It appeared in the third quarter that Vanderbilt’s defense was being worn down, UT’s defense had figured out how to rush Cutler and not appear soft in coverage. That sinking feeling had hit me as it has so many times in my short life. Losing to the Georgia’s and South Carolina’s of this world hurts, but losing to UT…well that is beyond hurt. Vandy fans know the second half script: UT scores, Vandy punts, repeat. And we were following it as UT went up by a field goal. Vandy’s defense stopped UT for consecutive three-and-outs and with a minute and change left, Cutlers last drive as a Commodore was magnificent. I didn’t even see the ball thrown to Bennett in the end zone it was so hard. A minute left to play, UT had one timeout. Surely, surely. . . I was convinced that the roughing the passer penalty was the ballgame. I sat down and watched the final plays between shoulders and heads as everyone was on their feet. I told my girlfriend that this one was going to hurt the worst because I honestly felt that we would win. Clausen passes down to the 16 and I almost threw up. Oh what a rotten life I have had. Several plays later and it appears the entire world comes down to 1 second. I was shaking as I sat there and watched. Once a linebacker broke through and hurried Clausen, I had hope. Clausen juked, got bumped and threw a lofter in the end zone. The coverage was tight and a Vandy safety, a true freshman, intercepted it with no problem. Realizing the unthinkable had happened, I grabbed my girlfriend and wept in her arms, saying over and over: “we did it, we did it.” I wasn’t the only one crying, she was too…an Auburn grad no less. The elderly couple from North Carolina was too (he drives to every home game, 581 miles one way) So too were the young Vandy alums in front of me, so too were the parents of different players. So too were the players as they filed in front of our section with uncontrollable celebration. I stood in that stadium and yelled at the top of my lungs over and over and over. I wasn’t just letting out my joy; I was letting out 20 years of frustration, of heartbreak, of disappointment. And I must say, several, many, UT fans came up to me and congratulated me on the win. They knew what the deal was? And I made my way to the team bus as the party continued where the players were greeted like champions by about 1,500 fans. Cheers continued, players’ families embraced other players, tears still flowing. I reflected about how I have spent most of my life wondering why I root for Vanderbilt and whether I would ever actually see Vanderbilt beat UT. There standing among the players and reflecting on my life so far as a Vandy fan, I came to this realization — I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chuck, about 58, writer and Vanderbilt alum living in the Midwest:
I wanted to tell you what form the Vandy celebration took here in Iowa.
If you are a college football fan in this state, you spend your late Saturday afternoons and nights tuned into the call-in show “Soundoff” on 50,000-watt WHO radio, of Des Moines, the flagship station of the network broadcasting the Iowa Hawkeye games. Most callers, and thus most of the conversation, are usually about the Hawkeye game just completed, and that was true last night, too — since Iowa won big over arch-rival Minnesota.
Because of the station’s strong signal, Hawkeye fans (and a lot of others who like such college chat shows) listen in “from coast to coast and border to border,” as the station brags. The “Soundoff” co-host is Jim Zabel, a legend in Iowa who actually took over the WHO sports beat when Ronald “Dutch” Reagan left for Hollywood decades ago. Zabel went on to become the play-by-play voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes for more than 50 years, and now in semi-retirement, he still co-hosts “Soundoff” and other feature shows. He also likes college fight songs and, at my urging this fall, he’s been dropping in a recorded version of one into his shows now and then when some school has a big win.
So anyway, Zabel opened last night’s show telling about the day’s Hawkeye game and then said, “But there’s been a shocker in Knoxville, and I think the moving vans are probably already circling Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer’s house.” I was driving back to the farm from the Iowa high school football championships in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls when I heard that, about 4:15 p.m. and I just about drove off U.S. Highway 20 and hit a corn combine.
So I listened for the few additional details and then, still behind the wheel about 5:15 p.m., I called “Soundoff” from the road. The producer answers the calls and says, “Can I have your first name and topic?” I said, “This is Chuck, a 1969 graduate of Vanderbilt, and I am not just asking if I can sing my school’s fight song on the air, I am insisting I be allowed to do it.” She kind of giggled and said, “Well, O.K., hold on, please.” Within 10 seconds, Zabel clicked me into the show live, and introduced me as “the happiest Vanderbilt fan in Iowa.”
We talked for a couple of minutes about the game, about Vanderbilt’s season and then I said, ‘ I insist I sing the Vanderbilt fight song on the air to properly celebrate.’ He said, ‘If you know it, let’s hear it,’ and I warbled all the way through a spirited and spiritual version of “Dynamite!” It ended with Zabel yelling, “Go Commodores! Let’s hear it for Vanderbilt, victors today over Tennessee!” We will soon have a location on vucommodores.com in which fans will be able to share their personal story with the Commodore nation.
Women’s Basketball Tournament this Weekend
We are hosting our annual Thanksgiving weekend tournament Friday and Saturday afternoons. You can’t beat the admission price — it’s free, although we ask you consider making a voluntary contribution to the local Boys and Girls Clubs. We play Charleston Southern at 2 pm while Colgate and McNeeseState meet at about 4 pm. The consolation game is Saturday at 2 and the title game will follow. |
