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3/23/2006 By Gretchen Kirchmann Junior tennis player Andy Mack is from Plano and is proud to be a Texan. From Tex-Mex food, Western Texas scenery to the Whataburgers franchise he loves Texas. A Lone Star state native slurs through Whataburger so unique an outsider hears water burger. The orange and white striped A frame restaurant is unmistakable to a Texan. Mack laughs and admits the pronunciation does sound like water burger. He certainly misses the Texas franchises including Taco Cabana. “I haven’t had any Tex-Mex food yet (in Nashville). I gotta adjust, no place will be quite like Texas”, he says reflecting his pride and food preferences. He even recalls the first president of Texas, David G. Burnet. March 16th marks the 170 anniversary of Burnet sworn into office under the Republic of Texas in 1836. According to Mack a true Texan is “definitely someone who has a lot of pride…likes country music and lives in the best state in the country.” Ironically the Plano website boasts that early settlers were pioneers that migrated from Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1840s. The Vanderbilt student admits his Texas roots have shifted. “My parents moved to Atlanta in October but I still consider Texas my home.” During high school Mack thought he’d be a politician one day. Today he is pursuing his degree in Political Science. Mack is interested in interning with a senator this summer. Mack transferred to Vanderbilt from the University of Texas. “At first it was pretty difficult to adjust.” He chose Vanderbilt for its academic reputation. Mack prefers newspapers over television. He is anti-reality TV and feels the label reality TV is anything but reality. “I’m trying to send a message by not watching it.” When asked if he had visited the Vanderbilt ER lately he chuckled. To be honest he wasn’t aware of the famous bachelor doctor until reading it in the school’s newspaper last week. “I like reading the newspaper every morning,” Mack said. The Vanderbilt Hustler is his media resource. Mack is a huge Dallas Mavericks fan. The NBA team is his ultimate hype. His favorite player is Dirk Nowitzki and he tries to watch every game. “I used to read the sports section every morning,” he said referring to the Dallas Morning News. Mack and his buddies have superstitions for Mavericks games. “We have a bunch of rituals, including what chairs we sit in and a vow of silence if the team is down,” he shared. Growing up outside of Dallas he followed the NFL Cowboys and NHL Stars too. Mack is eager to point out all the Texas professional sport teams but stops and redirects to golf. “My second favorite sport is golf. I played in a couple tournaments,” he said referring to his prep school years. Mack has traveled all over Texas with his tennis career. “I like the openness and ruggedness of Texas,” he commented. Dallas and Austin rank among his favorite cities. Texas on My Mind by Pat Green and Amarillo by Morning by George Strait top his country music list. Perhaps only a true Texan knows where fictitious Scooter, TX is located. Head Men’s Tennis Coach Ian Duvenhage gave Mack the nickname Scooter. “Our coach gave it to me. He thought I moved around the court fast like a litter scooter,” he replied. According to the Political Science major, Scooter would be located in the panhandle by Amarillo. The city government would be open to everyone. “Pretty liberal place and I would want a strong central authority,” he emphasized. |
