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Commodore Notebook: April 10 4/10/2006 By Rod Williamson We have a football quarterback who rewrote our record book, led us to several memorable victories and who many regard as our finest offensive player in at least 55 years. He is the national media’s publicity darling regarding his status in the NFL Draft. So Jay Cutler is an automatic for Vanderbilt’s Male Athlete of the Year for 2005-06, right? As Carnac used to say to Ed McMahon, “not so fast, Commodore breath.” I’m not writing here that Cutler won’t win the administrators vote in a few more weeks, or that he doesn’t deserve it. But for the sake of debate I will say that anyone paying attention to the exploits of David Price will understand why it is worth thinking about it. Price is our 6-6 left-handed pitching marvel, a leading candidate for college baseball’s “Pitcher of the Year”. He has twice been named the national “Pitcher of the Week” and as of this writing has won the SEC’s “Pitcher of the Week” three times in the last month. When the announcement comes out Monday afternoon, the Murfreesboro sophomore could win it again based on his spectacular 17 strikeout performance against an Arkansas team that had battered Tennessee with 13 home runs one week earlier. Are you beginning to see my point? We have two of our highest octane performers in a long time playing lights out in the same year. The possibilities don’t stop with those two, although it is this writer’s opinion they have broken away from basketball’s outstanding Shan Foster, golf’s Luke List and soccer’s John Krause. It wasn’t so many years back that the hardest decision in our voting process came on the women’s side of the coin. There is no shortage of deserving candidates this year. In this writer’s opinion, they include soccer All-America goal keeper Tyler Griffin, probably the top performer from both tennis and golf teams where the talent is exceptional, long-shot candidate freshman Michelle Peloquin, a near-cinch first-team bowling All-American who had the second best average in the NCAA this year and track’s Amy Huss, who is getting better each week. If you had a vote this year, what would be your criteria? Premier Events this Week * The baseball team hosts Georgia in another crucial three-game series. Friday’s game (featuring David Price) starts at 6 o’clock, Saturday’s game is at 2:00 p.m. and first pitch Easter Sunday is at 1:00 p.m. * Our bowling team is heading to Houston, one of eight teams bidding for the NCAA Championship. Qualifying is Thursday with double-elimination competition starting Friday. The semi-finals and finals will be shown by ESPN Sunday. * Geoff Macdonald’s outstanding women’s tennis team hosts Kentucky Saturday at noon in the final dual of the season. * The lacrosse team has matches Friday with Ohio and Sunday with Ohio State at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex behind McGugin Center. |
