Dec. 18, 2006
Commodore Notebook Archive – click here
One Man’s Top 10 Events of 2006
I’ve enjoyed reading those “top 10” lists that get compiled on virtually every subject at the end of each year. Here are my Top 10 Commodore moments for calendar year 2006. You might wonder what criteria I employed to determine how to compare an Olympic sport accomplishment against the more publicized revenue-producing sports. Basically, I simply used my own instincts, trying to factor in the uniqueness of the highlight and the degree of difficulty along with other intangibles.
I have no doubt you will disagree so go ahead and come up with your own list as you enjoy the holidays. This column returns in the New Year!
1) Football Wins at Georgia. The Commodores’ 24-22 victory marked the first time since Associated Press began ranking teams in 1936 that the Black and Gold topped a Top 25 rated team on its home turf. It was Bobby Johnson’s third signature victory in two seasons, having topped Arkansas and Tennessee on the road in 2005.
Tim Corbin and the VU Baseball team capped off the 2006 season with a second place finish in the SEC Tournament as well as a spot in the NCAA field for the second time in three years. Freshman third baseman Pedro Alvarez made an immediate impact on the diamond, earning such post-season accolades as “National Freshman of Year” along with first-team All-America honors after finishing second nationally in home runs with 22.=left>2) Baseball advances to SEC Championship Game.
The Commodores finish their season strong and gain momentum in Hoover, Ala., by beating Georgia twice and South Carolina once, reaching the title game for the second time in three years. Ole Miss would win the championship and VU would advance to the NCAA Tournament at Georgia Tech, where it finished second to the Yellow Jackets.
3) Men’s basketball sweeps Kentucky for first time since `73-’74, the second coming before a roaring Memorial Magic crowd by an 84-81 margin.
4) Pedro Alvarez is named “National Freshman of Year” along with first-team All-America honors after finishing second nationally in home runs with 22.
5) Bowling ties for fifth at the NCAA Championship. Using a lineup of five freshmen, the second year Vanderbilt team solidifies its claim as the nation’s top turn-around program while providing our department with its highest NCAA finish of the 2005-06 year. The squad continued its upward swing by winning the first two team titles in school history late this fall.
6) Tennis’ Taka Bertrand wins SEC Player of the Year, the first time in the history of this very strong program that a Commodore has won the honor. The former SEC Freshman of the Year was the highest seeded singles player to go undefeated in the SEC and was one of three `Dores on SEC first-team.
7) Women’s golf wins back-to-back titles this fall at Lady Tar Heel Invitational and Stanford-Pepsi Invitational. The strong autumn pushed the Commodores into a No. 4 national rank. Long-hitting sophomore Jacqui Concolino was named a mid-season All-America and Coach Martha Richards was the mid-season Coach of the Year.
8) Mike Meyer saves the life of basketball’s Davis Nwankwo. The Commodore trainer used an automatic external defibrillator on the 6-10 red-shirt freshman had collapsed early in practice. Meyer’s heroics earned him “National Trainer of the Year” honors. This action would obviously be ranked higher by Davis, who remains a student at Vanderbilt but no longer can participate in sports or exercise.
9) Vanderbilt hosts 2006 First and Second Round NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Commodores reach second round before bowing to No. 1 UNC. The season served as a spring-board to this winter’s 9-1 start, good for a No. 12 national rank.
10) Sophomore receiver Earl Bennett follows up a record-setting freshman season with a record encore — 82 catches for 1,146 yards. Bennett finished the regular season as the SEC’s leading receiver in catches, ranking seventh nationally and is the first player in league history to record over 75 receptions in back-to-back years.