Oct. 1, 2007
 |
|
RELATED LINK – Notebook Archive
One of Rod’s Rules
It was one of those great Nashville nights for football — clear and comfortable with a crowd of 37,220 Vanderbilt faithful. The Commodores responded nicely with a relatively easy 30-7 victory over one of those pesky Mid-American Conference foes.
One of Rod’s Rules of Thumb after nearly four decades of doing this stuff: Enjoy all victories; never diminish the worth of a game in the win column. They all count the same. Let the coaches worry about the wrinkles.
An On-Going Dilemma
I often say that what we do in athletics isn’t rocket science but that doesn’t mean all decisions are simple.
Do you reward a season ticket holder’s loyalty or does “Your Membership Matter” as we say about our important National Commodore Club members? It is convenient when the NCC member is also a current season ticket holder but that isn’t always the case in any given sport. Who should get scarce post-season tournament tickets, for instance?
If you hold a season ticket but are not a donor, you believe you deserve the break because of your loyalty. You are at every game. But the NCC fellow that couldn’t find time to attend all the games also wants his loyalty rewarded. He is supporting the program in a very significant way and is entitled, too.
We are not talking about telemetry but even a scientist would need to burn midnight oil to find absolute truth in this endless debate.
Who’s Right or Whose Rights?
The phone rang and a fan explained that she had owned the exact football season tickets for years, enjoyed the games and liked the location. So what’s the problem?
Two guys sitting in front of this fan have also owned the seats for a long time, apparently are sober and not foul-mouthed or otherwise obnoxious. They just have a habit of standing up nearly every play. They are too exuberant if you will.
“You want us to move these guys because they are super fans?” I asked after getting a grip on the facts as she related them.
“Uh-huh,” was the reply.
I don’t especially want to sit around anyone that forces me to do something I don’t want to do, either, so I felt some empathy. But, to discipline or move fans because they are too into the game defies logic.
“We would like to clone these guys and get 40,000 more just like them,” was my response when the conversation slowed down.
We offered this fan a chance to change locations; nope, didn’t want to move. We did monitor those rows at the next game to see for ourselves what was happening.
But the instance offered yet another example of how good fans can see – or not see – a game from different perspectives.
Two Sides to any Story
Some of you have read reports about MTSU wanting to play our football team in the worst kind of way. Its athletic director took the rare step of pleading his case to a newspaper reporter the other day.
It is an easy ploy to fire off one-sided accusations. I recall how I once stomped into a junior high school to tell some teacher how badly she was treating my daughter, who had told a convincing and sorrowful story at our dinner table. However, when I walked into the classroom I found out in 90 seconds that my little angel was the only kid in the class not to have turned in the prescribed assignment. Oh…
You would need an attorney and No Doze if we were to go into details of our football scheduling process, which extends over a decade. The bottom line is that those on our campus entrusted with building interesting and competitive schedules are looking out for VANDERBILT interests first and foremost.
Our track record of reaching out to area schools across the entire athletic spectrum is pretty darn good. We will continue to do what we think is best for Vanderbilt.