Dec. 9, 2010
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
- College football’s national championship game: Auburn vs. Oregon. Once again the much-maligned BCS system got it right. After an autumn of hyper-ventilating by pundits, the best two teams in the country are playing. Why the fuss? Just look at college basketball: they pick – what, 68 teams? – and the first thing from the media is “how could they leave Siwash State out of the dance?”
Isn’t it obvious that if we chose four football teams there would be howls of protest from teams No. 5 through 8? If we had eight teams, ole Number 9 would be steamed. And for fans over about age 35, can you remember when the top two teams seldom played each other in a bowl and it would come down to an partisan vote to decide the champs? Anybody recall 1969 when President Nixon appeared in the Texas locker room after the Longhorns beat Arkansas and declared the `Horns national champs, leaving Penn State out in the cold? Good thing there weren’t chat rooms or talk radio then!Darn few times has this brain-child of former Vanderbilt Athletic Director Roy Kramer failed to produce the dream match-up.
- We are running well ahead of pace with baseball season tickets. Fans in the know are looking forward to watching one of our best teams. You might want to consider getting your oar in the water while some decent options exist.
- Quick Slant’s mention last week of the quest to improve our football culture created some good conversation. Look for a link on vucommodores.com sometime soon; we will have a Fan’s Suggestion Box and accept your ideas for improving your Game Day gridiron experience. We look forward to these and urge you to be specific as possible.