Feb. 25, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
- James Franklin
and David Williams were big hits at a fun event in Memphis last week. The local alumni chapter’s event drew about 150 people to the Rock N Soul Museum to be both motivated and entertained. Among those attending was former Commodore star Curtis Gatewood to hear Franklin in his public debut in the Bluff City. Williams, a Detroit native, also captivated the group with his presentation, which included a 45-minute audio/visual salute to Motown. Williams’ hobby is music and few know more than he about the Detroit-based music industry. Franklin and Williams then joined other Vanderbilt officials in flying to San Diego to meet with some more Vanderbilt people and watch our No. 3 rated baseball team.
- We will remind Quick Slant readers from time to time that football season tickets can be renewed or ordered new on-line at www.vucommodores.com now. Why the hurry? As an incentive to get fans on-board, orders received before April 18 (the day after the Black and Gold game) will receive 2010 prices while orders taken after that date will see a price increase.
- I don’t want to believe in jinxes but Sports Illustrated had a reporter and a photographer on press row to cover our men’s basketball game with Tennessee. Need I say more?
- That wasn’t our only loss of the week. Brandon Barca, who for five years was a stalwart as our Director of Digital and Social Media, resigned to take a new position with Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Brandon was a dedicated and tireless worker, proud of the Commodores, an advocate for our fans and a tremendous asset to our program. He will be missed and we wish him well.
- Baseball season is here and a few of its fans did not see last fall’s news that our live web streams are no longer free. We were forced into a pay-per-view model by our web host, CBS, when it came time to renegotiate our contract last summer as the company was spending money to make the live streams possible. We much preferred to have our fans watch these games for free as the revenue Vanderbilt gets from the All-Access program is minimal and we realize fewer people will tune in, even if the cost is just $9.95 for a month (which is about one-third less than CBS’ other college programs pay). For those who do watch, be advised we continue to look for sensible solutions to improve the quality of the video stream and the number of camera angles that are presented.