Sept. 8, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
On what will be nearly 30 years to the day that Coach George MacIntyre led the Commodore football team to an upset win over Maryland to dedicate a gleaming new Vanderbilt Stadium, the beloved former coach will be at the center of attention Saturday night during halftime of the UConn game.
Coach Mac has been battling multiple sclerosis these past years and his friends and former players wanted to shine a spotlight on both their mentor and the disease with this appearance. There will be a special Coach Mac tent in Vandyville prior to the game. Group tickets for participants are available by contacting Mickey Hock at 615-343-6700 or by ordering through this link. The promo code is “Coach Mac.”
By the way, that memorable stadium dedication came on Sept. 12, 1981, a game so exciting that the team was called out of its post-game locker room afterwards by appreciative fans who were not exiting until they had a curtain call.
We’ve heard good reviews about the vast majority of enhancements surrounding our home football game atmosphere. We found out that our new sound system is healthy and had it turned lower by halftime but otherwise things were well received. The parking lots, long an Achilles’ heel, were closer to capacity, the new Kid’s Zone and Vandyville expansions were a hit, most fans liked the pre-game Anchor Ceremony although we are of the opinion that it needs some tweaking. Rome wasn’t built in a day so if you have constructive feedback, we’d like to hear it.
NAME DROPPING – Taka Bertrand, a former Vanderbilt star, recently was named as interim head men’s and women’s tennis coach at the University of Chicago…Brandt Snedeker is now fifth in the PGA’s Fed Ex Cup standings; he has seven Top 10 finishes during his tremendous year…those of us who marveled at Antoan Richardson covering center field or stealing second base a few years ago were not surprised when the speedster was called up by the Atlanta Braves this past week. Everyone here knew he had all the tools if he could just demonstrate his ability to get on base.