Sept. 29, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
About five dozen unsold seats is the only barrier to us hanging a “Sold Out” sign on our men’s basketball season. If you have been procrastinating on getting tickets you absolutely need to make a move soon or you will be following the ‘Dores on television or listening on our radio network. The best remaining seat locations are in the National Commodore Club section.
Hats off to Steven Keith’s women’s cross country team, which ran one of the school’s best races in decades last week in Minneapolis and was rewarded with its first national ranking in an equal number of years. The Commodores are No. 30 and poised to climb higher.
Suffice to say that James Franklin made a big impression Monday night as the keynote speaker at the Touchdown Club of Memphis. A long-time club member said our first-year coach got the first double standing ovation in his memory.
Determining what is the best ticket policy for babies and lap children is a surprisingly difficult process. While nobody would claim a young baby is attending to enjoy the game, for as many parents miffed at being asked to purchase a ticket for their infant there are almost an equal number of fans that frown at the various diaper bags and gear that clog the rows when baby shows up. We split the difference with a $10 lap child ticket for our football games and it’s a moot point for men’s basketball.
NAME DROPPING – Former tennis star Adam Baker returned to be in Adam Hofmann’s gallery at last week’s Mason Rudolph Championship. Baker, now in medical school in Kentucky, and Hofmann were roommates for two years and Adam said his golfing buddy “must have come to 50 of my tennis matches”…Lauren Stratton and Marina Alex will be two of the nation’s best collegiate golfers once again this season; Stratton was tied for third in the Mason Rudolph, which featured the top 20 women’s teams in the country.