Sept. 28, 2012
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Raise your hand if you are going to be watching Brandt Snedeker in the Ryder Cup instead of mowing the lawn this weekend. Hmm, there is going to be some tall grass out there.
Memo to some football fans: When you are playing an SEC team rated among the nation’s top five on the road it is never easy. When two of your first four games are against unbeaten teams regarded among the Top 10 and a third against a program likely headed for its fifth straight bowl game, it is tough sledding for anybody. Repeat after me…things are never as good as they appear or as bad as they seem. Our program is tangibly better.
Country music’s Larry Gatlin and former basketball coach Eddie Fogler were spotted in the gallery at last week’s Mason Rudolph Golf Invitational. Gatlin and his wife Janis were following Vanderbilt’s Charlie Ewing as they are long-time friends while Fogler and wife Robin didn’t miss a shot by their son Ben, a sophomore at Vanderbilt. It was fun watching as the Commodores won the tournament by finishing nine shots better than second-place Oklahoma.
Our entire coaching staff – all head coaches and assistants – heard a tremendous speaker on the topic of developing leadership. Mark Tribus, a West Point graduate and former Army officer, now offers seminars and hands-on instruction to select athletic teams and universities. He kept our coaches and administrators fascinated for 90 minutes.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)