Jan. 27, 2016
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Did you know that four ex-Vanderbilt golfers have had Top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour in the last few months? Luke List (NU ’07) was sixth last week at the CareerBuilder; last year’s SEC Player of the Year Hunter Stewart tied for 10th last November at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Jon Curran (VU ’09) had a fourth place finish and we all know about Brandt Snedeker.
Every year the university selects one book that all incoming first year students read and discuss. It was just announced that the 2016-17 Commons Reading selection is Strong Inside, the outstanding biography of Perry Wallace by Vanderbilt’s own Andrew Maraniss.
Our condolences go out to the family of Ron England, a popular, long time Guest Services employee. He was a fixture at many Commodore games, greeting fans on the lower north side of Memorial Gymnasium, at Gate 3 of Vanderbilt Stadium and at every game in Hawkins Field. Ron died unexpectedly last week; he will be missed and remembered by many.
About the time we wonder if today’s pundits have lost some of their influence, we are reminded their words still matter. Take last Saturday as an example. The announcers doing our men’s basketball game kept mentioning that the Commodores needed a “quality win” to enhance their post-season chances. It’s a fair statement but what caught our attention was that soon those words “need a quality win” seemed to be everywhere. It could be a coincidence but it’s probable that the power of suggestion by people of influence still resonates.