Dec. 20, 2013
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
A partial list of the fine universities struggling to sell their bowl ticket allotments: Wisconsin, Nebraska, Georgia, LSU. Among the schools not struggling: Vanderbilt. Way to go Commodore Nation, you blew through our allotment of tickets in four days and we’ve asked for more!
Some of you have noticed that you can no longer purchase action photographs on our web site that are focused on an individual. You may also have noticed that you can no longer buy the replica jerseys featuring the numbers of our most popular players. Those actions and others reflect a growing trend among universities to support the concept that schools should promote but not commercially gain from the positive exploits of its top student-athletes. Director of Athletics David Williams is a strong proponent of this philosophy, as are many other collegiate thought leaders. This new wave of thinking comes with a price of its own, however, as some youngsters are being disappointed that they can’t wear that “87” jersey or frame the Jordan Matthews action photo for their bedroom as their parents and grandparents once did.
Legion Field tip: parking is very limited around the stadium but the city does a wonderful job with shuttles into the area. Several Birmingham hotels run complimentary shuttles; the Hyatt Regency Wynfrey and the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel have free shuttles that run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there are round-trip bus shuttles from the historic Five Points South entertainment district Tuesday through Saturday of bowl week. More information is on our Bowl Central website.
The South is football country. ESPN’s highest-rated college football markets in 2013 were Birmingham, Greenville, S.C., Knoxville, New Orleans and Nashville. Memphis, Jacksonville and Atlanta were also in the top 10.
Baseball’s season ticket renewal deadline is today; it appears that the bowl of “The Hawk” is going to be full once again to watch the powerful Commodores take on many of the top teams in the country.
