Nov. 25, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
We remember the first time we realized the power of the newspaper headline — a summer internship on the sports desk at the prestigious Des Moines Register. The editor strolled into the newsroom and said to nobody in particular, “Gibby just had a one-hitter” referring to St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson. Since the Cardinals were this guy’s favorite team, the comment didn’t seem to take any more significance than if he would have said traffic was bad on the freeway. Water cooler small talk.
Hours later the first edition came out and its huge banner headline screamed “Gibson’s One-Hitter Stymies Cubs.” Suddenly that feat seemed like Hall of Fame stuff! Welcome to the impact of the media and how the selection and emphasis of words influence public perception.
Recently a matter-of-fact reply to a question, said in a calm tone of voice and manner, resulted in a somewhat distorted “Coach Rips Other Team” header. It could be that the headline writer needed a short word to fit the available space but at the very least, such a colorful verb leaves open to each reader their definition of the word “rips.” The power of the pen!
The sixth place finish by the Commodores at the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship earned Vanderbilt 72 points in the Director’s Cup standings. That represents a great start to our goal of moving from 56th place to breaking into the Top 40. Nearly 300 university programs are ranked annually based on their performance at NCAA Tournaments.
We were saddened to learn of the passing of the great Larry Munson at age 89. Old-timers will recall when he was the Voice of the Commodores back in the 1950’s and ‘60’s before enjoying a legendary career as the colorful announcer of the Georgia Bulldogs. Upon his retirement a few years ago, Vanderbilt Athletics had hoped to honor Mr. Munson personally in Memorial Gym but unfortunately he was too weak to travel.
A very wise, long-distance friend who has spent 50 years in collegiate athletics just reminded us that we should spend more time working with what we do have rather than worrying about what we don’t have. He was referring to recruiting strategy but we agreed that it was an especially appropriate message to remember on Thanksgiving.
