Oct. 19, 2012
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Many things appear simple from the outside. Such would be the case with compiling a conference football schedule, but it might be easier to cure the common cold. After months of intense work and study, the SEC announced the 2013 league schedule and with the announcement, our non-conference games with Northwestern and Ohio State became casualties. We are now playing Ole Miss to open the season, not the Buckeyes, on Aug. 31 and travel to South Carolina Sept. 14 instead of hosting Northwestern. We understand why those schools are disappointed but the conference feels good about its schedule and we will enjoy seven home games next fall.
The Tennessee Golf Association conducted the first Tennessee Junior Cup, a junior event designed like the Ryder Cup, at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. Brandt Snedeker was the west Tennessee captain and fellow PGA player Scott Stallings took the east and had Vanderbilt sophomore Kendall Martindale as one of his three co-captains.
There was much mention of Andrew Derr’s recent biography on sports writing legend Fred Russell and now one of Mr. Russell’s grandsons has written a book of his own. Jim Harwell has published “Confessions of a Practical Joker” The Wacky Pranks, Gags, and Antics of Sportswriter Freddie Russell and His Entourage. Next Wednesday, Oct. 24, the Vanderbilt Barnes & Noble will host a book signing. If you enjoy practical jokes, Fred Russell was the all-time champion and this book brings them back in detail.
Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families of former basketball star Gene Southwood, Eugene Hauck, son of football’s Christie Hauck, and David Turner, an alumnus from Chattanooga, all of whom passed away recently. They were all special and will all be missed.
Football games offer a great opportunity for a reunion and the Auburn game will reunite our 1988-89 men’s basketball team.
