(no subject)
Here is an articles that I found that was really interesting, the guy who wrote it is on of my favorite sports writter in recent years, Mr. Scott Rabalais [I am sure you guys know I like to read the paper...some of it, kind of like a skim through and pick out things I wanna read, things that catch my attention.]:
Three, four, 49, 1982.
For Vanderbilt football, the numbers don't add up to much.
Three is the grand total number of bowl games Vanderbilt has played in. Some Southeastern Conference teams play two bowls in one calender year, one on Jan. 1 and another on Dec. 30 and that's if the program has slipped a notch.
Four is the number of winning seasons Vandy has had since 1960. If you count Eisenhower, we've had 10 presidents since then.
Forty-nine is the consecutive number of ranked opponents that have done in the Commodores, dating to 1992. When you look up futility in the dictionary, it says "See Vanderbilt football."
And 1982. That was the last time Vandy put a winning, bowl-participating team on the field. It also happens to be the year I bought that Members Only jacket I just recently donated to hurricane relief.
In a way, I admire the Commodores for their eternal and noble struggle. The rest of the SEC keeps them around 1.) To have someone to beat because you can't knock heads with Auburns and Floridas every week, and 2.)To have someone to hold up the rest of the nation and say, "We need somone with principles. Vanderbilt. Thank God, get them in here. And bring their graduation rates."
Vanderbilt is the last kid taken when they choose up sides for a game. The bookworm in a family of longshoehorsemen and lumberjacks.
It works, for a while. Because these are smart, convincing guys. Until you look at the SEC standings at the end of the year and see Vandy 3-8 or 2-9 again and you sigh at the optimism and folly of youth you once had.
For Vanderbilt, it's just a different football game than the rest of the SEC. A Vanderbilt football player would be more likely to quote you a line from "Orpheus Desending" by Tennessee Williams than a line from anything by Hank Williams Jr.
"Are you ready for some football!?!?!?!" Hank wants to know, sun glasses and teeth gleaming like the chrome on a Harley. A Vanderbilt man is more inclinded to engage in a theorotical analysis of the socio-economic implications behind that interrogative-in Latin- than answer "Hell, yes!"
But the Vanderbilts are nothing if not quick learners. OK, in the ways of the SEC football they seem like dunce-capped slow learners. But they have finally figured out one thing:
They are tired of being the brainy runt of the SEC's dozen while the other 11, quoting Lombardi and Bryant, smash headlong into eachother for three months before a champion climbs to the top.
Deep down, Vanderbilt wants to be just like everyone else. It wants to trade its top five medical research labs for a football factory.
And you know what? the guys in the white coats and pocket protectors may have done it this time.
Look at the top of the SEC East standings and tell me who's tied for first place with Georgia? Vanderbilt. Who is the second leading receiver in the conference? A Vanderbilt man, Erik Davis. Who is the SEC's leading passer? Commodore Jay Culter.
It is against this that the LSU Tigers hurl themselves tonight. The whole episode is even going to go national on ESPN2.
It looks like a trap. Perhaps, Finally, Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, has figured out a way to the road runner with his Acme anvil.
I smell an upset of biblical proportions. I see LSU message boards collapsing under the weight of all those anguished Tiger fans. I hear Gordy Rush and Charles Hanagriff staying on the air til 2 or 3 am after the game, explaining to Boudreaux from Bunkie why LSU can't really buy out Les Miles' contract after after four games.
But then...wait. Let me see the top of the column again.
Three, four, 49, 1982. Uh-huh.
Beep! Beep! Zip-bang!
The coyote is left clutching empty air. Again.
The Commodores are better than in recent years, yes. But better than abject awful still isn't great.
The Tigers have the potenial for greatness. And only the Tigers can beat the Tigers tonight.
That's not to say Vandy won't make it tough. That's not to say the Tigers may have to dodge some weirdness in Nashville along the lines of the Todd Kinchen interfernce call or Greer Ricketson's hidden ball trick.
But this team can handle weird. It has seen unusual the first three weeks of this hurricane scarred season.
Want to know why the Tigers will win? Because the Tigers can play like the Tigers and the Commodores can't, though they can probably build you a reasonably working model from spare parts back at the lab.
The 'Dores may well still get that exclusive bowl trip.
Just don't expect Vanderbilt to get closer by getting well against LSU.
The number don't add up.