The Commodores kicked off their home slate against Belmont on Wednesday and Stanford over the weekend. Photo Steve Green, Vanderbilt University.
We’re now through with the second week and the takeaway is that this Commodores team is very, very deep and that they’re among the true elite. While this was not a perfect weekend and some of the bats have yet to awaken from a winter slumber, the Dores still managed to go win three of four from an often underrated Belmont squad and the #8 Stanford Cardinal.
The Immediate Progression: Debuts
Based on a story told by Chris Lee of VandySports.com regarding the befuddled reaction of a student broadcaster to a balk (“I don’t know what just happened, but the runner at third is making an immediate progression to the plate”) some years ago, I’m going to kick off each recap column with a theme for the week, dubbed “The Immediate Progression”. The initial theme is career debuts for four Dores. Three were great, one not so much.
How to start a good weekend? How bout by repping Vanderbilt. Nick Wells is a student down on campus and with the help of some folks he put together what is a pretty dang awesome song and video. He even gets in a shout to Jeff Taylor, Kyle Fuller and Coach Stallings. No love for Stevie Thunder, though?
The song is a remix of a pretty tight song by Wiz Khalifa called Black and Yellow, embedded after the jump. Read more…
"Blue Marble" by Apollo 17 crew. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. December 7, 1972
Sometimes after a rough week, a round night or seeing your beloved Commodores choke against the Volunteers, you need a little reminder to keep things in perspective. One easy way to do so is by revisiting the mastery of photography that reveals the wonders of the universe. While the Hubble images are often the most powerfully beautiful and the images of Jovian moons from Galileo or Saturnial satellites (particularly Enceladus) by Cassini are awe inspiring, there’s nothing quite like a few images of this world we call home to keep one grounded.
After the jump, I’ve linked three of my favorites and one which I wasn’t previously aware of, posted in chronological order. You’ll likely want to click on at least the first three images to get a bigger view, otherwise you might just miss out on spotting Earth altogether.
Despite not having his A+ fastball, Sonny Gray settled down after a rough first to mow down the Toreros en route to a 4-3 Friday win. Photo Mike Rapp, VandySports.com.
The first weekend is in the books and despite some soggy fields and sometimes sloppy infield defense, the Commodores have come out on top, with a perfect 4-0 start to the season. It was not easy, but that was not expected when playing thrice against a preseason ranked opponent in San Diego (Collegiate Baseball 28) that hauled in the number 2 recruiting class in the country. San Diego had some real solid talent, but much of it was young and not ready for the type of pitching performances and base running madness that Vanderbilt unleashed in Southern California.
This post wraps up some reflections on my 2011 Preview, looks back at the past weekend, and takes a quick gander at the week ahead when Vanderbilt opens their home slate with a visit from neighboring unranked Belmont (2-1, picked to finish 6th in Atlantic Sun) and high flying Stanford (2-1, picked to finish 2nd in the Pac-10).
The Dores figure to be a pre-season top 5 team in 2011 and will be previewed in 6 parts.
This is the last in a six-part series on Vanderbilt baseball’s 2011 season. Among all my most unhealthy habits, an addiction to following the Commodores baseball squad seems to be the most pervasive and difficult to crack. As a result, I’ve turned a time-wasting bit of fanaticism and converted it into a chance to write a bit. You can read each preview by clicking below on the links that follow the jump.
It should be noted that while this website endeavors to provide a solid team preview, membership over at VandySports.com is a must for any Commodore baseball fan. Chris Lee and Mike Rapp produce stellar premium content which is well worth the money spent. I know there’s no way I could follow the team as intently as I do without it.
Today’s post is the culmination of a long and what I intended to be a comprehensive overview of the team going forward. Herein is the second of two pieces on the post-2011 future of Vanderbilt baseball, focusing on the 2011/12 Recruiting Class and offering a sneak peek at the 2012/13 verbal commitments so far. Please note that I will likely post a post-script to this preview on Thursday to correct some things that I now know to be incorrect, including my projected starting lineup (as reported on by Chris Lee at VandySports) and a few other items. Additionally, a feature on VandySports about the below noted recruiting class is in the works.
Click on through for the preview, part 6. Read more…
The Dores figure to be a pre-season top 5 team in 2011 and will be previewed in 6 parts.
This is the penultimate in a six-part series on Vanderbilt baseball’s 2011 season. Among all my most unhealthy habits, an addiction to following the Commodores baseball squad seems to be the most pervasive and difficult to crack. As a result, I’ve turned a time-wasting bit of fanaticism and converted it into a chance to write a bit. You can read each preview by clicking below on the links that follow the jump.
It should be noted that while this website endeavors to provide a solid team preview, membership over at VandySports.com is a must for any Commodore baseball fan. Chris Lee and Mike Rapp produce stellar premium content which is well worth the money spent. I know there’s no way I could follow the team as intently as I do without it.
Up today is a the first of two (originally plotted to be one) pieces on the post-2011 future of Vanderbilt baseball. It takes a quick look at the draft prospects of current players and the projected depth chart for the Dores in the 2011/12 academic year. It is intended to be a direct lead-in to part 6, a review of the 2011/12 Recruiting Class and an early glance at the 2012/13 verbal commitments so far.
Click on through for the preview, part 5. Read more…
The Vicious Kind is a film worthy of a close watching.
The Vicious Kind is a well conceived and well acted tale of revelation and story-telling. While the subject matter is a bit hard to watch at times – the characters and relationships between them are dysfunctional at best and disturbing more commonly – it’s presented in a calm, almost rustic manner that is, above all else, watchable.
Without going into too great detail as to the plot lines, it is a journey that starts with a boy, Peter (Alex Frost) and his girlfriend Emma (Brittany Snow) who come to Peter’s home for Thanksgiving vacation from college. As they are picked up by Peter’s older brother Caleb (Adam Scott), we get our first glimpse into the bizarre world in Norfolk from whence the family came. There the three delve into the confused web of a family torn apart, with the ultimate conflict being between Caleb and his father Donald (JK Simmons).
The film is very well acted and earned Scott and filmmaker and writer Lee Toland Krieger honors on the independent film circuit in 2009. I’m not quite sure what has to flow through the mind of someone to craft a story that is, for lack of a better word, vicious in its depiction of family strife and the means by which attempts to heal wounds can be made.
is a well conceived and well acted tale of revelation and story-telling. While the subject matter is a bit hard to watch at times – the characters and relationships between them are dysfunctional at best and disturbing more commonly – it’s presented in a calm, almost rustic manner that is, above all else, watchable.
