Vanderbilt Hotline: "Hip to be Square" Edition

What up, Commodore Nation. We are a day and a half away from Vanderbilt baseball beginning their quest to Omaha, so get excited. For me, Christmas has come early. Not only does the NCAA baseball tournament start tomorrow, but tonight I get to rock out with my man Huey Lewis, and a little band I like to call The News. BOOM. Some said it couldn't be done, but we have a group headed out to Virginia tonight to see Huey and the boys at Wolf Trap. I welcome College Radio's mocks.

Let's get to Commie news. First off, congratulations are in order for Vanderbilt ace David Price, who yesterday was named Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball's co-National Player of the Year. Not surprisingly, Mo had something to say about Price's honor. As Mo points out, "Price, who leads all NCAA Division I pitchers with 175 strikeouts while going unbeaten in 11 decisions with a 2.71 earned run average, shared player of the year honors with Florida State second baseman Tony Thomas." The lefty is the first Vanderbilt player to win the award. Mo went on to write that "Price also is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes, Brooks Wallace, Dick Howser and Roger Clemens awards." Vanderbilt stars Casey Weathers and Dominic de la Osa joined Price as First Team All-Americans. Pedro Alvarez was named to the Second Team. Patton concludes the article by pointing out that "Weathers is a semifinalist for the Wallace and the Stopper of the Year" while "Alvarez is up for the Wallace and Howser awards."

The Nashville City Paper, while highlighting David's sensational season, focused as much on the other Vanderbilt players honored, as they did on Price.

Brett Hait spends his time in today's City Paper highlighting how UCLA transfer Parker Hanks "wants to hammer foes in Regional." Hanks has come back from a March foot injury to be a real impact player in the SEC Tournament, "Starting in three games during last week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, he produced five hits, scored three runs, drove in three and blasted a towering home-run." Not a bad line. Brett's got some other "nuggets" in this article, including harping on Ryan Flaherty's 30-game hit streak, and highlighting how scared Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco is of this Commodore team.

VUCommodores.com has a very good primer for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Check it out.

Staying with baseball, Vanderbilt alum, former Major League Pitcher, and agent Scott Sanderson is a "Proud Alumus" according to Mo Patton's blog on Tennessean.com. If Scott needs some help in the agency thing, I would be more than happy to oblige. (Scott, call me).

In what can only be described as a hometown puff piece, Vanderbilt pitching coach Derek Johnson gets a lot of love in the Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph.

Tim Corbin got another commitment yesterday, this time from Wesleyan pitching ace Grayson Garvin, according to Larry Hartstein in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Garvin is a junior, and will begin classes at in Nashville in the fall of 2008.

Vanderbilt's men's golf team is tied for 12th after day one of the NCAA Championships. Senior Luke List led the Commies yesterday with a 1-under 69 according to VUCommodores.com.

Vanderbilt football will be on TV at least once this season. Yesterday, university officials announced that the Vanderbilt/Alabama game in Nashville will begin at 11:30 central, and be televised on Lincoln Financial Sports. Thus far, this is the only Vanderbilt game slated to be on TV, but that is sure to change. While Vanderbilt's match-up's with Richmond and Eastern Michigan have been set for 6pm local (not thus, not on TV), Vanderbilt's kick-off with Ole Miss at Dudley Field has yet to be set, leaving the possibility that that game will be televised.

My deep friend has a few more shallow thoughts, check them out...they are hilarious.

That's all for now. Keep the comments coming. And remember, "the Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating."

(Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of VUCommdores.com, I don't know where photo 3 came from)