Vanderbilt Hotline: I'm Back...

To those of you who felt cheated on Friday for a lack of the VSL Hotline, I apologize. Believe me, I would have much rather been condensing Vanderbilt sports into a digestible format for my faithful following than trying to construct and post a website. Alas, I am back, and with much to report.

Vanderbilt baseball clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament and took 2 out of 3 from the Auburn Tigers (or is it the Auburn War Eagle?) with a 6-5 win on Friday and a 10-5 win on Saturday. Vanderbilt's 6-5 win, their 11th 1-run win this season and 5th in SEC play, also clinched the SEC East Regular Season Title for the Commies. Despite all that, Vanderbilt couldn't get the sweep, and lost 5-4 yesterday. Vanderbilt scored 2 in the 9th to cut the lead, but could never get over the hump. The Nashville City Paper's got a great recap of the weekend series that's worth checking out. They finish the season with a 3 game-set in Nashville against LSU starting Thursday night.

Other big news around the Commies sports scene this weekend. The women's tennis team bested the Volunteers of Tennessee 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Round of 16. With a win over UT under their belts, Vanderbilt will travel to Athens, GA to face, according to Harold Higgins in the Nashville City Paper, their "biggest challenge" against #1 Stanford. Stanford has won 20 straight matches. The men's team lost 4-0 to LSU in Baton Rogue on Saturday to get bounced from the NCAA's, they did beat Tulsa 4-2 on Friday.

The Vanderbilt women's golf team qualified for the NCAA tournament with a 3rd place finish in the NCAA Central Regional. Vanderbilt was lead by sophomore Jacqui Concolino's final round 73. Balancing out the action, the Vanderbilt women's lacrosse team lost 16-10 to Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Nashville. The loss took place at the "Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex"...is it just me, or is such a description a little over-stated?

Perhaps I've buried the two lead stories, but Mo Patton had a piece in Sunday's Tennessean about Derrick Byars. According to Robert Fayne, DB's agent, is "optimistic" and "guarantees" Derrick will go in the first-round. I hope he's right, the draft is in about a month.

Mo Patton writes in today's Tennessean about Vanderbilt potentially looking to expand their [Women's] athletic programs to include softball and volleyball. Read this article, it's very interesting and will be today's VSL Hotline Hot Topic.

Last night's Sopranos was absolutely fantastic, and with only 3 left, they can only get better from here. You've got to love a show where you know something is going to happen and yet you are shocked not only that it happened, but also in the manner in which it happened. Such was the case last night with Christopher's "passing" at the hands of Tony. Tony then headed out to Vegas, met an old friend of Chris', won a ton of money on Roulette (I'm headed to Vegas this weekend, and it appears the smart money is on 20 or 24), and took Peyote. WHAT AN EPISODE. AJ's new-found friends demonstrate that the next generation of wise-guys in Jersey are no less hot-headed than their elders. AJ was, after the fact, upset about the beating of the defenseless Somali student who happened to run into the car door of the Rutgers bookie. If AJ has any kind of conscience, it's possible that in another generation or two, the Soprano males won't be Neanderthals.

Entourage followed up a great episode last week with another one this week. Ari and Lloyd are back in the boys from Queens' lives. Drama's got a hit, E and Vince are going to produce, and Turtle found a girl. Here's a question though, what happened to Sloane? It seems she appears every 3rd or 4th for some reason or another but has nothing to do with the plot. I like Vince and E movemaking in Hollywood. But I also like them skirt-chasing (so long as it's not Vince's agent).

Finally, a word on The Players. What the hell is wrong with Phil Mickelson? He almost blows up again on the 72nd hole (AGAIN) and barely missed his ball from going in the water on 18. Worse, after he avoids disaster, he cooes sweetly into the camera wishing his mother and all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day. Gag me with a spoon. If lefty had knocked that ball in the water (which he seemed to be trying to do), you think he would have sent out those well-wishes? NO! He might be the corniest guy in sports and for Father's Day his perfect looking family should spring for a Bro or a Manzier to give the guy some support. Meanwhile, all anyone wants to talk about is Sean O'Hair's ballzy move on 17, attacking the pin and going into the drink. For my money (although certainly not his, seeing how is +5 on the final 2 holes cost his over 700K), he did the right thing. As Herm Edwards says, and Mike and Mike highlighted this morning, "You play to WIN THE GAME." Good for you Sean.