Vanderbilt Hotline: We Start with Golf, Edition

That's right, I said it...we are starting with golf. Recent Vanderbilt grad Luke List will make his pro debut on Thursday at the 107th United States Open being played at Oakmont. As both the Tennessean and VUCommodores.com points out, List will be the second Commie golfer in the field, joining Brandt Snedeker in the field of 156. That's enough of that.


(Snedeker is on the left...which means List is on the right)

Brett Hait has a story in today's Nashville City Paper on the draft prospects of SEC POY Derrick Byars as he takes the I-95 corridor by storm. According to Hait, Byars' workouts have "solidified" him as a likely first-round pick, with the Knicks (the team I used to love, but now hate, but could grow to love again should they draft DB) very interested in DB at 23 if he is still available (you'll note that the Knicks are 23 because they "swapped" picks with the Bulls from the Eddie Curry deal...boy that Isiah, he really can't make good decisions, can he?). As Douglas James points out, I am slightly conflicted in my desire for DB to grace the floor at the World's Most Famous Arena. On the one hand, I would love to see DB rescue the Knicks from the bowels of the NBA; on the other, the Knicks are awful and it'd be a lot better for his career should he go somewhere like Phoenix or Utah. I have said on this space (which means I'm probably going to say it again right...now) that Byars, for the Knicks, could be a Charles Oakley-like glue that the team can grow from. NBADraft.net has DB going 16 to the Washington Wizards, which would also be fine given my close proximity to DC (I live there).

Congratulations to women's tennis coach Geoff MacDonald for being "named the recipient of the John R. Ingram Chair in Coaching Excellence Endowment for his outstanding, long-term performance" according to VUCommodores.com. MacDonald is one of two Vanderbilt coaches so (well) endowed, with Bobby Coach enjoying the the Bronson Ingram Coaching Chair and all that entails. If Vanderbilt really wanted to be bold, one of the Ingrams would step up with an endowed Chair in Blogging Excellence and give it to someone other than me.

I've got a couple of quick hits from the world of College Football. Bama back-up QB is transferring, the SEC is #1 according to Stewart Mandel's SI.com column, and Vanderbilt lost a recruit to Georgia Tech (Riley, you just made the biggest mistake of your life, son).

Some parting shots who my loyal readers.

- Apparently, it's a good thing I wasn't live-blogging from the Super Regional, as the NCAA gave a blogger from the Louisville Courier-Journal the heeve-ho from the booth.

- Sopranos creator David Chase speaks in today's Newark Star-Ledger.

- Part 1 of the "The Wedding" from Mealmart is up, and it's a great read. Don't be scared off by it's length because it's fantastic.

- Finally, Lock it Up looks to prolong our winning ways tonight with a game against Special Sauce at 7pm in Glover Park. You should come out...there is talk of a pre-game "Dunko."

That's all I've got for this morning, but let's get a chatter going. I know if you have read this far you are both bored and have the time to comment.