The @VandyBoys, fresh off a series win at home over Georgia this past weekend culminating in a 15-1 blow-out on Sunday after 2 close games, entertain local state rival Tennessee Tech this evening at 6:30 at The Hawk. Today's special give-away for the game is a Chris Lee/Malcolm Turner Bobblehead.
special warning: skip to the parts headed Baseball if your name is wayne as some of this is not about spoots [sic]
Baseball
Heavy rains overnight have moved out. Having a turf surface is highly helpful at times like this. Even if it had not stopped raining the game would likely have been played due to the good drainage of the new turf installed last fall thanks to ADMT. It was one of the few places that was traceable with respect to where he spent millons of dollars during his short tenure as AD. The only other expenditure that Junior remembers is taking an Uber from Nashville to Birmingham so he could "keep working."
Tech was quite the powerhouse two years ago, even beating Vandy at The Hawk, and almost making it to Omaha. Since then they've lost their coach and almost all their top players. Consequently, it's been a tough season so far this year for them. They started off the season with 3 wins but have now lost 23 games in a row since. Warren Nolan, the baseball stats guy, predicts that streak will go to 33 before Tech wins again. Tech's new coach, after their former coach left, soon departed as well due to some nefarious off-the-field activities which we are not allowed to talk about since this is a family site. The even newer coach stepped into a really bad situation and it's just getting worse.
Not baseball
Junior has a soft spot in his Baseball Heart for Tech and only wishes them well going forward. Being a Cumberland Plateau native he pulls for all Cumberland Plateau universities to do well unless one includes Knoxville as being a part of the Cumberland Plateau -- he's currently unsure of the dividing line between the Posh Plateau and the Abhorrent Appalachians.
[the mountainous area itself is wonderful; it's some of the ones living there that give it a bad name)
He's not exactly sure how many universities reside on the Plateau other than Williams Jennings Bryan** College but, technically, that's not a university. Did you know that in Australia all colleges are called universities? "Unis" as the locals say, you see, are post-high school, while colleges are just specially named high schools or units within a university that focuses on specific things, like Surfing or Dancing or Grilling Shrimp on the Barbie. Nashville has a "University School" which is a high school. That name would not be allowed in Australia and would likely be titled "High School For Vandy Professors' and Doctors' Kids."
**interesting info about Bryan. He was from Nebraska, ran for President 3 times and lost all 3 times. He was a "populist." His campaign slogan was once "I will die on a Cross of Gold Before I Give in to Silver." Later, however, he served as an "expert" witness on religion in the Dayton Monkey Trial, culminating in his death from a heart attack. In his honor they founded a local college and named it after him. The bed he died on at a local Rooming House can be found in the Library. It was a heart attack so he was not contagious.
There might even be a Outback College in Australia for those who want to learn how to live on a 2000-mile-wide desert filled with poisonous snakes and spiders and wild emus and still survive or, better yet, manage an Outback Steakhouse (an American company that has zero ties to Oz as I'm sure you are aware.)
Junior thinks Australia got this college/university arrangement from England but he's never been to England so is unable to speak with authority in that regard. Australia, you see, was once used as England's Penal Colony #419 and, thus, heaps of Aussies are descended from criminals. This is likely why they have the highest per capita consumption of beer in the world as well as gambling. But it also why they drive on the wrong side of road, still are subservient to the Queen of England, and many have bad teeth. Their accent is different from the Brits, however, it's much more engaging. Vandy once had a basketball player, Ogilvie, who was from Australia. Junior momentarily has forgetten his first name.
Baseball
Interestingly enough, baseball has really taken off in Australia. Just a few years ago there were next to zero Little League teams and they were grouped with "Pacific" for the LLWS. Now, "Australia" has a guaranteed spot in the LLWS along with Japan. They aren't very good yet but they are improving with each succeeding year. If Junior is ever forced to leave the US he will seek asylum in Australia and become an official Score Keeper for the Woolongong Little League (near Sydney and the South Beaches, a beautiful area if every there was one. Many Oz names are Aboriginies Names, just like many states in the US are Native-American names, like Tennessee, for example, Cherokee for "Tanasi" as in, Tanasi River. If you sound it out you definitely see why it was used. "Volunteers" as a state nickname is derived from something else, but Junior will leave that for another ballgame.)
(unfortunately for Junior, there is a 10,000 word limit for a post on vs.com so this must be continued onto another post -- there is a work-around for every obstacle one faces in life)
special warning: skip to the parts headed Baseball if your name is wayne as some of this is not about spoots [sic]
Baseball
Heavy rains overnight have moved out. Having a turf surface is highly helpful at times like this. Even if it had not stopped raining the game would likely have been played due to the good drainage of the new turf installed last fall thanks to ADMT. It was one of the few places that was traceable with respect to where he spent millons of dollars during his short tenure as AD. The only other expenditure that Junior remembers is taking an Uber from Nashville to Birmingham so he could "keep working."
Tech was quite the powerhouse two years ago, even beating Vandy at The Hawk, and almost making it to Omaha. Since then they've lost their coach and almost all their top players. Consequently, it's been a tough season so far this year for them. They started off the season with 3 wins but have now lost 23 games in a row since. Warren Nolan, the baseball stats guy, predicts that streak will go to 33 before Tech wins again. Tech's new coach, after their former coach left, soon departed as well due to some nefarious off-the-field activities which we are not allowed to talk about since this is a family site. The even newer coach stepped into a really bad situation and it's just getting worse.
Not baseball
Junior has a soft spot in his Baseball Heart for Tech and only wishes them well going forward. Being a Cumberland Plateau native he pulls for all Cumberland Plateau universities to do well unless one includes Knoxville as being a part of the Cumberland Plateau -- he's currently unsure of the dividing line between the Posh Plateau and the Abhorrent Appalachians.
[the mountainous area itself is wonderful; it's some of the ones living there that give it a bad name)
He's not exactly sure how many universities reside on the Plateau other than Williams Jennings Bryan** College but, technically, that's not a university. Did you know that in Australia all colleges are called universities? "Unis" as the locals say, you see, are post-high school, while colleges are just specially named high schools or units within a university that focuses on specific things, like Surfing or Dancing or Grilling Shrimp on the Barbie. Nashville has a "University School" which is a high school. That name would not be allowed in Australia and would likely be titled "High School For Vandy Professors' and Doctors' Kids."
**interesting info about Bryan. He was from Nebraska, ran for President 3 times and lost all 3 times. He was a "populist." His campaign slogan was once "I will die on a Cross of Gold Before I Give in to Silver." Later, however, he served as an "expert" witness on religion in the Dayton Monkey Trial, culminating in his death from a heart attack. In his honor they founded a local college and named it after him. The bed he died on at a local Rooming House can be found in the Library. It was a heart attack so he was not contagious.
There might even be a Outback College in Australia for those who want to learn how to live on a 2000-mile-wide desert filled with poisonous snakes and spiders and wild emus and still survive or, better yet, manage an Outback Steakhouse (an American company that has zero ties to Oz as I'm sure you are aware.)
Junior thinks Australia got this college/university arrangement from England but he's never been to England so is unable to speak with authority in that regard. Australia, you see, was once used as England's Penal Colony #419 and, thus, heaps of Aussies are descended from criminals. This is likely why they have the highest per capita consumption of beer in the world as well as gambling. But it also why they drive on the wrong side of road, still are subservient to the Queen of England, and many have bad teeth. Their accent is different from the Brits, however, it's much more engaging. Vandy once had a basketball player, Ogilvie, who was from Australia. Junior momentarily has forgetten his first name.
Baseball
Interestingly enough, baseball has really taken off in Australia. Just a few years ago there were next to zero Little League teams and they were grouped with "Pacific" for the LLWS. Now, "Australia" has a guaranteed spot in the LLWS along with Japan. They aren't very good yet but they are improving with each succeeding year. If Junior is ever forced to leave the US he will seek asylum in Australia and become an official Score Keeper for the Woolongong Little League (near Sydney and the South Beaches, a beautiful area if every there was one. Many Oz names are Aboriginies Names, just like many states in the US are Native-American names, like Tennessee, for example, Cherokee for "Tanasi" as in, Tanasi River. If you sound it out you definitely see why it was used. "Volunteers" as a state nickname is derived from something else, but Junior will leave that for another ballgame.)
(unfortunately for Junior, there is a 10,000 word limit for a post on vs.com so this must be continued onto another post -- there is a work-around for every obstacle one faces in life)
