WHY ALL THE STARGAZING?

So what's the point in showing — ad nauseum — that Vanderbilt doesn't get the athletes that other SEC teams do?

I think it's important to be realistic. When fellow Vanderbilt fans deride me for talking about moral victories and say I'm not proud of my team, I have to laugh. These well-meaning fans say we've proven we can compete with anybody in the SEC and that moral victories are a thing of the past. What, because in the past four years we've beaten Tennessee once, Georgia once, Arkansas once, South Carolina twice and we took Florida to double overtime before losing?

Those victories were all pleasant surprises. Even the narrow loss to Florida was a pleasant surprise, a moral victory if you will. But let's face it — those teams are stacked, and we're not.

I'll stop talking about moral victories when we have a winning season and go to a bowl. For now, narrow losses to the following teams will still be moral victories: Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Alabama and even Tennessee. That's half the conference. With Arkansas and South Carolina, it depends on the year. And we'll always have a shot, or think we have a shot, against Kentucky and the teams from Mississippi, because their talent levels are closer to ours.

Am I bad-mouthing my team? Heck no. We have good kids — smart kids who attend one of the 20 toughest universities in the nation and unlike the kids at Georgia even manage to stay out of jail — and when our kids go to Athens or Knoxville or Columbia and win, or even to Tuscaloosa or Gainesville and almost win, it's a credit to them, their mamas and daddies, their head coach Bobby Johnson, their assistant coaches, their strength coaches, their trainers, their cooks, their professors, their spiritual advisors, their... You get the idea.

I'm proud of the Commodores. Especially because our players look better on the field than they look on paper.