Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT MORAL VICTORIES

When I started this blog in August, I had planned to track Vanderbilt's moral victories because I really didn't think the Commodores had a shot at a winning record.

Well, here we are in the third week of October with not a single moral victory. Games with Top 25 teams South Carolina and Auburn could have easily been moral victories — but instead they were huge upsets and now Vanderbilt has five real wins and a Top 25 berth of its own.

The Mississippi State game was a bitter disappointment, especially for those of us who braved the trip to Starkville with plans of celebrating a 6-0 record. And though nobody's panicking, it did force Vanderbilt fans to pull out the schedule and wonder how many games we could win before the season's over.

I did have this thought: What if this season is not a collection of moral victories resulting in a losing season for Vanderbilt, but instead one long moral victory in which the Commodores take a big lead against a more powerful opponent (the SEC), give up a couple of big plays (Georgia and Florida), have plenty of chances to win in the end (Miss State, Duke, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Wake Forest) , and then finish in heartbreak?

OK, I won't think about it anymore. Go Commodores! By the way, I'll be there in Athens on Saturday and I hope you will be too — so you don't have to watch the three Daves on Raycom.

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