Gotta vent...

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Gotta vent...

Post by underdog74 »

How in the wholly world could we beat a really good BYU team and then go to Fayetteville and beat Arky, which is tough for any team, and then fall totally flat at home?

I can't help but blame the administration for the collapse. An energized home crowd would have made the difference in the tight SC game. If any of you have played sports, you know that YOUR crowd can account for some positive production. I can guarantee that internally, the team felt abandoned. And this goes even before the current Covid policy. Vandy is the only SEC school to implement an incredibly illogical NYC-type policy of vaccine passports and negative tests upon entry. News flash: this is alienating much of the fan base. People are over it and they look at other packed out events and wonder what the hell are the rule-makers thinking? Do they not have the same public health info as everyone else? And the latest Covid stunt they have pulled has me really wondering if they can even recover this season. Someone explain to me how anyone is "safer" today because the geniuses on West End turned Memorial into Nashville Rupp.


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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by charlestonalum »

My position on public health has been clearly stated in other threads. I understand the student policy and cannot fault them for doing what most European countries, other schools and businesses are doing with our students. They are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay among our students, faculty and staff. It is good, sound public health policy and anyone who denies that doesn't know or believe the science, and that is unfortunate.

Having said that about the students, I do believe that the University and Athletic Administration made a drastic mistake in allowing student section seats to be sold. That was a travesty, and has properly been criticized. That policy needs to change before the UT game.

I watched the end of the Stanford upset win over undefeated and top 10 Southern Cal last night, and guess what. About 50 people were in the Stanford gym for the very important game. Obviously Stanford's policy is far more restrictive than Vanderbilt's - the public just wasn't there. Vanderbilt is not Stanford and the SEC is not the PAC 10, but there is a lesson about going all out to prevent the spread of the virus at an indoor event if that is your aim. Maybe we should criticize VU for not banning the public but allowing player family to be seated all around the spacious confines of Memorial.

Yes, the administration has made mistakes and yes, Omicron is real, and undoubtedly some in attendance last night spread the disease to others. I just hope their cases are mild.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by commadore »

charlestonalum wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:00 am My position on public health has been clearly stated in other threads. I understand the student policy and cannot fault them for doing what most European countries, other schools and businesses are doing with our students. They are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay among our students, faculty and staff. It is good, sound public health policy and anyone who denies that doesn't know or believe the science, and that is unfortunate.

Having said that about the students, I do believe that the University and Athletic Administration made a drastic mistake in allowing student section seats to be sold. That was a travesty, and has properly been criticized. That policy needs to change before the UT game.

I watched the end of the Stanford upset win over undefeated and top 10 Southern Cal last night, and guess what. About 50 people were in the Stanford gym for the very important game. Obviously Stanford's policy is far more restrictive than Vanderbilt's - the public just wasn't there. Vanderbilt is not Stanford and the SEC is not the PAC 10, but there is a lesson about going all out to prevent the spread of the virus at an indoor event if that is your aim. Maybe we should criticize VU for not banning the public but allowing player family to be seated all around the spacious confines of Memorial.

Yes, the administration has made mistakes and yes, Omicron is real, and undoubtedly some in attendance last night spread the disease to others. I just hope their cases are mild.
USC players were probably spooked and freaked out by a totally empty gym. :lol:
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Jason94 »

charlestonalum wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:00 am My position on public health has been clearly stated in other threads. I understand the student policy and cannot fault them for doing what most European countries, other schools and businesses are doing with our students. They are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay among our students, faculty and staff. It is good, sound public health policy and anyone who denies that doesn't know or believe the science, and that is unfortunate.

Having said that about the students, I do believe that the University and Athletic Administration made a drastic mistake in allowing student section seats to be sold. That was a travesty, and has properly been criticized. That policy needs to change before the UT game.

I watched the end of the Stanford upset win over undefeated and top 10 Southern Cal last night, and guess what. About 50 people were in the Stanford gym for the very important game. Obviously Stanford's policy is far more restrictive than Vanderbilt's - the public just wasn't there. Vanderbilt is not Stanford and the SEC is not the PAC 10, but there is a lesson about going all out to prevent the spread of the virus at an indoor event if that is your aim. Maybe we should criticize VU for not banning the public but allowing player family to be seated all around the spacious confines of Memorial.

Yes, the administration has made mistakes and yes, Omicron is real, and undoubtedly some in attendance last night spread the disease to others. I just hope their cases are mild.
That's just the thing though - if you think it is such a public health policy, then eliminate attendance for the games. At least Stanford is being consistent about it instead of looking like they are trying to profit from the situation under the guise of public health. And given that both the CDC and CEO of Pfizer have recently publicly stated that the vaccine is ineffective against preventing spread of the current varient, what science justifies their vaccine policy? If this is truly the health crisis that they think it is, then do what they did last year and play the games in front of empty stands. Otherwise they are looking like they are doing something for the sake of saying they are doing something, while trying to maximize the amount of revenue in the current environment.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Ndorefin »

Welcome to the new Vanderbilt! Over the years we have continued to morph into the same societal thinking adopted by the Ivy League schools. That is all well and good if the administration has this goal in mind, but remaining in the SEC with this approach is just an obvious money grab!
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by charlestonalum »

Jason94 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:27 am
charlestonalum wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:00 am My position on public health has been clearly stated in other threads. I understand the student policy and cannot fault them for doing what most European countries, other schools and businesses are doing with our students. They are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay among our students, faculty and staff. It is good, sound public health policy and anyone who denies that doesn't know or believe the science, and that is unfortunate.

Having said that about the students, I do believe that the University and Athletic Administration made a drastic mistake in allowing student section seats to be sold. That was a travesty, and has properly been criticized. That policy needs to change before the UT game.

I watched the end of the Stanford upset win over undefeated and top 10 Southern Cal last night, and guess what. About 50 people were in the Stanford gym for the very important game. Obviously Stanford's policy is far more restrictive than Vanderbilt's - the public just wasn't there. Vanderbilt is not Stanford and the SEC is not the PAC 10, but there is a lesson about going all out to prevent the spread of the virus at an indoor event if that is your aim. Maybe we should criticize VU for not banning the public but allowing player family to be seated all around the spacious confines of Memorial.

Yes, the administration has made mistakes and yes, Omicron is real, and undoubtedly some in attendance last night spread the disease to others. I just hope their cases are mild.
That's just the thing though - if you think it is such a public health policy, then eliminate attendance for the games. At least Stanford is being consistent about it instead of looking like they are trying to profit from the situation under the guise of public health. And given that both the CDC and CEO of Pfizer have recently publicly stated that the vaccine is ineffective against preventing spread of the current varient, what science justifies their vaccine policy? If this is truly the health crisis that they think it is, then do what they did last year and play the games in front of empty stands. Otherwise they are looking like they are doing something for the sake of saying they are doing something, while trying to maximize the amount of revenue in the current environment.
Jason, the vaccine prevents death and serious illness and that is the major rationale for getting the vaccine not to prevent spread - T cell immunity is conferred with the vaccine and this protects you and others vaccinated from serious illness. So everyone should be vaccinated if they desire to have a mild case of the disease. I agree the University policy is extremely flawed and as I said hope is changed before our next home game.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Jason94 »

charlestonalum wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:53 am
Jason94 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:27 am
charlestonalum wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:00 am My position on public health has been clearly stated in other threads. I understand the student policy and cannot fault them for doing what most European countries, other schools and businesses are doing with our students. They are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay among our students, faculty and staff. It is good, sound public health policy and anyone who denies that doesn't know or believe the science, and that is unfortunate.

Having said that about the students, I do believe that the University and Athletic Administration made a drastic mistake in allowing student section seats to be sold. That was a travesty, and has properly been criticized. That policy needs to change before the UT game.

I watched the end of the Stanford upset win over undefeated and top 10 Southern Cal last night, and guess what. About 50 people were in the Stanford gym for the very important game. Obviously Stanford's policy is far more restrictive than Vanderbilt's - the public just wasn't there. Vanderbilt is not Stanford and the SEC is not the PAC 10, but there is a lesson about going all out to prevent the spread of the virus at an indoor event if that is your aim. Maybe we should criticize VU for not banning the public but allowing player family to be seated all around the spacious confines of Memorial.

Yes, the administration has made mistakes and yes, Omicron is real, and undoubtedly some in attendance last night spread the disease to others. I just hope their cases are mild.
That's just the thing though - if you think it is such a public health policy, then eliminate attendance for the games. At least Stanford is being consistent about it instead of looking like they are trying to profit from the situation under the guise of public health. And given that both the CDC and CEO of Pfizer have recently publicly stated that the vaccine is ineffective against preventing spread of the current varient, what science justifies their vaccine policy? If this is truly the health crisis that they think it is, then do what they did last year and play the games in front of empty stands. Otherwise they are looking like they are doing something for the sake of saying they are doing something, while trying to maximize the amount of revenue in the current environment.
Jason, the vaccine prevents death and serious illness and that is the major rationale for getting the vaccine not to prevent spread - T cell immunity is conferred with the vaccine and this protects you and others vaccinated from serious illness. So everyone should be vaccinated if they desire to have a mild case of the disease. I agree the University policy is extremely flawed and as I said hope is changed before our next home game.
You realize they are not requiring vaccination to the game - they are requiring either vaccination or negative tests (but not both). So someone who is vaccinated and carrying can spread to unvaccinated (or other vaccinated) individuals under their policy. So again, there is no scientific basis for their policy, which appears to be meant to look like they are doing something while trying to maximize revenue at the same time.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by dore74 »

What a dang mess. My wife is an MD, who is pretty open minded on matters like this, approves of the policy of no students for now, as the school tries to protect the students, who are their responsibility. So I'm ok on the policy.

Leaving it up to the judgement of everyone else attending is either a) hypocritical or b) not the school's responsibility (or both). I can go either way on that.

Selling the student section when you know it's gonna end up in the hands of UK rooters is both a) pure greed; b) non-support to our student athletes and c) plain stupid. They need to stop doing so immediately.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Go Vandy! »

dore74 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:00 pm...Selling the student section when you know it's gonna end up in the hands of UK rooters is both a) pure greed; b) non-support to our student athletes and c) plain stupid. They need to stop doing so immediately.
That's the part i have the most trouble with. It is inexcusable. But they have been satisfied with opposing fans filling the seats for decades.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by vutrain »

Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:42 pm
dore74 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:00 pm...Selling the student section when you know it's gonna end up in the hands of UK rooters is both a) pure greed; b) non-support to our student athletes and c) plain stupid. They need to stop doing so immediately.
That's the part i have the most trouble with. It is inexcusable. But they have been satisfied with opposing fans filling the seats for decades.
Like everything else about the way the CDC, the White House, the mayors and governor's have set stupid conflicting rulings, Vanderbilt has set conflicting rules. Why are students (who are mandatory vaccinated) allowed to attend indoor classes but not to attend a basketball game where the university is allowed any other vaccinated (or proof of no illness) person attend? If a student had bought a ticket they were not banned for the game ...this is stupid!
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by cjdore »

vutrain wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:28 pm
Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:42 pm
dore74 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:00 pm...Selling the student section when you know it's gonna end up in the hands of UK rooters is both a) pure greed; b) non-support to our student athletes and c) plain stupid. They need to stop doing so immediately.
That's the part i have the most trouble with. It is inexcusable. But they have been satisfied with opposing fans filling the seats for decades.
Like everything else about the way the CDC, the White House, the mayors and governor's have set stupid conflicting rulings, Vanderbilt has set conflicting rules. Why are students (who are mandatory vaccinated) allowed to attend indoor classes but not to attend a basketball game where the university is allowed any other vaccinated (or proof of no illness) person attend? If a student had bought a ticket they were not banned for the game ...this is stupid!
I kind of suspect that the powers that be, checked the attendance under the ridiculous rules that they set just before the season started and found that many VU fans are MIA. They then looked at the prime seats the students had and thought that we can sell those and generate revenue to pay expenses........students should be VERY angry!!!!
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we seem to have consensus....

Post by docdore »

that selling those student section tix is ill-guided self-defeating policy and that it needs to cease. there are just too many ways those tix get into opposing fans' hands and there was already too much of that.

with respect to group health policy impacting hoops attendees, "public" health and campus (students/faculty/staff) health concerns really aren't the same things, although boundaries do blur. stanford, for example, in allowing virtually no one to attend, can honestly assert they are doing all they can to allow games to be played and yet protect their campus and their community. the policies of thirteen sec members and so many others, on the other hand, show little concern for either. vu is trying to awkwardly walk a tightrope between these extremes which POSSIBLY is protecting a few vulnerable folks on campus from serious illness or worse. we can hope that's the case but we'll never know.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Nashmann »

How can you allow students back on campus in dorms and classes but NOT attend a basketball game? THEN sell their already paid-for seats to outsiders?? Total BS
Last edited by Nashmann on Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by charlestonalum »

Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:42 pm
dore74 wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:00 pm...Selling the student section when you know it's gonna end up in the hands of UK rooters is both a) pure greed; b) non-support to our student athletes and c) plain stupid. They need to stop doing so immediately.
That's the part i have the most trouble with. It is inexcusable. But they have been satisfied with opposing fans filling the seats for decades.
That is the part that is most objectionable and flawed in my opinion. Maybe they will change this?
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by FayetteDore »

If it's any consolation to y'all, I got an email promotion from Vanderbilt directed to FOOTBALL season ticket holders (which I am) offering to sell me tickets to the Ky and UT basketball games for a discounted price on the condition that they not be re-sold or transferred to anyone else. They said they wanted Vanderbilt fans in the stands. So I think they're trying.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by docdore »

some "fans" are also greedy humans. in today's world (and maybe yesterday's also), the only way to prevent resale to opposing fans is to not sell them to anyone.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by Jason94 »

docdore wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 6:04 am some "fans" are also greedy humans. in today's world (and maybe yesterday's also), the only way to prevent resale to opposing fans is to not sell them to anyone.
Not all season ticket holders are necessarily fans of the university. I am aware of cases where tickets are bought for marketing purposes by corporations or opposing team's fans because of the cost. A UK fan could buy tickets in 3F because it is easier than getting tickets to Rupp (and because they are a bit crazy) and then be offered tickets to the student section as a season ticket holder. So the assumption that it is purely due to fan greed is not correct. But the bottom line is that they took the seats away from our most rabid fans and are sending them out to the general public during a period where fan interest is at its lowest. Putting the blame on anyone other than the administration is relieving them of the scorn they have rightfully earned for this ridiculous decision.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by FayetteDore »

Actually, as I look back at the email, the offer is to "a valued non-basketball season ticket holder and National Commodore Club member" -- "and we’re calling on you to fill those seats with black and gold! ... We look forward to having you and your fellow Commodore fans at Memorial Gymnasium to support the men's basketball team. Please note these tickets are not available for resale."

I'd say they're aiming at a narrow audience not likely to sell them to opposing fans. For all I know, the email only went to to long-time football ticket holders who buy football season tickets every year, as opposed to every other year.

Short of going out and setting up a ticket sales table in the Belle Meade Country Club lobby, I think they're doing their best. (I know that's an outdated stereotype :roll: )
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by cjdore »

FayetteDore wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:31 am Actually, as I look back at the email, the offer is to "a valued non-basketball season ticket holder and National Commodore Club member" -- "and we’re calling on you to fill those seats with black and gold! ... We look forward to having you and your fellow Commodore fans at Memorial Gymnasium to support the men's basketball team. Please note these tickets are not available for resale."

I'd say they're aiming at a narrow audience not likely to sell them to opposing fans. For all I know, the email only went to to long-time football ticket holders who buy football season tickets every year, as opposed to every other year.

Short of going out and setting up a ticket sales table in the Belle Meade Country Club lobby, I think they're doing their best. (I know that's an outdated stereotype :roll: )
If they were "doing their best" they would admit that the covid restrictions that have been adopted is stupid. Check out any Preds game and you will see a packed house without such draconian restriction. Furthermore, the Omicron variant that is now prevalent presents symptoms akin to a bad cold or a light flu but providing antibodies.
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Re: Gotta vent...

Post by FayetteDore »

cjdore wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:23 am
FayetteDore wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:31 am Actually, as I look back at the email, the offer is to "a valued non-basketball season ticket holder and National Commodore Club member" -- "and we’re calling on you to fill those seats with black and gold! ... We look forward to having you and your fellow Commodore fans at Memorial Gymnasium to support the men's basketball team. Please note these tickets are not available for resale."

I'd say they're aiming at a narrow audience not likely to sell them to opposing fans. For all I know, the email only went to to long-time football ticket holders who buy football season tickets every year, as opposed to every other year.

Short of going out and setting up a ticket sales table in the Belle Meade Country Club lobby, I think they're doing their best. (I know that's an outdated stereotype :roll: )
If they were "doing their best" they would admit that the covid restrictions that have been adopted is stupid. Check out any Preds game and you will see a packed house without such draconian restriction. Furthermore, the Omicron variant that is now prevalent presents symptoms akin to a bad cold or a light flu but providing antibodies.
I'll be sure and tell that to my co-worker whose un-vaxed brother died from Covid just after New Years. I'm sure it will give her some comfort to know that his death was akin to a bad cold or light flu and that he now has antibodies, even if he's 6 feet under. Not to mention the two other people who I personally knew who died from Covid -- one last August after 3 weeks in the hospital -- and another in 2020, pre-vaccinations.

For the record, they're letting you in to Memorial Gym if you present your vaccination card.
Last edited by FayetteDore on Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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