Posts Tagged ‘music city bowl’
If you pick the Dores, will Vandy show up?
It looks like Vanderbilt will end its 26-season bowl drought with an appearance in the Music City Bowl, a game that didn’t even exist until 1998. While there ss an outside chance that Dores may land in Memphis for the Liberty Bowl, but it appears that the MCB will truly have a “home” team for the first time in its history when bowl selections are finalized tomorrow.
There are plenty of opinions about whether Vandy’s first postseason since 1982 should be spent here in Davidson County. More than a few college football fans think that the Dores shouldn’t be going bowling at all, much less down the street from campus:
DinaDog: These are tough economic times. Those downtown establishments count on that Music City Bowl money. If Vanderbilt ends up being the Music City Bowl choice, that means instead of bringing two visiting teams to our city, the Bowl brings only one team and cuts everything in half. That’s devastating to those downtown businesses. Cutting into their sales dollars cuts into our tax revenues. Choosing Vanderbilt for that bowl is just bad business for the citizens of Nashville and the state of Tennessee. I know that is not why they have bowls or invite teams. I guess that shouldn’t play into their decision making, but that is the reality of the result of the decision to put Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl.
rickshaw: I would have been completely satisfied with a six and six record if they had substituted a win at Duke and Miss State and Tennessee for losses at South Carolina, Auburn and Mississippi. Something about the way they waddled into six and six leaves one rather cold about this team. I am afraid that this team will wind up losing seven out of eight and extending their years of being a losing football program. A rather bizarre prospect indeed!
mlvalue: While it may be true for most schools, there is a lot of interest for Vandy fans. Vandy is unique, being in a conference with large state powerhouses. Vandy is a small private school, and what they did this year is pretty good, considering what they are up against. Besides the Music City Bowl will attract a pretty good size crowd. Go Vandy!
82cat: I’m sure the merchants down town are not happy to say the least. It virtually assures half of the business they would get from a well traveled out of town team wont be there especially the hotels. Nothing against VU heck 6-6 whatever when you have only been to 3 bowls go for it. When Kentucky played Clemson a few yrs agos 2nd avenue was packed the night before and the game was sold out. How many fans will vandy bring to the game?
AL2476: I don’t care who the team is or where they are located, a 6-6 team should not be rewarded to be in a bowl game. Also there are too many bowl games being played now and it is losing it’s interest to fans as well. Just look at attendance at many of the bowls being played this year and you will notice little interest in these minor bowls.
It should be noted that the Music City Bowl has had very good attendance for nearly all of the 10 games in its history. It can be debated whether there are too many bowls or whether a winning record should be required to qualify. Like it or not, though, fan support factors in to team selections for virtually every bowl game except the BCS Championship.
The MCB is obligated by contract to select an eligible SEC team, which will likely be Vandy, tomorrow, but whether Dores fans will follow down West End remains to be seen. From a glass-is-half-full perspective, Vandy is finally going to play in another bowl game. On the half-empty side, the Dores are an inconsistent team that somehow turned a 5-0 start into a 6-6 finish.
There have been several games during this strange-but-successful season where fans have had to wonder whether Vandy was going to show up. On New Year’s Eve, Nashville may be wondering the same thing about both the Dores and their fans. Here’s hoping the Commodore crew has a good showing in the stands and on the field. Go Dores!
Tags: college football, music city bowl, nashville, the tennessean, vanderbilt, vanderbilt commodores
