Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

For discussion regarding the Vanderbilt Commodores' football program.

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cc11316
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Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by cc11316 »

Reasonable question, right? I mean the reasons are likely not always the same as the other SEC bandwagon fans (see Alabama, UT threads). In my case, it's a sidewalk alumni situation having grown up in Nashville where my entire family were Vanderbilt supporters. I mean, I thought this was normal until I reached my 40's and there was no turning back. ;)

My intuition tells me there are two primary reasons people would endure the hardships and continue to support this program thick and thin but I'm very interested. Those two reasons are:

1. You are a Vanderbilt alumnus (or alumna)
2. You were raised in Nashville as a Vanderbilt fan by someone who was either a graduate or just a life long fan

I'm sure there are other reasons. Any input?


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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by DivergentDore »

Vandy fan raised in an orange family. There were 3 TV stations we could pick up out in the boonies and about the same number of radio stations. One of the latter broadcast Vandy. Didn't know what Davis, Rhoades, and co looked like but I knew their stats and playing styles. Have been a Dores fan every since those nights.
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Clyde Lee and...

Post by thefan »

Larry Munson were my heroes and Clyde's sister was a babe!
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by Levon »

cc11316 wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:14 am Reasonable question, right? I mean the reasons are likely not always the same as the other SEC bandwagon fans (see Alabama, UT threads). In my case, it's a sidewalk alumni situation having grown up in Nashville where my entire family were Vanderbilt supporters. I mean, I thought this was normal until I reached my 40's and there was no turning back. ;)
I think you and I must be the same person. That is exactly how/why I'm a Vanderbilt fan. Fate can be a cruel bitch indeed ;)
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by Minoadoc »

alumni and parent of alumni. Vanderbilt AD doesn't post the thumbnail info of the football recruits every year, but i used to love to show my wife that nearly every recruit was in the National Honor Society in HS
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by VandyManners »

My father. He was born in Nashville in 1929. He was a blue-collar guy that never went to college. Hardnosed Korean War vet. He served as a sniper. He made a career and retired from the Ford Glass Plant. For a man who had no formal education he was the smartest guy I ever knew. He loved Vandy. He worked a lot of hours but always had time to take us to games with his season tickets to football and basketball.

None of my family went to Vanderbilt, but Vandy has always been our team. I applied to Vandy when I graduated high school in 1995. I was accepted but chose to go to Austin Peay who offered me a full scholarship. Sometimes I regret not going to my dream school, but I came out of college with zero debt and a degree. Vandy will always be special to me because it was the one consistent event that bonded me and my dad. I wish he could have seen Cutler beat UT, the Frankin years, and the baseball team win 2 National Championships. He would be so proud to see his Commodores have so much success.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by PeteFox »

Alumnus, married an alumnae, 4 years in the band, every home game 1964 -1968, many thereafter.
Sickened by brutish, uncouth behavior of UTK and fans.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by VUaskew »

I was born with it. Dad went to VU for a year and realized he was in over his head, went to MTSU instead. Grew up listening to Paul Eels and the VBK, F-Troop era. Went to my first game at age 6-7 and was hooked. Dad never forced me into it, unlike his UT-fan father. That probably helped.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by MtJulietVUFan »

My father was always a Vandy fan. Although we didn't go to many games when I was a kid, he always had the old transistor radio tuned in to every game. I got season tickets to football when my oldest son was very little. Almost 20 years later, we still go to every game. I honestly just enjoy the live football and the fall days going to the stadium. When you learn to not tie your happiness to the W-L record of a sports team, it's amazing what a difference it makes. It took me lots of years of maturity to finally get there. I care (a lot), and will always be a fan, but it's not life or death. Also, I am convinced it's more fun to go and care game in and game out with every game meaning something....as opposed to fans of a powerhouse where one loss can ruin your season. I enjoy that even the "little" games are meaningful.
Last edited by MtJulietVUFan on Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by dcdore »

70 years ago my family would go visit my grandfather who lived in Middle TN, never went to college. The VU football game was always on the radio on Saturday afternoon. If VU lost, my grandfather had to go to bed and we wouldn't see him until Sunday morning.

My father's undergrad degree was from VU; so was mine; so was my brothers.

It's a family thing, but I think beyond that it's believing that the University, Athletic Department, Coaches and Players are striving for a right balance to find a way to remain a top tier academic institution and compete at top levels athletically.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by vandybrad »

My dad was a Vandy fan so I grew up being one from childhood to 60 years later. Always lived in Middle TN with the exception of 10 months in San Antonio. Reckon I'll go to my grave being a fan.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by commadore »

My dad, whose education topped out with a GED after WW2, was a Vandy fan. He had two sayings that always stuck with me: (1) Vanderbilt does it right and (2) Tennessee won't recruit a football player unless he can run a 100 yards with a TV under his arm. We listened on the radio to the basketball games during the Lee years and would go to the Vanderbilt Invitational Tournament annually because we could get tickets (it wasn't part of the season ticket package). Went to my first football game in 1966 when I was 10. Saw Navy (dad was a Navy guy, but rooted for VU). We lost 30-14, but I was hooked. Back in those days students could get season tickets in the old end zone bleacher seats for, roughly, $15. Started going with a friend and his dad in 1967. Caught the extra point that put us ahead of Alabama 14-10 in 1969. Boy was I excited. By then it was already in my blood. Graduated high school in 1974 with a plan. Knew we couldn't afford VU for 4 years and then law school after that, so I went to Cumberland in Lebanon for two years for less than half the cost. Took the classes I knew I needed and transferred as a junior. From the day I graduated HS until I left VU, I never missed a basketball game or a football game. Saw a few baseball games as well and loved heckling the UT first baseman from the rise that was on the 1st base side. In 1984 I moved to Montgomery, AL. Kept my season tickets until 1992 when my kids were involved in so much I couldn't make the games. Still, my son, Ben, who had Down Syndrome, became an even bigger fan than I. Many of you know his story and this isn't the time to rehash it, but he died suddenly in October 2012. Worst day of my life. We buried him in a Vanderbilt tie. Shortly afterwards, VU went on a 7 game winning streak which I attribute to Ben putting in a word with God. Today, I rise and fall with the 'Dores. As Don can attest, I get mad and spout off, but cool down and come back. I feel I have earned the right to pitch a fit every now and then, but no matter what happens, I'll always be a Commodore.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by OldDude »

Check a lot of the boxes. VU alum as are two sons. Grew up in Nashville and graduated from Ryan when it was just down the street on Elliston. My dad's business was initially in a one time home on the nineteen hundred block of West End ( I am old ), so spent a lot of my life either on or in ear shot of the campus. Though I sometimes think I am deranged in my stubborn loyalty, I have huge admiration for the way that VU commits to the idea of student / athlete and my respect for the young male and female athletes who accept such a challenge is endless.

Also want to give a big high five to all the sidewalk fans. Supporting VU was an often unrewarded choice and yet you stick with the program; Vanderbilt would be so much less without you guys.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by Vandy sr »

I’ve been a Vandy fan all my life. I grew up in middle Tennessee . My high school coach was a Vanderbilt alum and starred in football,basketball and baseball at Vandy. My doctor was a Vandy grad. The owner of the supermarket I worked at was a season ticket holder in football and basketball. One of my best friends attended and graduated at Vanderbilt. I was taught that you always pulled for the hometown teams. East Tennessee had ut with their ugly orange uniforms and middle tenn had Vanderbilt with sharp black and gold uniforms! Vandy has had its ups and downs but it has been fun! C4 l! Go dores!
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by coachinwaiting »

I was born in Alabama and into a family of Alabama fans. One side of the family was from just across the state line into Tennessee, but both of my grandfathers were died-in-the-wool Alabama fans. That fandom was passed down and there was never any question about it.

I was in junior high school when Alabama alum Steve Sloan came to Vandy to be its head football coach, so between wishing him well and watching his coach's highlight show on the Chattanooga television affiliate that broadcast into Northeast Alabama, I began to pull for Vanderbilt football. A decade later I found myself living in the Nashville area and I became an all-sports Vandy fan. The proximity made it much easier to attend some home games at Dudley and Memorial, and there seemed to be much better local news coverage of VU at that time. I was a great fan of C.M. Newton before he came to Vandy, and after, so that contributed to it as well.

I never make apology for being an Alabama fan first, and I won't apologize for how or why I chose to become a Vandy fan. It has been almost 50 years since the seed was planted, so I'm sure there are fans who have a 100% commitment to VU and even hold degrees from there who have been fans for a lesser time.

Having said all that, I realize that I have actually answered the question of how I became a Vandy fan more than why I continued to be. I stayed a Vandy fan after Steve Sloan left, and after C.M. Newton left not necessarily because I liked how Vanderbilt did things, because I've had a lot of disagreements with school and athletic department policy. What I liked was the fact that athletes could come to Vanderbilt and have more in their future than what their athletic prowess could provide. They weren't an ACL away from a career path that their parents wouldn't have dreamed for them. If they also experienced some success on the fields of play, all the better.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by geeznotagain »

I'm a Vandy alum, and a huge sports fan (always have been) and support and cheer for my school. It's as simple as that. It's not because I think VU does things the "right way" (although that's certainly a plus) -- it's simply because they are my school.

It's funny how quickly things can change. I grew up in west TN and was a huge UT fan. I remember Johnny Majors and Mallon Faircloth, and I thought the single wing was cool (still do, kinda). I got so mad when UT lost to Vandy in 1964 I would have kicked the dog, if I had had one. That was my senior year in high school. Then a couple of years later I was yelling "go to hell UT" at the games at the top of my lungs, and wishing Ray Mears would go to hell.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by cjdore »

I was first in my family to graduate from ole VU. I attended in the early 1980s when we actually had afew winning seasons in football and were pretty good at basketball with Scott Draud and others. So I have beeen a struggling, lifelong fan.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by BrentVU »

Great thread, cc11316. I think I owe my fandom to a case of scarlet fever when I was ten.

Roy Skinner had put together an excellent team in 1967-68, with Tom Hagan, Bo Wyenandt, Bob Bundy, et al. In January of 1968 I became terribly ill with a high fever that wouldn't go away. I didn't feel like doing anything and couldn't leave my room; nothing to do for hours on end. My mom graciously brought me a transistor radio, and I began listening to the thrilling ups and downs (mostly ups) of Commodore basketball as being broadcast by Paul Eells over the WSM airwaves, and kind of fell in love with that team.

My granddad lived only a short walk from old Vanderbilt Stadium, and on a glorious fall afternoon in October 1968 I was doing some yard work for him. A neighbor came over and invited us to go to the Vanderbilt football game with him; the nationally-ranked Florida Gators were in town. We walked to the stadium, up to the ticket office, and he bought four tickets over the counter for about $3.00 each. I'll never forget seeing the white lines of the field for the first time... the bands, the cheerleaders, the fans, the two teams. What a beautiful sight. Oh, and Vanderbilt tied the highly favored Gators, 14-14 (my first experience with moral victory).

My dad noticed how much I enjoyed it. The next year he took me to the Alabama game when Kristie Hauck intercepted Scott Hunter's pass in the end zone, and Watson Brown led a game-winning drive for a 14-10 win. It was the only time Bear Bryant ever lost to Vanderbilt, and to this day it remains Vandy's last win over the Tide in Nashville. After the game, a total stranger came up to me. "Young man, I want you to remember this night," he said. "It's the night we beat the Bear." The next year I saw Archie Manning's visit to Nashville (we lost that one). When Memorial Gym expanded, Dad got season tickets high in section 3F, from which we witnessed many of Roy Skinner's teams win lots of games on sheer Memorial Magic.

I could go on. But the obsession probably began with those long, lonely nights in my bedroom with the transistor.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by VUrower28 »

In the immortal paraphrased words of Will Hunting…

“Because F you, that’s why.”

This is always my reply when an opposing fan poses this question.
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Re: Why are you a Vanderbilt fan?

Post by Johnmn555 »

I follow VU football by default. I need a team as I like college football, but I'm from a state without a Div. 1 power, I went to a Div. III school undergrad, and then VLS.

In the early 60s, a New York sportswriter compared following the dynastic Yankees versus expansion Mets by saying, "if you root for the Yankees, 110 times you get what you expected, and 50 times you are disappointed, whereas if you root for the Mets, 110 times you get what you expected and 50 times you pleasantly surprised."

That summarizes my philosophy on rooting for Vandy and why I still do.
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