Want to know a secret? I live with a celebrity.
In fact, Kate Corvese and I are practically BFF.
That's right, the president of Vandy Fanatics eats, sleeps and breathes 15 ft from my door. You may know her as "That girl who emcees Memorial Madness and Gold Rush;" we just call her
"The Rock Star."
Aside from all the free T-shirts, however, living with Vanderbilt's No. 1 sports fan is not all roses and rainbows. This morning, for instance, I was awakened at 5 a.m. by a blood-curling scream coming from the next room, so I ran over to find Kate sitting up in bed, recovering from a horrifying nightmare.
"It was awful," she said. "College GameDay came to campus for the Auburn game, and no one cared! I had to steal the blow-up dolls out of every frat house, dress them up in Vandy gear and prop them up behind the ESPN desk so it would look like we had fans. By game time there were so many white-out shirts laying forgotten on the Star Walk, Lee Corso thought it was winter in Ann Arbor and started screaming ‘Hail! Hail! To Michigan!' Before I knew it, the concession stands were accepting Auburn IDs instead of the Commodore Card and NCAA officials were calling to let me know we had been kicked out of the (Southeastern Conference)!"
After calming down our poor, overworked roommate, reminding her UT was still unranked and putting her back to bed, I couldn't seem to fall asleep myself. Had it been just a nightmare? Sure. Could it happen to us? Absolutely.
Let's face it guys, our athletic fan base is nothing to write home about, and our game day celebration doesn't quite hold up to conference rivals. I know what you're thinking - the Greek row tailgates, the ties, the heels, the tendency to forget an actual competition is taking place - it's tradition! Our alumni did it, our priorities are different and it sets us apart from the rest of the pack. Trust me, I'm Catholic, I understand tradition, and 364 days out of the year, I'm honestly OK with it. But this week, we're going to try something different. It's a little social experiment I like to call "Screw Tradition."
Coach Bobby Johnson screwed tradition when he led our team to the second 4-0 start in four years. Our team screwed tradition when they routed the ranked Gamecocks for their biggest home win in over a decade. And ESPN is throwing tradition out a 19th story window by bringing its biggest college football show to Nashville for the first time in history. Now it's our turn.
The challenge: get up a little earlier this Saturday. Pregame like your life depends on it - come on, I know you know how - and make your way over to the GameDay set. Wear something gold. Or black. Or white. Stick it to that cop who busted the completely legitimate juice bar you had in the back of your Jeep last year and get belligerent on national television. Make inappropriate signs about the sexual stamina of a Tigers fan and TiVo it to show your friends for years to come. Then, go to the game.
Why? Because our players deserve it. In case you haven't noticed, they're performing like a top 25 team these days, and it's about time we started treating them like one.
Maybe then my roommates and I will finally get a decent night's sleep.
Carolyn Pippen is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at carolyn.m.pippen@vanderbilt.edu.
