In a word: everything. I’m sorry I’m posting so late on this special title. It’s late on a Saturday Night and I was in bed and thought about going to sleep, but couldn’t. Wanted to write about our special team.

I’ve just gotten back from Florida today with my daughters. I didn’t take my computer down because it’s kind of a special trip for us. I’m divorced and my daughters live with my ex-wife, so this weekly trip to the beach is sacred to me. Having them under my roof for a week means everything. It’s always special. My older daughter just finished up her freshman year at W&L, and my younger onc just finished eighth grade in middle school. We’ve done this every year for the last six years. The dynamic has changed somewhat since they’ve gotten older. While my older daughter and I are having some awesome conversations now that she’s in college, there were still friends of hers down at the beach and she wanted to see them some and not hang out with me the whole time. I totally got that. My younger daughter had a friend with her and they did their own thing for the most part, but we had some great dinners and some nice quality team. But that was part of what was important; just having them there with me, just knowing  that I went to sleep at night they were upstairs . My wife, whom I’ve been married to now for seven and half years and who is a fantastic person, likes for just the three of us to go down there and get as much quality time in as possible. It works well. It creates memories I’ll never forget. I hope it does for Isabelle and Fairbanks too.

And it was memorable. Part of the Florida ’14 memory that will be forever be etched in my mind is Monday, Tuesday and especially Wednesday night as the amazing VandyBoys captured the first major sport national championship in incredibly epic fashion. Was there anything more dramatic ever in Vanderbilt sports history than John Norwood’s eighth inning homer to put us ahead 3-2 in the clinching game of the College World Series? It was really a thing of beauty. Just such a powerful moment. John, you ARE the man! Then the bottom of the ninth. My wife and I had been texting all three games and we were doing some serious texting in game three. Every second or third batter we were texting each other seeing what needed to be done (according to me, and that’s not always a good thing!). But then came the ninth inning. Such pressure, such excitement. It was an amazingly powerful and historic inning in Vanderbilt history. Adam Ravanelle’s  strikeout of the last UVA batter was so powerful, so amazing, so emotional, so surreal. I watched the highlight of it the next day about 10 to 15 times with the incredible voice of the Commodores, Joe Fisher, calling it. When Ravanelle struck the guy out, Joe said, “Dreams do come true!” I hear ya Joe. I hear ya. Joe’s epic. I also loved Adam’s reaction to his national championship clinching strikeout as he sprinted to catcher Karl Ellison and threw his glove up in total elation. It was beautiful. I’m actually going to watch it again before hitting the sack. I might do that every night for a while.

There have been some great moments in Vandy sports. Jay Cutler to Earl Bennett to beat UT in Knoxville in 2005 was epic. The Shan Foster-Derrick Byars-led 2006-07 team that reached the Sweet 16 and were a Georgetown walk away from going to the Elite Eight  was magical. My wife and I were dating. We really enjoyed that together along with many other things including the first five seasons of 24 on discs, VU football games live (michigan at the Big House and Arkansas at home), and a vu basketball victory over Alabama at Memorial during the magical ’06-’07 season. We had a blast while dating and we still are.

The last three years in football, particularly the last two, have been electric and exciting, not only with the play on the field but also with the recruiting. I expect that to continue under DMase.

But nothing compares to this. I tweeted Dansby Swanson after the game two win over Cal-Irvine two weeks ago  and just told him how much the Vandy nation appreciated him and his teammates. I did the same after we won it all. Dansby, an amazing kid and player, favorited my tweet, so I imagine that’s a good thing. I emailed Corbs right after the game and told him what an awesome coach he is and thanked him from the bottom of my heart for what he and his team had just done for the Vandy nation. All the heartache and disappointments we’ve experienced through the years were suddenly and completely erased. It meant so much to so many people who’ve been completely faithful to our teams for many decades, despite the disappointments. Honestly, I was shedding tears some that night and the next day. Pure tears of joy. I have a feeling I wasn’t alone. My sister is a VU grad and is a passionate fan VU sports. She loves it! We texted along with my brother in law after the game. It was just such elation for the three of us. I texted her Friday to see if she was still on a high (I know I was), and she said she and my brother in law were re-watching game three. Loved that. My wife and I said when I got home today we had to find the replay of the game somewhere on ESPN. It’s on duh U tomorrow night at 8 PM ET/7 CT (ESPNU) and we will be glued. I watched Ravanelle’s  pitch and Norwood’s homer repeatedly on Thursday. As Joe said, it was a dream come true.

I know everyone is ecstatic right now. And you should be. Enjoy this. We deserve it. One more thing: We might be better next year. Dansby-back, Carson-back, Walker-back, Weismann-back, Norwood, can’t ever forget John for sure,-back, Reynolds and his huge bat and glove-back, Zander-back, , Hayden-back. Not sure about Vinnie, may go pro. Ravanelle will be interesting. He was a fourth round pick. Adam can do whatever he wants in my book. He has earned his place in Vanderbilt sports history, and if he’s ready to make a living playing baseball, he has every Vandy nation member behind him.  But we’ll have some young guys like Ro Coleman playing more. Brian Miller should be back and hopefully regain that form he had a couple of years ago when he was unhittable. Brian was lights out two years ago and for a lot of 2013. Ready to see Brian be Brian again. Tyler will go to the Giants organization as their first round pick, the 14th pick of the draft. That’s pretty heady stuff. That’s what the pros think of Tyler Beede as a pitcher. Hopefully, he’s going on to an amazing career like David, Mike and Sonny have established for themselves, and as Pedro is trying to carve out  at Pittsburgh. Pedro playing well right now and settling in as a professional. Ryan Flaherty is still a key member of the Orioles. All of our guys who are pros are grinding it out in the minors to get that shot at the Show. So Tyler will be starting pro baseball this week along with possibly Adam and Vinnie. They will be missed. So will T.J. Pecoraro, our only senior. T.J. had incredible talent and was on his way to a stellar career for us until he blew his elbow out three years ago. But he hung in there and never gave up. He was a big part of this magical group. He should never be forgotten and he’s getting his degree and maybe playing somewhere-you never know what might happen. He was special to hang in there like he did through some tough times. I’m telling you, if T.J. had not hurt his arm, he may have been a Friday guy for us in the last three years.

Those guys will always be a part of this history making team forever. And David Price, Mike Minor, Pedro Alvarez and Sonny Gray are part of this national championship for laying the foundation for this to happen. All the former players are.

We’re going to be very good next year, but who knows with baseball. It’s pretty unpredictable. I thought LSU had the best team in the country this season after the regular season and the conference tournaments because they were knocking the cover off the ball and pitching very well. They looked dominant like our ’07, Price-team looked; but they lost in the regionals, much like our ’07 team did. It was very surprising for LSU and us in ’07 but as they say, “that’s baseball.” The game has no memory. Every day is a new one, a new challenge, a new dynamic. Just very unpredictable. That’s what makes the game so magical. It’s really unpredictable in these double elimination regional series and best of three super regional series. But I listened to Corbs talk about what our guys did this postseason: We beat an Omaha-team in Oregon in the regional, we beat an Omaha-team in the super regional in Stanford, and came up with tremendous wins over a Louisville team that looked like they could win it all going in, and  a red-hot Cal-Irvine team on a Monday night. We beat Texas in the bottom of the 10th on a total hustle play by Tyler Campbell beating a throw from short down to first with two outs that allowed our awesome right fielder, Rhett Weismann, to score the game clinching run from third to win and  move to the championship series against UVA in an electrically exciting game. Then game one we won, game two we didn’t, but all of it, all of our history, all of our dreams and aspirations for Vanderbilt sports, came down to that epic game three.

And it was unforgettable. I’ll never forget John’s go-ahead homer. I’ll never forget Adam’s final strikeout pitch to clinch the national championship. Those moments will be indelibly etched in my mind for the rest of my life. They were that special. And I know I’m not alone in those memories. I’m vividly picturing those two moments right now.

Just so proud of Coach Corbin, his staff, and these amazing players. I really feel this: with this dramatic moment in our history, there are so many more magical moments to come. Love Derek and his staff. They’re special. We’ll have a good team next year, potentially a special one if our qb position comes through whether it’s Johnny, Patton or Stephen Rivers. Kevin has had some tough times the last couple of years, but he’s got an excellent freshmen class coming in to go along with Damian Jones, Luke Kornet and some of the other guys we have returning. So we’ll be better, possibly tourney bound, but with two studs in the ’15 class already committed, some stud young coaches coming aboard with Kevin, we’ve got tournaments and possibly some deep runs coming up in our future. Will it be next year? We’ll be good next year. Not sure where Dai-Jon and Kedren stand, but if they don’t make it back, we’ll need to work hard to make it. It’s doable though and the future is very, very bright. Love these incoming freshmen.

Baseball winning the national championship helps football and basketball. It helps Derek recruit. It helps Kevin recruit. It helps out Corbs even more, though Corbs’ recruiting has been second to none. It helps our other sports which are also important like our women’s basketball team, our men’s and women’s golf and tennis teams, our bowling team, our women’s lacrosse team, our track team. Helps them all. It’s just such a special moment for Vanderbilt University. And, as importantly, it helps the University. Makes our brand even more attractive to the best and the brightest.

So with all of that said, I just go back to what this means: It means everything. Thank you Tim Corbin, pitching Coach Scott Brown, assistant coach Travis Jewett,  volunteer assistant Drew Hedman, and all the other people who make our baseball program so special. And just as importantly, thank you players. Without your commitment to excellence both on and off the field, your relentless enthusiasm for the game and your insatiable work ethic, and, most importantly, your high moral and spiritual character, this would not  have been possible. Enjoy it fellas. You have earned it!  Heck, let’s all enjoy, I don’t know, for as long as humanely possible; years decades, generations. Maybe now we should just enjoy it is every day this summer and see how we keep feeling and carry that feeling as long as we want to. Tomorrow will be a great day. It’s great to be a Vanderbilt Commodore. Will be back next week to talk about Dave, Sonny, Mike and Pedro and anything else that pops up in the hopper. Enjoy your weekend and keep savoring this! That’s what it’s there for! It’s unforgettable. This team is unforgettable. As Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos said to Coach and the team at the celebration party at the new indoor facility, “You’re as good as it gets…you’re as good as it gets…” And it’s just a start of something extremely special ahead of us in Vanderbilt athletics. Corbs and his players made it possible. A special thanks also to Chancellor Zeppos and Vice Chancellor and Athletic Director David Williams for also making this happen. They are tremendous advocates and leaders of this great university and our athletic programs. They are special.