A Well Rounded Weekend

If the title doesn't make sense, reference my previous post where I discuss how I am awesome now because I am married.  In this post, you get an update of both the Vanderbilt Football team as well as some of the more exciting moments from Puppy playtime.

Despite my serious disagreements with Vanderbilt's current administration, I am still a die hard Vandy sports fan.  The spring football scrimmage was on Saturday so my new friend Law and I decided to scout out the team and see how our prospects look for next season.  We were very pleasantly surprised by how many people were there!

My verdict is as follows.. D-line looked good, but the defense as a whole seemed a tad bit misguided without Marve calling shots.  There were a couple severely blown coverages throughout the game, but the DB's looked pretty dang good when playing man-to-man. Overall, the defense should be able to keep us in the game as they always have.  

O-line looked a little soft, and certain receivers need a stern talking to about the amount of effort that is expected out of them to make a catch.  Stacy didn't really get the opportunity to do very much, but Franklin warned of that ahead of time.  I think we are going to be light on offensive star power this year, but it is Vanderbilt, so stars have to be created and not recruited, so I am optimistic a young guy will step up.

As always, James Franklin is the man.  It is so great to see someone who honestly believes in Vanderbilt Football but is willing to admit the reality of the situation.  Previous coaches thought we could just "run the ball" at teams like Alabama, Auburn, Florida and LSU.  The fans quickly realized that when the other team is bigger, faster and stronger, it is pretty hard to score touchdowns using 1960's tactics.  Franklin acknowledges that we have players with much less obvious talent and he plays a more intelligent game, trying to outsmart the other team.  It is finally exciting to watch Vandy play!  Keep up the good work Frankling, and Go Dores!

In true Vandy fashion, the scrimmage was ended by an incredibly over-the-top and excessive fireworks show, that I enjoyed much more now that I don't have to pay for it anymore.

Moving on to exciting puppy news - we found Pippa's baby twin!

Her name is Stella and she is patiently watching in the background as a random at puppy playtime pets Pippa.

Tell me her and Pippa don't have the exact same coat?  Stella will end up being a little smaller than Pippa, but for now she is just a great reminder of what a smaller Pippa looked like.

Lia also found a puppy that looks exactly like Lia's second favorite dog in the world, Willow.  I'm sure you all know about Willow by now.  If you haven't had the pleasure of reading about Willow yet, check out random lia dog post #739.  Or really, any of Lia's posts will do.

For those who like to see puppy playtime in action, I've included a video of Pippa playing with her friend Kota. Kota is a ridgeback and was bred to hunt lions in Africa.  Pippa wasn't phased by the tough pedigree at all.

We have also found a church that we like! More to come on that.