Second Thoughts

Vanderbilt drops anchor on penalty

Vanderbilt’s black jerseys with the words “Anchor Down” on the back in black letters are not allowed to be worn because of an NCAA rule. Citiing a miscommunication between Vanderbilt and the SEC, the Commodores wore the jerseys in Thursday night’s game against Temple.
Vanderbilt’s black jerseys with the words “Anchor Down” on the back in black letters are not allowed to be worn because of an NCAA rule. Citiing a miscommunication between Vanderbilt and the SEC, the Commodores wore the jerseys in Thursday night’s game against Temple.

Not deleting emails saved Vanderbilt from four timeouts Thursday night against Temple.

The Commodores wore special jerseys with the team slogan "Anchor Down" on the back in place of the players' names. The letters of the slogan were in black on the black jerseys, even though slogans are usually prohibited by NCAA rules. Just recently, South Florida's efforts to put "The Team" on the back of its jerseys was rebuffed because of the NCAA rule.

Before the 2014 season, the NCAA also instituted a rule that the numbers -- not names, or in this case, slogans -- on players' jerseys must be a contrasting color from the jersey. With the numbers on Vanderbilt's jerseys being gold, and with some special permission, Vandy was good to go.

There was some apparent confusion, however, among referee Ken Williamson and his officiating crew about the slogan, which had been previously approved by the SEC. Therefore, Vanderbilt was penalized a timeout in the first half for it. The penalty for having a slogan and/or non-contrasting numbers is a loss of a timeout per quarter unless the team changes uniforms.

Last year, Arkansas State was penalized twice for having non-contrasting numbers on its jerseys against Auburn. The penalty was upped to loss of timeouts in 2014.

But Vanderbilt knew the jerseys had been approved, even though a letter re-emphasizing the no-slogan rule was sent out Aug. 6. During the game, school officials printed the approval email it had gotten from the SEC. After showing Williamson the email, Vanderbilt was awarded its timeout back.

Chuck Dunlap, communications director for the SEC, issued a statement Friday confirming that the Vanderbilt jerseys with "Anchor Down" on the back "are not permissible under the NCAA football uniform regulations" and were worn against Temple because of "a miscommunication."

"Vanderbilt has been notified it cannot wear the slogan on its jersey for future games and has agreed to comply," Dunlap said.

Not-so special

Tyler Maun of MiLB.com reported an incident that occurred in Boise, Idaho, during a game Thursday between the Everett AquaSox and the Boise Hawks in the Northwest League.

Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero, who was with Everett rehabbing from an oblique injury, was coaching first base and was being heckled from the stands. Not by an ordinary fan, but a cross-checker -- a scout who usually oversees scouts in a given geographical area -- who is actually employed by the Mariners.

The incident was kicked off when the scout yelled at Montero to hustle off the field after an inning. The scout then ordered an ice cream sandwich and had it sent to Montero in the dugout, which was assumed to be a dig at his weight issues since Montero showed up for spring training 40 pounds overweight.

Montero didn't take kindly to the sweet gift, heading toward the stands with a bat in his hands, throwing the ice cream sandwich at the scout and screaming expletives at him. He was then restrained by an Everett coach.

Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik announced Friday afternoon that Montero will not play for the Mariners the rest of the season. Zduriencik also said the scout has returned to his Bay Area home where he will remain until further notice.

From course to studio

Now hitting the country music airwaves ... John Daly?

It's true. The former Arkansas Razorbacks golfer and two-time major champion from Dardanelle is getting airtime crooning. Golf's one-man soap opera has cut a country song called "Hit It Hard" that draws from his golf roots, singing "No laying up, no holding back, ain't afraid of nothing, it's a natural fact."

"Stay away from golf references," advised Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Your real life is more of a country song than anything you've done on the course."

QUIZ

With which team did Jesus Montero begin his major-league career?

ANSWER

The New York Yankees in 2011.

Sports on 08/30/2014

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