Groundhog Day in Tallahassee

By Eric Jones

I will acknowledge that it may be an obscure reference to some (the title), but stay with me. In the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman who is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover Groundhog Day and finds himself caught in a maddening loop where everyday he wakes up and relives that fateful day. The Commodores are hoping to live the same way today in the deciding game of the Super Regional Championship as they did yesterday...but in a good way.

Superstition has seemingly always been part of the game of baseball. Teammates have been known to assault the olfactory senses of teammates by wearing the same sweaty undershirts, socks and other unmentionables when on a hot streak. Undoubtedly some of these same things are going on within the Vanderbilt clubhouse, but you can't blame them.

Superstition was very evident at the team hotel this morning. Roommates took morning showers in the same order, they filed into the elevator to the lobby in the same order on their way to breakfast and several even called the same people on their cell phones. I was personally asked to hum and sing the same song I did yesterday morning on the way down the hallway to the elevator (Love of a Lifetime by the '80's hairband Firehouse and no, I have no explanation as to why I did it yesterday). When you are one game away from the College World Series you don't ask why, you just do it. Most of you would too.

So everyone does their part. I opened the player/pass gate at 11:03 local time (just like yesterday). The Commodores are the home team and in the first base dugout just like yesterday. Our fans' tickets are in the same places as yesterday, all in the hopes of helping the team in some small way to win this Super Regional.

A quick perusal of the pass list, finds interesting names like the Mark Lamm and Richie Goodenow creations of Charlie Clutchman and Alligator Suitcase. I don't know if they are fictional, but by being here in spirit they may have been part of the baseball karma. Attempts were made to find Bill Murray, a big baseball fan, but then we reconsidered as he is a huge Cubs fan. That's too much bad luck!