Commentary: Vanderbilt Baseball Flap, Much Adieu About Nothing
In recent days it has come to light that the Tim Corbin and the Vanderbilt Commodores national championship winning baseball team declined an invitation to visit the White House and President Trump last month.
Why is this such a big deal? It's really not, but in today's climate where people want to polticise anything and everything, somehow it is an issue for many.
It shouldn't be and here's why I don't think it is for anyone outside the politically charged culture of our population.
Coach Corbin was asked about the decision to decline the invitstion and game what, in my estimation was an honest answer. Vanderbilt students were out of class the week of the event and had already planned to return to their homes for the Thanksgiving holiday.
As Corbin said, most of his players are from out of state and had already made travel plans, either driving or flying back home. Accepting the invitation would have meant Corbin and staff would have had to have done one of two things.
First, they could have made it mandatory that all players cancel their plans to go home and spend the holiday with their families, which some might not have seen in months so that they could have attended the event.
Or they could have given the players the option to choose attending an event at the White House or going home to spend the holiday with their families.
I don't know about you, but me as an 18-22 year old given the option of a potential once in a lifetime visit to the White House to meet the President or going home for mom's turkey and dressing would have been a hard choice.
It was a simple decision for Corbin, who is a family man. He decided to keep things as is, allow the players to go home and skip the visit.
It's really that simple to me, and should be to anyone else who knows anything at all about Corbin and isn't looking to make a political statement when there isn't one being made by Corbin himself.
Now let's get ready for the season where we can talk about the only statement Corbin is interested in making. The defense of a national championship.
