Anchor Drop, July 10, 2019: 52 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are 52 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener against Georgia. #52 on the roster is linebacker Alex Brown. The 6’2”, 235-pound sophomore from San Antonio walked on the team last year and didn’t play. But his profile on the team site says he’s an Eagle Scout who enjoys chess and travel. That’s pretty cool.

And, we have reached it. The worst day on the sports calendar.

The annual sports calendar ebbs and flows. Some times of year, like October, are overloaded: football season is in full swing, and MLB is in the playoffs (which are great; playoff baseball is the best baseball.) Some times — say, February — tend to be fairly quiet, but there are at least a few sports going on.

But it’s the time of year when the NHL and NBA have finished their playoffs, and football season hasn’t started (not even the preseason), and MLB playoff chase hasn’t really started yet — this is July. There is a reason why the SEC and the conferences have chosen July as the time to have media days, because it’s the time of year when holy shit football coaches are talking to the media can be turned into a big event. Because really, what else were you going to do? This is all, of course, by design, because school is out and people are on vacations and it’s really freaking hot in most of the United States.

Specifically, though, the day after the MLB All-Star Game is it. This is the day when I open the Score app on my phone and it says “No Data Available.” (Technically that was also true Monday, but at least Monday had the Home Run Derby, which is technically something.) There is literally nothing going on in the sports world today, unless tennis is your thing. And even that is over by noon stateside. There’s not even a golf tournament, because those go Thursday through Sunday.

So, have at it. We have reached the nadir of the sports calendar.