Anchor Drop, June 23, 2020: 74 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are now 74 days away from Vanderbilt football’s scheduled season opener against Mercer. #74 for the Commodores is offensive lineman Cole Clemens. The 6’6”, 320-pound senior from South Jordan, Utah, has been a regular on the Commodore offensive line over the last two seasons, appearing in 22 games and getting starts at both guard spots and tackle over that time.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

Apologies for the absence of the Anchor Drop over the last couple of days. I am currently exhausted after a trip to Dallas and then assembling IKEA furniture. Did anything happen over the weekend?

Oh, right. There’s actual Vanderbilt news, but not the kind we wanted. Yesterday we noted the inadequacy of Candice Lee’s statement in response to sexual assault allegations against multiple Vanderbilt football players. And so far, that’s all we’re getting. We still don’t know who knew what and when, and why a player who had been banned from campus was appearing at a Pro Day held on campus.

In positive news, women’s tennis player Christina Rosca was named a First Team Academic All-America yesterday.

At 247 Sports, Robbie Weinstein projected Vanderbilt basketball’s starting lineup and rotation. Surprisingly, Drew Weikert does not get a mention.

Greg Arias at SI takes a look at the talent gap in the SEC, and also notes some COVID-19 cancellations across college football.

At VandySports, Chris Lee discussed the latest Title IX allegations with attorney Grover Collins.

Updated: When are sports coming back?

Well, MLBPA rejected the owners’ latest offer of 60 games and expanded playoffs. So apparently MLB is going to set its own terms for the season. That’s... good, I guess? Yay?

Also, there’s an update on NHL’s plans to return.

Actual Sports on TV

ESPN has a couple of Serie A matches (that’s Italian soccer, you dolts): SPAL v. Cagliari (12:25 PM CT), followed by Genoa v. Parma at 2:30 PM CT. There are also a couple of matches on ESPN+, Hellas Verona v. Napoli (12:20 PM CT) and Torino v. Udinese (2:35 PM CT.) NBC Sports has the Premier League, Leicester City v. Brighton & Hove Albion (11:55 AM CT) and Tottenham Hotspur v. West Ham United (2:10 PM CT.) And if you get BeIN Sports, they have two La Liga matches: Levante UD v. Atletico Madrid (12:20 PM CT) and FC Barcelona v. Athletic Bilbao (2:50 PM CT), plus Real Valladolid v. Getafe (12:25 PM CT) on BeIN Sports Connect.