Anchor Drop, June 24, 2020: 73 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are now 73 days away from Vanderbilt football’s scheduled season opener against Mercer. #73 for the Commodores is offensive lineman Jonathan Stewart — not to be confused with former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who is approximately a foot shorter than the 6’7”, 326-pound redshirt junior. Stewart played in ten games for Vanderbilt last season, starting three games in place of now-departed left tackle Devin Cochran.

(Side note: yes, damnit, I am continuing this under the assumption that the season will start on September 5 because I am not actively wishing for the season to be called off because of COVID-19.)

Optional Musical Accompaniment

But apparently, Greg Sankey is now hedging on whether there will be a season.

Vanderbilt announced a new flagship radio partnership with Cromwell Media, which owns both 102.5 The Game and ESPN 94.9 in Nashville, though strangely the games won’t be aired on either of those stations — 93.3 FM/830 AM in Nashville and 101.9 FM in Robertson and Sumner County will be the home of the games, with daily Vanderbilt Athletics updates and weekly broadcasts with Joe Fisher on The Game and ESPN.

Three Vanderbilt men’s golfers — John Augenstein, Harrison Ott, and Michael Shears — were named All-America Scholars.

Kansas City Chiefs blog Arrowhead Pride talks Kalija Lipscomb.

And this was expected, but still disappointing:

Updated: When are sports coming back?

And there it is.

Meanwhile, the NHL is down to six potential hub cities for its restart.

Actual Sports on TV

It starts with Russian soccer on ESPN2 at 8:55 AM, between two teams called Shinnik and Ural. No, I don’t know either.

Continuing along, NBC Sports has another Premier League doubleheader: Manchester United v. Sheffield United (noon CT) followed by Liverpool v. Crystal Palace (2:15 PM CT.) ESPN has a Serie A match between Atalanta and Lazio (2:30 PM CT), along with Inter Milan v. Sassuolo (12:20 PM CT) and Roma v. Sampdoria (2:30 PM CT) on ESPN+. And BeIN Sports has a La Liga doubleheader: Alaves v. Osasuna at 12:20 PM CT, followed by Real Madrid v. Mallorca at 2:50 PM CT.

Yeah, you’re gonna have to live with soccer, still. (Meanwhile, the SEC Network is showing the Paul Finebaum Show twice.)

Costa Rican Soccer Update

Sporting San Jose wins the Liga de Ascenso Super Final 1-0 over Escazucena. You’re welcome.