Anchor Drop, June 8, 2022: 80 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

We’re now 80 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener at Hawaii. 80 for the Commodores is Wilson Long. A walk-on who transferred from TCU prior to the 2021 season, Long switched from quarterback to wide receiver in the offseason. He has yet to appear in a game at Vanderbilt.

Since I don’t really have any Vanderbilt sports news to report on (I mean, if you’ve got a subscription, here’s an offensive lineman who just scored a Vanderbilt offer), so you get to hear me rant on a random topic. That topic today is the LIV Golf Invitational, which Dustin Johnson resigned from the PGA Tour to join for a reported $150 million. (Good riddance; he’s always been one of my least favorite golfers. He’s also somebody who couldn’t get admitted to the University of South Carolina, a school that I did not realize rejected applications.)

I mean, leaving aside that the competitor tour is run by the Saudi government (which, as Phil Mickelson pointed out in some of the stupidest comments anybody has ever made, murders people) — the format sounds completely stupid. Four-man teams in a scramble format? With a shotgun start? Well, that doesn’t sound compelling. More to the point, this new league managed to get Johnson and Mickelson to come play there (because money, whatever Phil says about changing the PGA Tour, this is entirely about their bank accounts) but what it hasn’t done is get a television contract. I’m somebody who actually watches golf, and this doesn’t sound interesting at all. Team sports concepts only work if people are actually invested in the teams and... no, that’s not what is going on here.

It seems that the competition to the PGA Tour is going to do this in the stupidest way possible. It would almost be like if somebody decided to throw money at a competitor league to the NFL and then decided that instead of real football, they were going to play 7-on-7.

Sports on TV

All times Central.

• 1:00 PM: MLB: Blue Jays at Royals (YouTube)
• 1:45 PM: UEFA Nations League: Belgium v. Poland (FS1)
• 5:40 PM: MLB: Nationals at Marlins (ESPN+)
• 8:00 PM: NBA: Warriors at Celtics, Game 3 (ABC)

Scoreboard

MLB: Guardians 6, Rangers 3 (Game 1) ... Reds 14, Diamondbacks 8 ... Marlins 12, Nationals 2 ... Orioles 9, Cubs 3 ... Tigers 5, Pirates 3 ... Rays 4, Cardinals 2 ... Braves 3, A’s 2 ... Yankees 10, Twins 4 ... Rangers 6, Guardians 3 (Game 2) ... White Sox 4, Dodgers 0 ... Phillies 3, Brewers 2 ... Astros 4, Mariners 1 ... Blue Jays 7, Royals 0 ... Red Sox 6, Angels 5 ... Padres 7, Mets 0 ... Rockies 5, Giants 3.

NHL: Lightning 4, Rangers 1 (series tied, 2-2.)

World Cup qualifier: United Arab Emirates 1-2 Australia.