Horns of a dilemma

Shot ($$).

Preparations for college football and other fall sports could begin on campuses even if universities are offering online-only courses and keeping the rest of the student population off campus, South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner told The Athletic…

“If in fact the numbers dictated that we were safe, whatever date that may be whether it’s mid-July or late June, I would think we would be OK to bring back our soccer athletes and volleyball athletes and football players. It is a possibility. (University president Bob) Caslen and the board of trustees would have the final say, but I would think if the health situation, as it relates to COVID-19, is in a good position that would be an opportunity that we could exercise.”

Chaser.

The longer people do stuff like this, the longer it'll take for football to return. https://t.co/okUM5OUNru

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) April 4, 2020

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Nick Saban, pushing the envelope again?

Of course he is.

The SEC is exploring whether Alabama will be able to continue using Apple watches to monitor its football players’ physical activities during the league-mandated shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sources told ESPN on Friday.

During a conference call with reporters Thursday, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said his program had provided Apple watches to players, and that new strength and conditioning coaches David Ballou and Matt Rhea were “very instrumental in setting up this whole program of what we’re doing with the players in terms of the Apple watches for their workouts and apps on their phones for weight-training programs.”

Earlier this week, the NCAA released a Division I COVID-19 Question and Answer Guide, which included directives covering what schools could do to distribute voluntary workouts to student-athletes. The guidelines specified that coaches and other staff members “may not supervise or conduct such workouts” and that players “may not report voluntary athletically related activities to institutional coaches or staff members.”

Sure didn’t take long for the new guys to acquaint themselves with the Process, did it?

“Listen, we’re going to rise up and kick this thing right in the teeth.”

If you’re looking for an unbridled shot of optimism about the start of the 2020 college football season — and, boy, do I mean unbridled — then Dabo Swinney is your man.

I think it’s got something to do with the iPhone and driving on Mars, but I’m not positive.

Musical palate cleanser, ain’t no sunshine edition

Sigh.

Bill Withers, a onetime Navy aircraft mechanic who, after teaching himself to play the guitar, wrote some of the most memorable and often-covered songs of the 1970s, including “Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Use Me,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 81.

His death, at a hospital, was announced by his family. His son, Todd, said Mr. Withers had had heart problems.

Mr. Withers, who had an evocative, gritty R&B voice that could embody loss or hope, was in his 30s when he released his first album, “Just as I Am,” in 1971. It included “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a mournful lament (“Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone/And she’s always gone too long/Anytime she goes away”) that cracked the Billboard Top 10.

 

It seemed like there was a stretch in the early ’70s when you couldn’t cut on the radio and not hear a Withers song.

And has there ever been a more compelling groove than this?

Bonus football-related clip here:

RIP, brother.