A couple words trigger a stroll down memory lane
A GRIP ON SPORTS • You never know what might trigger a memory anymore. The smell of a certain type of coffee, a word spoken casually in a conversation or a mention in an online article. Read on.
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• One of the perks of this job is I’m paid to read sports stories online. Of course there is a lot of dreck at times, but much of what I read is worthwhile and informative. And some is much, much more. Take today for instance. Kevin Gemmell wrote a short piece for ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog on the 10 best seasons by USC quarterbacks. If I weren’t doing this job, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But I am so I did. Perusing through the list I was agreeing or disagreeing through 1, 2, 3 and on. Normal stuff. Then I got to No. 7. Jim Hardy (pictured), 1944. Boom, I was 12 again. Just like that. See, my best friend in those days was one Steve Hardy, part of the Hardy clan that consisted of 12 boys and girls in the big old house right behind ours (as an aside, two houses down was the Young family, who had a passel full of kids as well, one of them being future Mariner pitcher Matt). Steve and I did everything together, including once biking from Sierra Madre to the LaBrea Tar Pits (check it on Google maps, it was a haul on our Schwinn 10-speed bikes) one Saturday and running afoul of a supermarket manager in Hollywood over a purloined plum. Anyhow, Steve’s dad was named Don, a hard-working man – he had 12 kids, he had to be – who commuted to the South Bay every day – another long haul. Don had played receiver at USC, even being drafted by the Rams in 1947. His brother also played for the Trojans, the aforementioned Jim. See how it works? Anyhow, Steve’s dad Don had played at USC in 1943 and 1944, earning all-conference honors the second year, but then went into the Navy during the war. And like all my father’s contemporaries, he didn’t talk about his time in the Navy much. Nor did he brag about his time at USC. But every once in a while he would throw the football around with myself, Steve and Paul, Steve’s older brother who was by far the best athlete of us all. Once, uncle Don, at this time the general manager of the L.A. Coliseum if I remember correctly, was over and Paul got to play catch with him. Pretty sweet. I haven’t thought about such things for years. But I did this morning. All triggered by a name on a list. Funny how that works.
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• WSU: Speaking of names on a list, Jacob Thorpe’s blog post this morning has a long list of WSU players taken in the recent baseball draft.
• Gonzaga: The Zags finally have an athlete participating in the NCAA track and field championships. Jim Allen’s story introduces us to Shelby Mills, who has that distinction. ... Oregon leads the competition on the men’s side thus far.
• EWU: Eagle football and volleyball tickets go on sale Monday morning.
• Shock: Spokane had to go to Atlanta, but they discovered a gem of a receiver in Anthony Amos. Jim Meehan has more in this Shock notebook.
• Seahawks: My dad used to have a saying about opinions, relating them to a part of the human anatomy that everyone had but no one wanted to hear from. Such is the case concerning Russell Wilson’s contract. ... Hey, Bobby Wagner deserves a new deal too. ... Tom Cable thinks the offensive line will be fine, after the competition to decide who plays is finished.
• Mariners: No Nelson Cruz, no problem. The M’s scored nine runs, almost half on Kyle Seager’s grand slam in the third (pictured). The 9-3 win also featured a Fernando Rodney appearance, albeit not in a save situation. ... Cruz is still out of the lineup today with the back problems. ... The draft is over and the M’s took a lot of pitchers.
• Sounders: Being a really good MLS team has one downside: Players are away often for national team duties. Such is the case this week with Marco Pappa, and could be the case with others later. ... The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated top-ranked Germany 2-1 yesterday in a friendly.
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• Sorry about the trip down memory lane today. Unless you liked the drive. I’m trying not to write about the Mariners every day. Until later ...
