A Grip on Sports: July may not be perfect, but when you’re not yet an adult, it sure seems that way

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s a new month. July. The month of baseball’s All-Star Game, outdoor cooking and celebrating America’s glorious founding. And that’s all in the first 10 days. It’s still the best.

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• A quick show of hands. How many of us felt July was the best month of the year until you joined the adult ranks? Wow, that’s a lot of hands.

Sure, there are good months sprinkled throughout the year, but as a kid, July had to be the best.

June was OK, what with school getting out. But that was the problem. There was often still school in the first part of the month. And August has great weather. But there was something looming over the month. Yep, school.

Not July. It was days of riding your bike to the park, or slip-and-sliding in the backyard, or hiking in the hills without a care in the world.

School? That was a long ways away. Heck, the three summer reading books had to wait. If you read them in July, you would never remember what they were about come September. Instead, July was about playing.

Oh sure, you were learning. You just didn’t know it.

I remember that one time in Bailey Canyon, I learned a horse could kill a rattlesnake with its front hooves. That was a lesson I will never forget.

And the one year I learned my dad’s leg could snap into about a million pieces if he didn’t slide correctly, even in a pickup softball game.

But it was 50 years ago, exactly, when the biggest lesson was learned. It was possible for people to leave the confines of Earth and walk on another planet. Well, the moon, but it was close enough, so to speak.

Sitting there watching our huge 25-inch TV, I thought for sure we would be playing baseball on Mars by the time I was an adult.

But like those flying cars we were promised so often, baseball (and football and soccer and everything except golf) on other planets has remained a fantasy. We are stuck here.

No matter. It’s July. The weather is always perfect. The sun is always shining. And school? It’s still so far away as to be a mirage.

I know it sounds like a “Twilight Zone,” but I would give my left pinkie to be able to pull the Stingray out of the garage, hook the glove to the handlebars, shove a bat into the roll bar on the back and ride to the Little League field for a game of over-the-line with the fellas. That’s the July I remember.

• Hoopfest wrapped up for another year yesterday and I’m sure many of us know someone who won – and a whole bunch of others who didn’t. When there are 20,000 or so folks playing, not everyone can win a shirt.

And not everyone can finish the weekend healthy. Rebecca White tells us there were 1,780 injuries reported over the two days, which seems a bit low. I’m guessing quite a few participants awoke this morning wondering where that bruise came from or why their ankle hurts so much.

And their ego? That may be a bit sprained as well.

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Hoopfest: Another year, another win for Lee and Hayes, the men’s elite winner for a third consecutive time. Ryan Collingwood has all the particulars in this story on Parker Kelly, Mark Axton, Mike Hart and Robert Lipman’s three-peat. … Ryan also has the coverage of the women’s title winners All Rez, the 6-foot-and-under champions Team Canada and coed winners Bamm. … Former Washington Husky Isaiah Thomas visited this year and played an interesting game of horse. Justin Reed has that story. … The Hoopfest crowd posted a win yesterday during what police are calling an attempted kidnapping. Rebecca has that story. … Libby Kamrowski has the visuals covered with this photo report.

Gonzaga: The Zags at FIBA’s U19 World Cup are asserting themselves. Jim Meehan checked in on yesterday’s results and has this story.

WSU: Legendary Washington State quarterback Mark Rypien is dealing with football-related health issues. And they may have contributed to his arrest yesterday. Rebecca has that story as well. … Around the Pac-12, Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, a Miami native, is making himself at home in Eugene.

Indians: Spokane led by three runs going into the bottom of the eighth but host Vancouver rallied to take a 5-4 win. … Around the Northwest League, Eugene is still struggling, losing again at Hillsboro while Everett was no-hit at Tri-City. … The Mariners top picks sent to Everett are both pitchers.

Mariners: Another game in Houston, another loss. This one wasn’t close. … Daniel Vogelbach is the M’s All-Star representative. … Speaking of prospects, how have the M’s trades worked out?

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• Got a good start on the chores list yesterday and I’m feeling it. Playing basketball on the street for hour after hour has nothing on mowing and fertilizing the lawn, bending over to weed the hills, trimming a couple of bushes and sitting under a tree, sipping an ice-cold beer. All led to pain in different parts of the body, from the feet, through the back and finishing with the head. When you drink about one beer a year, it seems to cause a hangover about 12 minutes after it disappears. … By the way, tomorrow I’m going to start cleaning out the mess we call a garage. Anyone want to help? There might be an old can of paint or small bag of finishing nails in it for you. And, quite possibly, one beer. Until later …