A Grip on Sports: It’s nice to be able to watch major golf from Britain again, and it will be nice to buy Timme gear – someday
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The British Open is on, quietly and in the background. Stories on Richard Sherman’s arrest litter our virtual desktop. Our thoughts wander toward the Olympics, especially with the travails of the U.S. national teams. And we wonder what type of Drew Timme gear members of my household will want for Christmas. What a great day.
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• Rising early and watching a bunch of guys wearing sweaters or sweatshirts trying to battle the British Isle’s elements is a July tradition around our place. It was one we missed last year, especially considering we would have had much more time to enjoy it. But it’s back this morning and we couldn’t happier.
After all, little Louis Oosthuizen, seeking his second Open title, is leading. Phil Mickelson is playing. And a local guy, Joel Dahmen, is under par. That’s a good Thursday as far as we’re concerned. Oh, and Stewart Cink did his usual British thing.
If you had to pick someone to win the oldest major, who would it be? The local lad (as they say over there), Dahmen? Or Jordan Spieth, who finished the opening round five under? Are you more of a new-age person, so you’re rooting for Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka? Wait, aren’t those two mutually exclusive?
Watching the action this morning on the Golf Channel, I found myself rooting for the little bunkers. It is so interesting to watch the world’s best golfers try to analyze how far they can go each time their ball drops, seemingly in slow motion, into one. We hope it happens over and over.
And we also remember the plaintive tones of Peter Alliss’ voice, as the longtime British announcer has passed since the last time we were able to watch the Open. His dry humor used to liven up the wettest of days from the tournament. It will be missed.
• One would think Timme is the perfect college athlete for the new name, image and likeness rules. He is.
After all, his name, image and likeness were all over – for free – during the last NCAA basketball tournament. So it’s time for the GU junior to cash in, right?
Not necessarily.
He told our Jim Meehan this week he is going to take his time deciding how he wants to maximize his opportunities. Which doesn’t surprise us one bit.
If there is one college athlete we believe is going to go about securing his financial future, on and off the court, it is Timme. He doesn’t seem to do much of anything connected to basketball without a lot of thought and hard work. And his NIL opportunities are basketball-related, that’s for sure.
Look, when the ball goes into Timme in the post, he rarely attacks quickly. He evaluates. He analyzes. He weighs his options. And then he finishes. Why would we expect anything different in this off-court post up opportunity?
Over the past two offseasons, Timme has put his name into the NBA draft system. Not necessarily with the idea of being drafted but to gain input in how best to improve his game. With an eye of being ready when he does leave Gonzaga.
It’s a methodical approach to expand his options now and down the road. He will do the same with name, image and likeness.
• The latest tale in Sherman’s offseason saga is the saddest of them all, eclipsing by a wide margin his inability to understand the Seahawks are no longer interested.
Whatever ultimate consequences come from Sherman’s interactions with his in-laws, a freeway construction crew and the police, it’s obvious his early morning actions Wednesday will not help the former All-Pro corner in his search for a new NFL team. And may make it impossible.
Thankfully, as Sherman’s wife said in her statement, no one was hurt. At least not physically to a great extent. Her husband’s reputation, however, might be irreparable.
• Over the past week, the men’s U.S. national basketball team has lost exhibition games against Nigeria and Australia. Not what a team thought of as a dominate force of nature wants to see. A sense of invincibility only helps if, you know, people actually think you are invincible.
Last night, the women’s team decided to add to the angst, all though its opponent, WNBA players not on the team, are also all-stars in their own right. Literally.
The WNBA all-stars, which included Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot, took it to the Olympic team down the stretch and handed the U.S. group a 93-85 loss.
It isn’t as shocking as one might think. The amount of talent in this country is so deep, even the second squad, as represented on the all-star team, is good enough to win an Olympic medal if given a chance. Last night, in Las Vegas, Arike Ogunbowale and her teammates were – in a strange way. They took advantage.
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WSU: We linked the San Jose Mercury News version of this story recently but just in case you couldn’t read it, here again are Jon Wilner’s thoughts on next basketball season. … Around the Pac-12 and college sports, Wilner offers his stock report, who is up and who is down. … Wilner mentions it and it’s true. Oregon’s recruiting is among the conference’s best. … Utah took full advantage of the transfer portal. … The Utes are also the subject of this Oregonian season preview. … The Colorado kicking game needs improvement.
Gonzaga: As we said, Jim and Timme spoke about NIL opportunities this week. Timme’s thoughts on the matter are contained in this story, which we also linked above.
Preps: These David Oriard youth baseball memories are actually from before high school, but just about everyone he mentions had outstanding high school careers in Spokane.
Indians: For the second consecutive night Eugene pounded Spokane’s pitching staff. It resulted in a 12-6 Emeralds win Wednesday night at Avista Stadium. Dave Nichols was there and has this story.
Mariners: Can the M’s sustain their decent play throughout the second half of the season?
Sounders: When Seattle returns to the pitch it will come back with one of its best defenders, who has been out with an injury.
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• I’m not the world’s biggest NBA fan. But we did watch much of last night’s fourth game of the finals. The clutch shot-making down the stretch was impressive, as were the officials’ hesitance to call a couple obvious sixth fouls on the Suns’ Devin Booker. But nothing was more impressive than Giannis Antetokounmpo’s block of Deandre Ayton’s layup attempt late in the game. Until later …