A Grip on Sports: Enjoy the Sounders’ excellence while you can so there are no regrets later

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Excellence comes in many forms. So many, it seems, sometimes sports fans forget how to recognize it. Years later, they will look back and wonder why they didn’t celebrate the accomplishments more while they were happening. Don’t make that mistake now.

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• If you are of a certain age – old – you may just remember the halcyon NBA days of the late 1970s. That’s actually only true in the Pacific Northwest. The decade was actually the low point of the league in many ways. But not in Seattle. Not the last couple years.

The SuperSonics were dominant. Not the Lakers. Not the Celtics. The Sonics. In 1977-78, a young group jelled together under the coaching of mid-season replacement Lenny Wilkens and raced to the NBA finals. OK, they lost the championship series in seven games to the Bullets, but they were really good. And really exciting.

And the next year? They were the best in the league, rolling to a 52-30 regular-season mark and steamrolling the Bullets 4-1 in the finals.

It was, without a doubt, the best two-year stretch of pro basketball in the region.

And quite possibly the best two-year stretch of pro sports as well. More of you, however, will remember another one that rivals, if not surpasses it. The Seattle Seahawks of 2013 and 2014.

Over those two seasons, the Hawks were 25-7 in the regular season. They dominated on defense. They routed the Broncos in one Super Bowl, came up with one of the great NFC title-game comebacks to reach a second and came within just a few seconds – and one still-makes-most-of-us-cry play call – of winning back-to-back titles.

Since then, the Hawks have mostly disappointed, mainly because the bar has been raised to so high. It’s hard to reach such heights.

Unless, maybe, you are the Seattle Sounders.

For long-term excellence, the current Sounders’ streak is unmatched in recent Northwest professional history.

In 2016, MLS champions. The next year, runners-up. Two years later, MLS champions again. Last year during the COVID-19 mess, runners-up.

This year?

Brian Schmetzer’s team is 5-0-1 after Sunday’s 2-0 win over LAFC. And, yes, that’s the best record in the MLS. Such an accomplishment should comes as a surprise, but nothing the Sounders do these days come as a surprise. And therein lies the problem.

Are Sounders’ fans becoming a bit jaded? After all, their team wins often. Heck, this season, “often” means “every match but one.” And that was a draw.

Seattle lost its best player in the offseason, Jordan Morris, who is fifth all-time on the franchise’s goal-scoring list. (He was loaned out but didn’t really play in England, suffering a season-ending knee injury.) No matter. The ability to adapt has been a trademark of Schmetzer’s reign and this team has shown more ability in that regard than even its MLS Cup-winning predecessors.

And boy are they fun to watch. Take yesterday’s second goal if you will. The buildup was precise. Textbook. Unselfish. The finish perfect. It’s soccer at a level rivaling the basketball the Sonics displayed 40 years ago. Or the Hawks showed on defense back in the day.

Which brings us back to our main point. If you didn’t enjoy those moments as well as you would have liked, don’t miss out on the ones occurring now. Watch. Cheer. Marvel. And celebrate. You never know when the excellence might end. And you don’t want to have any regrets.

• One wonders if the committee who selected the NCAA’s softball seeds over the weekend have any regrets right now. Probably not. Even if just about everyone connected with the sport is still shaking his or her head in disbelief.

It’s not just that five of the top eight seeds, the schools that will host the super regionals leading to Oklahoma City, are from the SEC. Well, maybe it is. But that shake-your-head decision – the Pac-12 had more higher-ranked teams (five in the top 12) than the SEC but only received one top-eight seed – led to some silly first-weekend matchups.

Alabama earned the No. 3 seed. They will host No. 13 Clemson, the ACC regular season champion and quite possibly one of the top eight teams in the nation.

Texas, under former Oregon coach Mike White, was seeded 12th. The Longhorns will host a regional. Coming to Austin? Oregon, the 11th-ranked team in the country.

Oklahoma has been top-ranked much of the season. The Sooners should win their regional. But then they will more than likely have to face fifth-ranked Washington and the nation’s best pitcher, Gabbie Plain, in the super regionals. Yes, the Huskies, who finished just behind second-seeded (and defending champion) UCLA in the Pac-12, were seeded 16th by the NCAA. Really? Fifth ranked. Seeded 16th. Both Arizona and Arizona State are seeded higher, even though both finished behind the Huskies in the conference standings.

No wonder the Huskies walked out of their selection show gathering. The Sooners are going to have to face one ticked-off group in the super regionals to get to Oklahoma City.

The NCAA doesn’t need this type of idiocy anymore. The treatment of the women in the basketball tournament, the sad state of affairs at the volleyball national title site, the recent cancellation of a golf regional, none of that reeks of excellence. And now this. The matchups seem haphazard at best. And will just grease the wheels for the litany of complaints that are sure to surface once the eight winners head to the World Series.

There will be, for sure, some regrets down the road.

• One more example of excellence you don’t want to miss? Kenny Mayne. His time at ESPN is almost up. Catch him while you can.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and college sports, Washington should still be tough at the outside linebacker spot despite a huge injury. … Speaking of excellence, the Oregon Ducks won their 14th consecutive men’s conference track and field title.

Gonzaga: Katie Campbell spent three years helping the Zags win three consecutive West Coast Conference titles. Now she is asking Gonzaga fans to help her as she tries to bounce back from another knee injury. Jim Allen has the story and info on how to donate. … Baseball’s Brett Harris is a finalist for a major award. That news leads off this week’s local briefs.

EWU: If you happened to be watching the FCS title game (or the PGA golf tournament), you were aware the Dallas-area weather wasn’t conducive to outdoor sports. Lightning people. In the air. A 74-minute delay didn’t derail Sam Houston State, however, as it won the title 23-21 with a late touchdown against South Dakota State.

Indians: The losing streak is at five. Another game, another loss for Spokane against Vancouver in Hillsboro, Ore. Dave Nichols put together this story. The Indians are 2-10 this season.

Mariners: The M’s are going the other way, having won three consecutive games. The latest may be the most impressive as, despite using the bullpen only, Seattle defeated Shane Bieber and the Indians, 3-2. The Mariners broke reigning Cy Young winner Bieber’s 20-game streak of at least eight strikeouts as well. … Don’t expect Seattle to vary from its six-man starting rotation despite all the injuries.

Seahawks: Last year’s top draft pick, Darrell Taylor, is somewhat part of this year’s draft class. After all, he did miss the entire season. … Will the final roster include a local player?

Sounders: As we said above, Seattle is playing really well, winning even without their starting Stefan.

Storm: Former Seattle star Lauren Jackson is headed to basketball’s Hall of Fame.

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• Speaking of not missing excellence, if you live in Spokane you may want to get outside today. It’s going to be beautiful. Not as warm as yesterday – the high hit 84 – but just right at 78 and sunny. Tomorrow? Hello 60. And then 59 and 57. It is spring after all. Until later …