A Grip on Sports: There is nothing better than getting together with friends and lying about your golf game

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The local sports scene seems to be on a bit of a hiatus. Outside of the Indians and their quest to win the Northwest League’s first-half title – they are tied at the top of the standings with nine games to go – it’s a quiet time in the Inland Northwest. Which means it is a great time to think outside the lines.

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• Years and years ago, an anonymous person sat down, took crayon and paper in hand and wrote a letter to then-Spokesman-Review and Chronicle sports editor Jeff Jordan. It was a letter filled with constructive criticism. Suggestions. Advice. And it was judgmental. Wow, was it judgmental.

The letter included this line: “Your sports section smells like wet dog fur.”

How do you deal with such a critique? If we had been in charge, we might have tried to hire the person. C’mon. They could really turn a phrase.

Jordan’s response was better. He christened the sports department’s upcoming recreational golf tournament “The Wet Dog Fur Open.”

Almost 40 years later, that letter writer’s invective still lives. The WDFO, as it is affectionally known to those who participate, may just be the most highly anticipated sporting event of the year.

Bigger than the NBA finals. The Stanley Cup. The U.S. Open.

Actually, it is none of those things. It really isn’t even what it once was, a bacchanal designed to allow the hard-working folks in Spokane’s sports journalistic community a day to blow off steam. An oasis in a desert of meeting impossible deadlines, doing more with less, dealing with letters that told you that your product sucked wet dog fur.

Almost everyone involved has aged-out of what was once the tournament’s calling card. Oh, no, not great shots and low scores. Those never were in play. No, the tourney was known for its hijinks.

But gone are the days when a photographer somehow accidentally started a ball washer on fire. Or a best-selling author breaking his collarbone taking a pratfall. Or giant boom boxes dotted the carts, making the one in Caddyshack look like a miniature.

It is the natural progression of all sporting events, isn’t it? We’re pretty sure if you examine the history of the Kentucky Derby, you’ll find in its early years it was a wild and crazy affair. Now the only crazy thing remaining are the hats.

Think back to Apple Cups in the past. The trash talking pregame was so intense, it was a surprise every year when there wasn’t a confrontation on the field during warmups. Now if someone has the audacity to, say, plant a flag at midfield after an upset win, there are cries of “I never” and a bunch of “tsk tsks” thrown around.

The Dog Fur comes but once a year. It once was so anticipated throughout the newsroom the editor had to put his foot down and limit the number of people who could be out of the office that day. After all, someone had to put together the Tuesday paper.

Like Bloomsday, the event always had a T-shirt. Editorial cartoonist Milt Priggee did a few. So did illustrators Anne Heitner, Bridget Sawicki and Molly Quinn. Heck, one year we had to put together one on the fly, due to an artist reneging on a promise. That T-shirt is now a collector’s item, mainly because it was so awful, everyone dropped it in a MeadowWood trash can before heading home.

There was even a jacket for the winner, albeit one so stained by the post-tournament ketchup-and-mustard drenching that the darn thing could stand in a corner by itself. When the first jacket was retired, it immediately took a spot on the EPA’s Superfund list.

But what hasn’t changed is the camaraderie. A chance to get away from the office for some, to put the pressures of the job aside for a day and re-connect with friends and co-workers who may have moved on to other endeavors. To celebrate another year of connecting with the public, informing folks and putting out the best sports section its size in America.

And, of course, to watch someone step up to the first tee, take two or three awkward practice swings, pull the club back and … completely miss the ball.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, Oregon won’t be going to Omaha of the College World Series. The Ducks fell at home to Oral Roberts on Sunday 11-6 as their pitching depth was exposed in the three-game series. … Stanford will have almost all its pitchers ready today when it hosts Texas with a berth on the line. The Cardinal tied the series at a game apiece behind the 156-pitch complete game from Quinn Mathews. … The upcoming men’s basketball schedule is coming together for Colorado. … The Buff women are welcoming another transfer. … Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer is adjusting to another change to the structure of the game. … It’s time to start football previews in Utah. The Deseret News begins with California. … Finally, college football has more in common with European pro soccer than one could imagine.

Indians: Spokane’s five-game winning streak came to a halt Sunday with a 9-5 loss at Hillsboro. Dave Nichols has the story.

Golf: Jim Meehan decided to talk with a couple local pros about the upcoming merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Funny thing. The folks in golf’s trenches don’t seem as interested in the machinations of the rich as others do.

Mariners: Eight games on the road. Two wins. The M’s head home under .500 and struggling to get in the American League playoff hunt after a 9-4 loss to the Angels in Anaheim. … Penn Murfee got hurt once again and may be headed back to the injured list.

Storm: Sue Bird’s No. 10 was raised to the Climate Pledge Arena rafters Sunday in a three-hour love-fest following another Seattle loss. The team will never be the same without the game’s best point guard.

NBA: Anyone could see the Nuggets were headed for a great postseason.

Tennis: Novak Djokovic is the undisputed leader in all-time Grand Slam titles. He has 23 of them after his third French Open title Sunday. But is he the greatest player of all-time? That’s for another day.

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• We’re off to the golf course soon. There was a time when we were good enough to be the captain of a four-person scramble team. Now we just hope to hit three decent drives. And, maybe, if we are really lucky, hit a 72-foot putt to win the whole thing. Or is that only something former UW player Nick Taylor can do? Until later …