A Grip on Sports: Summer’s sports take over the airways this weekend even if the sun may not cooperate
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A GRIP ON SPORTS • The calendar won’t agree but it’s summer out there.
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• According to the tilt of the earth, the summer solstice won’t hit for a few days yet. But according to the tilt in the world of sports, it already has. All one has to do for confirmation is look at this weekend’s television schedule.
There is baseball. And golf. And little else.
No men’s basketball. No hockey. OK, there is football, but it’s the USFL, the CFL and the IFL. That doesn’t really count, does it? Except to the bookkeepers at Fox, USA and CBS.
The main events are, in order, our national championship in golf, the U.S. Open; our national championship in amateur baseball, the College World Series; and the typical “summer” weekend of Major League Baseball.
Mix in a few highs in the 80s and we’re golden. Or at least our skin will be if we don’t wear about SPF 50.
• Usually, women’s pro basketball is better around here this time of year. But this isn’t a usual year. The Seattle Storm no longer have a star-studded lineup. And they no longer have a chance against other teams in the league that do.
They played the Las Vegas Aces last night in the desert. The defending WNBA champs, even with former Washington star Kelsey Plum having an average night, blew out the Storm 96-63. Which, actually, was better than the first time the teams met, a record 51-point Las Vegas rout in Seattle.
We’ve been spoiled over the years, with point guard Sue Bird (retired) the constant, and two of the best bigs in the world in Lauren Jackson (retired) and Breanna Stewart (in New York), all boosted by a solid-to-great supporting cast every year.
Those days are as gone as winter. But unlike the winds from the north, we’re not sure they will ever return.
• The L.A. Country Club seemed better suited for the member-guest Thursday than what is always billed as the toughest test in golf. Thanks, marine layer.
The cool spring around the L.A. basin is being blamed for a golf course that seemed defenseless.
How defenseless? The best score ever shot in a major golf tournament going into the week was Branden Grace’s 62 during the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale. Yesterday, two players, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele, shot that number. And six players shot 65 or better.
Heck, Scottie Scheffler posted an impressive 67 and seemed quite disappointed.
The LACC course the USGA is using features wide fairways. It is part of George Thomas’ design. Nothing wrong with that, unless the rough isn’t what the USGA was hoping to grow. Without a lot of sun, either in the run-up or on Thursday, the rough couldn’t thicken and the greens stayed softer and slower than hoped.
Will today be different? Maybe. The folks in charge say they won’t go out of their way to toughen the course but who knows. If there is another 62 or so, maybe that philosophy will go out the door on the weekend.
• Our father had one wish for us. He hoped we would be smart enough to attend Stanford.
It was the holy grail of college educations in California when we were growing up and he wanted us to sip from the cup of lifelong wealth and prosperity it provided.
Sorry pops. It was out of our reach, not just financially but athletically and intellectually as well.
That point was driven home again this week as the Cardinal prepared for another trip to Omaha, home of the College World Series.
The talk of the town was Stanford starting pitcher Quinn Matthews throwing 156 pitches in a Super Regional game. That is a no-no of another kind in the modern game. And yet, Matthews was able to give a rational explanation why he was fine pushing himself so. And it had little to do with baseball.
He’s ready for the rest of his life outside the game. The arm may be weak someday but his mind, honed at one of America’s finest academic institutions, won’t be for decades. And he understands that’s what matters.
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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, Washington will be counting on some new football players to make an impact. … Oregon’s pitching coach is taking the New Mexico State top job. … The NIL statements coming out of Corvallis are causing a bit of a ruckus. … A Colorado player is going to miss the basketball season with a knee injury. … UCLA’s Jamie Jaquez Jr. believes he belongs in the NBA. … Arizona’s Kylan Boswell will have a busy summer. … There will be higher expectations for the Utah women next season. … The Utes’ athletic director, Mark Harlan, signed a contract extension. … A former Arizona defensive lineman died recently at age 38. … USC is going to build a new football facility.
Gonzaga: Once again Mark Few is putting together a tough non-conference, away-from-Spokane schedule for the Zags. The latest addition is reportedly a Dec. 2 game in Las Vegas against USC. Theo Lawson delves into that and the other games already part of the 2023-24 schedule.
Preps: The Seattle schools play their football games in Memorial Stadium downtown. The place is getting a $150-million makeover. The rebuild will begin soon.
Indians: Spokane had every chance to open a lead in the Northwest League’s first-half standings but the bullpen hasn’t cooperated. For the second consecutive game, it couldn’t hold a lead – five runs last night – and the Indians lost. Dave Nichols has this story from the 8-5 loss to Eugene on Thursday. … Craig T. Nelson will be back in Spokane once again. He’s going to throw the first pitch on Father’s Day at Avista Stadium. Ed Condran caught up with the TV legend and has this story. … The Hillsboro Hops are looking to build a new stadium.
Mariners: Jarred Kelenic’s recent cold streak has to worry the M’s at least a little bit. … Jose Caballero is a pest at the plate and on the bases. And that’s good. … Teoscar Hernandez is doing better. … A Bay Area columnist called baseball commissioner Rob Manfred a liar.
Sounders: If you happened to catch the U.S. National Team’s 3-0 win over Mexico last night in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals, you might have thought you were watching a UFC bout. Or a baseball fight. It was somewhere in-between.
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• Just checked the forecast. It’s summer. Today. By Monday, it will be spring again. Highs in the low 60s? C’mon, man. Until later …