A Grip on Sports: Sometimes we feel like a nut and it’s all because we are obsessed with a sport – no matter which one

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Watching golf from Europe, no matter if it is for a gold medal or just for millions of dollars, isn’t easy on the West Coast. It takes dedication, lots of coffee and an alarm clock. It also doesn’t hurt to be a little weird.

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• We know. It isn’t normal to trundle downstairs at Zero Dark Thirty to watch a bunch of millionaires knock a little white ball around an exclusive Parisian club. But when it comes to this sport, we’ve never been normal. Other than being consistently unable to control our slice. And temper. Otherwise, ya, we’ll own weird as the adjective to best describe us as a golf fan.

Though crazed also fits.

We once sat in the stands on the 17th hole of the final round of a U.S. Open, watching player after player misread a short putt. It took all the internal discipline we could muster to not stand up and scream “it actually goes right” to David Duval as he lined up a key putt at Bethpage Black that day in 2009, but we resisted the urge.

And live with the regret every day.

He missed. Lucas Glover won the tournament. And Duval never challenged in a major again.

No screaming needed this morning. The players were out of earshot. Besides, the guy we wanted to win, Scottie Scheffler, someone figured out a way to win the gold medal. All it took was shooting a 62 on a pressure-filled Sunday when others, including Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and, especially, Jon Rahm choked on their chances.

• One other Olympic thought while we have your attention this morning. Don’t miss this Chuck Culpepper story from the Washington Post that ran in today’s S-R.

Culpepper, one of America’s best sports writers these days, highlights two female Olympians, but their gender is not as important as their ages – and that’s saying something in this “man-are-we-offended” Games.

Isabell Werth is 57-years-old. She won another gold medal Saturday in equestrian with her horse Wendy. Katie Ledecky is 27-years-old. She won another gold medal in swimming, riding herself to a surprisingly large win over Australia’s multiple gold medal winner Ariarne Titmus in the 800-meter freestyle.

One dresses up and rides a horse over a green lawn and around obstacles. The other wears a body suit and races from point A to point B as fast as she can. Thirty years difference. And no difference at all. Both are athletes. Both are competitors. Both are champions.

Both are what the Olympics should be about.

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WSU: Doesn’t matter in which conference you are playing. Hitting hard, aka “being physical,” always helps college football teams succeed. Which makes Saturday’s Cougar practice stand out. Greg Woods relays a comment from a Washington State assistant about the physical nature of the workout. Which, as we said, bodes well. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner publishes his mailbag a day later than usual. In it, he shoots down the WSU-and-OSU-to-the-Big-12 rumors. … Where are we? Oh, that’s right. The Oregonian’s football number series stops on 28 today for Oregon State and Oregon. … The Beavers got after it yesterday at practice. … The Ducks’ newest defensive back is starting to assert himself in the Big Ten. … As we like to say, recruiting never stops. It was really rolling for Oregon on Saturday. … We may just find out this season if USC’s Lincoln Riley can really coach. … Expect Arizona to look to run the ball with the great group of running backs it has. … Didn’t think about this, but sign painters must have been the driving force behind much of college athletics’ realignment. Job security and all that. … The Pac-12, no matter how you label it, had some success yesterday in Paris, with Oregon State’s Jade Carey picking up a bronze in gymnastics and Ledecky’s performance. … Around the Mountain West, is Boise State in the running for a playoff berth thanks to expansion? … Hawaii held its first scrimmage. … So did New Mexico. … San Diego State has a quarterback battle going on. … The depth chart at Air Force this preseason looks nothing like the one that ended the last.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Dan Thompson takes a look at the relatively new coaches among the conference’s football teams. Some of those in their second season at their current schools are experienced, as in Cal Poly’s Paul Wulff, well known in the Inland Northwest. Others, such as Sacramento State’s Andy Thompson, are head coaches for the first time. … Northern Colorado has a player who leads by example.

Indians: The three-game losing streak is over. Dave Nichols was at Avista Stadium last night as the newest Spokane pitcher, Jack Mahoney, helped the Indians defeat Hillsboro 9-3. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, it’s a good thing Spokane got back on track as second-place Vancouver shut out visiting Tri-City 4-0. … Eugene held off host Everett 4-2.

UFC: Spokane’s Michael Chiesa returned to the win column Saturday with a victory in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Olympics: We watched a lot of the Games yesterday, with the focus on track and, yep, field. That’s where Ryan Crouser, who looks every bit the part of the world’s view of someone from Oregon, won his third consecutive shot put gold medal. The better story? The U.S.’s Joe Kovacs, who may just be the second-best ever in the discipline, won a third consecutive silver, playing Robin once again to Crouser’s Batman. … We also watched the women’s 100 meters and was blown away by Julien Alfred, who won Saint Lucia’s first Olympic medal ever. Alfred blew away Sha’Carri Richardson and the rest of the field in 10.72. … The knockout round awaits for Mark Few and the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team. They handled Puerto Rico with ease and earned the top seed among the eight quarterfinalists. … Trinity Rodman never had a chance to take the pitch for Washington State due to the pandemic. The Cougars can claim her, however, as she went from Pullman to the pros – and now the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s top scoring threat. Her goal lifted the group past Japan and into the semifinals. … Not every medal winner has a happy ending. The U.S.’s Alex Walsh won a bronze in the pool Saturday, only to have her 200 IM medal taken away for an illegal turn. … No such problem for Simone Biles, who won another gymnastic’s gold.

Mariners: We didn’t give up on the M’s last night when they fell behind by five runs. Not exactly, anyway. We had already decided to hit the hay early, as we had a 3 a.m. wake-up call scheduled to watch golf. But the early deficit made it more palatable to walk away, that’s for sure. When we did wake up before the sun today, imagine our surprise. A five-run deficit? Big deal. Seattle rallied and won 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off walk. The bullpen sure has been up – as Saturday it was – and down – a few other recent times. … The M’s made a roster change with that group.  

Seahawks: Mike Macdonald took the Lumen Field turf Saturday for the first time as a head coach. The Hawks showed off for their fans, though Geno Smith was still not in uniform. He’s expected back soon. … In the spotlight thus far in camp? Riq Woolen.

Sounders: Seattle doesn’t have an MLS match this weekend. Instead, the Sounders are back at Leagues Cup play, meeting Club Necaxa next.

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• We end this Sunday with one last update on Kristoffer Ventura. The Norwegian golfer shot a 2-under 69 on Sunday to finish his Olympic experience exactly how he started it. Even. But he probably has a bunch of gold-medal-level memories packed away. Until later …