A Grip on Sports: As the Olympics peel back each layer, we watch as athletes feel emotions not seen on a day-to-day basis
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Olympics are something, aren’t they? Competitions within competitions within competitions. The nesting doll of sporting events. A time and place where even the GOAT can fall, an old goat can still kick and heroes are made just by crying. Or by finishing a little more than a 1000th of a second ahead of everyone else.
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• Where to start peeling back this onion of a weekend? Without pulling a Scottie Scheffler, we mean.
You may not care one iota about Scheffler, who has made more than $28 million playing golf this year, or his game, but if you watched the best golfer in the world cry on the medal stand, it had to move you in some way.
In a sport roiled by money and power plays, the emotion of hearing the national anthem being played for his accomplishment was enough to bring Scheffler down to our level. Joy can bring tears as easily as sorrow, both of which Scheffler has experienced this summer. As have us all.
Heck, we experienced a whole harvest of emotions just watching this weekend.
Scheffler’s win brought us joy, especially how he did it, roaring from the back of a star-studded – and crossed – leaderboard on the a back nine full of potholes. And then his emotional response to the anthem made us a blubbering fool.
No more so than how we felt multiple times over the weekend.
Oh, sure, we admire Ryan Crouser’s consistency in the shot, as the giant from Barlow, Ore., shook off a whole hospital ward of injuries the past 18 months and won his third consecutive gold in the event. But our admiration runs even deeper for the runner-up, Joe Kovacs, who honestly seemed more appreciative of his finish than anyone in any sport. Despite it being the 35-year-old’s third time finishing behind Crouser at the world’s most important meet.
Ricky Bobby didn’t know what he was talking about. Kovacs proves that.
Though you might have a tough time convincing Noah Lyles. He expressed joy after winning Sunday’s 100-meter race – and just about every other emotion over the 20 minutes or so he held the world’s spotlight. All because he got a millimeter of his chest in front of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson at the finish.
Thompson’s foot crossed first but that’s not what matters. It is, basically, the heart that’s measured. And Lyle’s, contained within his muscular torso, got there a beat faster. And then he wore it on his sleeve for everyone to see.
As did Novak Djokovic a day earlier.
Whether you are a fan of Djokovic or not, whether you think he’s tennis’ greatest men’s player of all time or not, you can’t deny that winning the gold on Roland Garros’ clay meant the world to him. Or, more accurately, meant the Serbia to him.
Djokovic, 37, is older than the country he represents with such pride. He’s lived through bombings, demonstrations in the streets, all manner of revolutionary change. He’s ascended to the top of his sport despite it all. Or, maybe, because of it. Either way, he glories in his story. And his country’s.
Djokovic survived – the only word to describe it – Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. Sunk into the Roland Garros clay to shed tears of relief. Joy. He arose only after being given a Serbian flag. An unmatched 24 Grand Slam wins faded to the back. “This is probably the biggest sporting success I’ve ever had in my career,” he said, the flag draped over his shoulders, relief etched on his weathered face.
There is no debating Kristen Faulkner’s cycling road-racing gold Sunday was her biggest sporting success. Heck, she didn’t even have a spot in the race after the U.S. Trials. Didn’t care much. Focused on an upcoming team event. But circumstances change. She found herself in the race. Found herself near the front. Found herself deciding to go for it. And found herself alone – by a lot – at the finish line. Joy? Surprise was more like it. Heck, she didn’t even know what to do with the U.S. flag she was handed.
Simone Biles could show her. The greatest women’s gymnast ever has been perfect in the greatest competitions. Earned a medal in every Olympic event she entered. Until she wasn’t – and didn’t. She fell from the balance beam Monday. Didn’t medal. Earned another prize, though. The fall made her more relatable.
In the course of the last week, she’s seemingly experienced every emotion all of us feel as we perform on the apparatus we call life.
Reaching goals. Failing to reach them. No matter. It’s the trying that does.
After all, tears will fall either way.
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WSU: We weren’t there but we’re pretty sure there were some tears falling at the S-R’s Northwest Passages event for Steve Gleason and the book he’s written with Jeff Duncan. We’re also sure you are acutely aware of Gleason’s story and his long battle with ALS. Let’s just say it’s impossible to look upon Gleason and his wife Michel and not feel a bit of sympathy. And be uplifted at the same time. Elena Perry has this story on the event, artfully covered as well by Colin Mulvany and his photographs. … Another former Washington State football player, Gardner Minshew, is winning the battle to start for the Las Vegas Raiders. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, with the Cougars off Sunday, we can focus on the other Pac-12 member, Oregon State. We start with John Canzano’s column on Jaden Robinson, whose story is worth taking some time to learn. … The Beavers open their season hosting Idaho then face Purdue later. … The Oregonian’s football number series is on No. 27 today for Oregon State and Oregon. … Steve Belichick is on a new adventure with Washington. … Stanford is on a new adventure as well, but it’s a bit rockier. … Oregon has more size in the middle of its defensive line. And experience in the secondary. … Long snappers are always the governors of teams. … Utah’s offensive line better be improved. … The collectives around USC are merging. Slowly but surely. … Should Arizona State football fans have optimism about the season? … The defense is ahead of the offense for Arizona. … Around the Mountain West, the problems at Utah State just won’t go away. Now a grievance over one of the football firings has been filed.
Gonzaga: Some of our most vivid memories over the two-plus decades of Zag dominance concern Killian Tillie. Why? Because no other GU big man, not even Kyle Wiljter, seemed to make more huge 3-pointers for the Bulldogs. And clutch 3-pointers always stand out. Tillie is finally back playing basketball professionally. Theo Lawson talked with him in Las Vegas last month and has this story.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, UC Davis is back on the football field.
Indians: A series split with visiting Hillsboro was the best Spokane could do Sunday, so the Indians did their best. They won, 9-3. Dave Nichols was at Avista Stadium to document it. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Tri-City crushed host Vancouver 15-3, allowing the Indians to raise their second-half lead back to four games. … Eugene scored single runs in the top of the seventh, eighth and ninth to rally past Everett 5-4.
Velocity: Saturday night’s match was postponed after a rainy night in Georgia. Playing on a Sunday, Spokane scored late and earned a 3-3 draw in the USL League One match with the South Georgia Tormenta.
Golf: We could have deposited this link in the Gonzaga section, as Jim Meehan’s column focuses upon the Zags’ Grace Lee. She tees it up today at 124th U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We’ve been in Tulsa in August. Actually, have been part of an athletic competition in Tulsa in August. Hydration cannot be overemphasized.
Seahawks: Why is Seattle wearing padded helmets? … Mike Macdonald is shaping the Hawk defense into what he wants.
Olympics: We covered Lyles and Scheffler above. But there was a lot more going on. Including some big news from swimming, where the U.S. men kept one streak alive but lost another one. And the women ended the teams’ week on a high note. … Biles bounced back, literally, with a bouncy floor exercise that earned her a silver medal. … Watching at home, we were sure Lyles had won the gold. But Leigh Diffey, calling the race for NBC, didn’t see it that way. He can be excused. It was that tight.
Mariners: It didn’t matter Sunday who was in the M’s lineup. Or that Logan Gilbert had another quality start. Zack Wheeler was dealing for the Phillies, as he can. He shut out Seattle for eight innings, Gilbert yielded a solo blast to open the game and Philadelphia salvaged the last game of the series, scoring five times against the bullpen for a 6-0 win.
Sounders: Despite losing its Leagues Cup match 3-1 to Club Necaxa at Lumen Field last night, Seattle moves on to the knockout stage of the North American-based in-season tournament. They will host MLS rival L.A. Galaxy on Thursday.
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• We have a visitor coming to town for a few days. We may have to show off Spokane once again to someone who has lived all over the planet. Too bad the world’s largest ball of twine or most-ancient dinosaur bone replica isn’t within an hour’s drive or so. Those would impress her. Guess we will just have to take her down to the Loof once more. Until later …