A Grip on Sports: Time is the enemy in many regards but when it comes to grudges, not even years may scrub them clean
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s always odd for us to be working on the Sunday morning the British Open is being played. We want to watch. We have to write. Whatever we produce will be read all day, even after the final round is done. A final round we will write about tomorrow – trying to make it seem fresh. The vagaries of time and place biting us in the glutes once more.
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• We’ve been doing this a long time. More than a decade. We’re not sure how much longer we will continue. It has to stay fun, something doing that has been since we started. And we have to be at least close to the top of our game, which is a few columns in the past, that’s for sure.
Hey, we’re not Tiger Woods at Royal Troon just yet, but we can see it from our current vantage point. No way we’re shooting 14-over par and continuing on.
But days like today? They’re why we attack the keyboard in the morning.
Not because we love attacking the Seattle pro franchises, but because it’s necessary. For our well-being, sure, but we’re guessing for yours as well.
Ever wonder why the Sonics NBA title remains in such a hallowed place? Or the Super Bowl the Seahawks won? They are the only two times Washington (and much of the Northwest, sans Blazer fans, who have their own year to remember) were able to come together and celebrate owning the world.
Pro sports bring folks who root for Local High and Alma Mater U together with Non-Local Prep and Rivalry College alums. They may hate each other all year long, but during a pennant race or stretch run for the region’s pro teams, unity is the watchword.
The region’s two world championships in most folks’ lifetimes – the NFL is the world of pro football and the NBA the top of basketball’s world – have brought us all together like no other sporting events.
But even the failures – the 2015 Super Bowl anyone? – also unite us. In anger. Righteous indignation is a better term. Sister Patrice once told us she felt Jesus-vs.-the-moneychangers fury every time the Dodgers lost to the Yankees in the 1950s and we understood. Not the anger, the theological discussion.
The Yankees were awful when she shared that, so we didn’t make the connection. We do now. The Astros. The Mariners. The desire to throw everyone out of the T-Mobile temple.
Now more than ever. Well, not more than when the trash-can banging came to light and MLB just gave everyone who was on the field and won a World Series ring due to it a pass. But now that it is the Astros who are in first place in the American League West and Seattle is in mourning, we are even more indignant.
Righteous, but indignant.
Not at the current Astros, though. Except, basically, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman. We are Sicilian. We hold grudges. Who we are really ticked at these days is the M’s money folk. Those are the people who should be tossed from the temple. Having an ownership group that spends such a small percentage of its revenue on player salaries (something we went over yesterday), chaps our backside. And bites the M’s in the same place every year.
• OK, we’re done with that rant. We’ll go to confession later, though we believe any confessor in the Northwest will grant us absolution immediately.
Our other rant? That has to do with exposure. As in the Sounders were exposed last night at Lumen Field by LAFC.
Yep, their hot streak was more of a product of the schedule than their play. Their ability. Their chances of being a playoff contender.
The 3-0 loss wasn’t even all that competitive. LAFC pressured quickly. Earned a penalty. Converted. Put up another goal not long after. And that was that.
The better teams in the MLS are the better teams. Despite their hot streak, anyone who is truthful would confess the Sounders aren’t in that conversation.
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WSU: Our indignation about what happened with the Cougars and the Pac-12 will never fade – Sicilian, remember? – but it will be put into storage some in the coming weeks. The football season is what it is, to quote a million 1990s self-help gurus. The schedule is the schedule, to quote another million football coaches. And winning games will be the goal, to paraphrase Herm Edwards. How will Washington State accomplish that? Greg Woods will attempt to tell us between now and training camp’s opening day. The first story? It covers the wide receivers, a key element of WSU’s pass-heavy attack. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, the Oregonian’s long series of football numbers stories continues. We are already at No. 43 for Oregon and Oregon State. … The running backs may just determine how good Colorado’s offense will be. … The two current Arizona basketball players in international competition played against each other yesterday.
Gonzaga: For once Mark Few is experiencing what it’s like to be Mick Jagger. OK, maybe Ronnie Wood. He spoke with Jim Meehan about his Olympic experience once again and it was Few who brought up the Rolling Stones. The only thing that surprised us about Few’s statement was the band he mentioned. We would have bet on his using The Eagles as his go-too reference. They must not have enough global reach to fit his metaphor.
EWU and Idaho: The two schools each had one former star inducted into the Big Sky Hall of Fame last night in Spokane. Dan Thompson was there and he has more on Orlando Lightfoot and Erik Meyer reaching the pinnacle of the conference’s athletic hierarchy. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana and Montana State each had inductees. … Northern Colorado’s conference football start times are available.
Indians: Vancouver won the second half’s first nine games. And yet here the Canadians are, looking up Spokane by multiple games in those standings after the Indians’ 8-6 win north of the border Saturday. Dave Nichols has more. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Hillsboro defeated host Everett 7-3 and visiting Eugene bounced back to top Tri-City 5-3.
Olympics: We are old enough to have memories of interviewing Amanda Furrer before she took her shooting skills to the 2012 London Games. We’re sure Rich Landers has similar memories. Clearer ones, though, of his recent interview with Furrer that resulted in this story. … We also remember the 1984 Games in Los Angeles that resulted in American dominance. And some good friends of ours winning a Pulitzer prize. … We watched some of South Sudan’s win over the U.S. men’s team yesterday. Oh, sure, the U.S. rallied and then held on to a 101-100 decision but the African team won a whole heck of a lot. … Speaking of losses, the women’s team actually did lose on the scoreboard. The WNBA all-stars, otherwise known as those left at home, defeated the national team for the second consecutive pre-Olympic time, this one 117-109.
Seahawks: More roster rankings. No. 30 to No. 21. Thanks Bob.
Mariners: The M’s offense isn’t good enough. Cal Raleigh knows it. Is willing to talk about it. And, we’re sure it’s also the talk of the Astros’ clubhouse, even after their 4-2 win Saturday. Why not? They are benefiting from the lack of production as much as anyone. Bryan Woo tries to stem Seattle’s fall from grace today. … In an attempt to give the offense a boost, Victor Robles led off Saturday. … A former Mariner is among the three players and one manager who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. today.
Sounders: We linked the match story above. We do it again here.
Golf: The 37th Rosauers Open Invitational finishes up today at Indian Canyon and Russell Groves is among the three leaders. The North Idaho College golf coach shot a 7-under 64 Saturday. Jim Meehan returns with coverage of the tournament. … We don’t know who is going to win in Scotland. Heck, even while watching the Open on NBC just now, we don’t know what happened to Scottie Scheffler on the ninth hole. We know he doubled, just not how. We know how Russell Henley took the lead after the third round and that round’s awful conditions.
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• We are rooting for a few golfers. Which means none of them will win the Open. We are unlucky in that regard. Until later …