A Grip on Sports: We know we can’t move entrenched positions but maybe someday we can move back in time with a little forgiveness
A GRIP ON SPORTS • We’re keeping the column short today. Maybe. But we have one of those existential questions to ask. We don’t expect an answer. And yet it may fill a lot of space just be contemplating it.
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• If faith can move mountains, what can anger and hatred do? Move the Cougars into the Mountain West, maybe? Make the college athletics world move back to a simpler time? Or just cause ulcers, high blood pressure and hair loss?
As we said, no answer is needed. We’re not sure there is one, really, when it comes to how people feel about the athletic teams at their alma mater – and how the world perceives, values and treats them. Mainly because there is no real sense to be made of it.
What has happened in the past thousand days or so among West Coast college athletics is stupid, silly and suboptimal. Messed up, though most folks might just substitute another word in place of “messed.” We know it. We understand the roots of it. We wish it weren’t the way, as Din Djarin might say.
It is, though.
Reality sometimes does bite, doesn’t it?
And yet, here we are, on July 28, 2024, dealing with a reality not anyone other than maybe a handful of folks connected to Fox, ESPN and that school in downtown L.A., wanted to ever see.
We have decided not to give that small group power over us. We have faith. And faith can, as we know, move mountains. Even mountains of cash.
When you are collecting Social Security, it’s pretty obvious you are dealing with a personal expiration date. And you start wondering if this or that – thinks Mariners, World Series – will happen before that date comes up. We feel way about college athletics, West Coast version.
We have faith schools will see all the recent changes for what they really are: fool’s gold. And they have been cast in the clown’s role. Sorry, folks, but keeping up with the Jones is senseless, especially if you never really liked the Jones or Smiths or Millers anyway. Sooner or later the music will fade, the money-mad train will grind to a halt and the sensible schools will hop off, landing back home where they belong.
We have faith. Hope. And charity. At least toward most who lost their way. We understand mistakes. Traveling the wrong path. Being blinded by baubles. When those who fell for the flim-flam and siren’s song are ready to return, their former home should be open to them.
Yes, faith can move mountains. But it is forgiveness that makes such movement worthwhile.
• We’ve long thought obituary writing is one of the highest callings of the journalism world. Little is more important than summing up a life, no matter how it was lived, especially if that life, like a pebble in a pond, rippled over many of us as it went from day to day.
Great writers can catch the essence of the person. Teach everyone who reads the piece something about the deceased. Allow them to share in the sorrow, joy and wonder that is life. It’s a calling.
One of Spokane’s athletic luminaries died yesterday. Tracy Walters, who touched more lives in this community than we can enumerate, passed at 93-years-old. There are folks from all walks of life who felt Walters’ impact, not just from his days at Rogers High, or his many years coaching elite runners, or his revitalizing work for Camp Reed, or his second act as a Greenbluff orchard owner.
We remember Walters for his voice. A voice that greeted thousands over the years as they finished running, or walking, Bloomsday. No matter how sweaty or uncomfortable or tired you might have been as you finished, Walters’ energy and familiarity made your final few steps fly by.
He was a Spokane icon. And another one of those, John Blanchette, wrote a beautiful eulogy of Walters’ life in today’s Spokesman-Review. For that, we are thankful. And feel blessed to have known, if only a little, the man John writes about. Sad too, at Walters’ passing. Spokane is a great city in which to spend your life. Mainly because there are people like Tracy Walters, who decided to share theirs with you. Every day.
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WSU: The season is rushing at us quickly. Greg Woods continues his countdown to preseason camp with a story on the Cougars schedule. He ranks their games from toughest to least tough. After all, no college football game is easy. By the way, we fixed a mistake Greg had in the story as it was published in the S-R. He stated Washington State would be playing against San Diego State in that city for the first time. That came as a surprise to us, who covered the Cougars’ visit in 2011 – and wrote this story about the 42-24 loss. … Kamie Ethridge is still in Pullman, mainly because it is where she wants to be. … Josh Hawkinson, who quietly had an outstanding career at WSU, is doing similar things for the Japanese men’s national basketball team in Paris. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner answers some questions in the Mercury News this morning. … John Canzano believes the remaining Pac-12 members are on lots of folks’ radar as the season begins. … The Oregonian’s football number series continues, with No. 35 for Oregon State and Oregon. … We once again state the obvious. Recruiting never stops. We have proof from Oregon and USC. … The Ducks’ schedule will be a challenge for the newcomers. … Washington is ready for the Big Ten. … Utah believes it is ready for a playoff berth. … Is Arizona State ready for the Big 12 travel? … Arizona’s defense has to be ready for the Wildcats to win. … Colorado not only has a new track coach, it also has a new chancellor. … Hawaii is already scrimmaging as the school has an early start to the season. … San Diego State is about to start camp, where questions abound.
Gonzaga: Mark Few is more than just the coach who turned the Zags into a national power. He’s also highly respected by his peers, not just for what he’s done in Spokane but what he can offer as a coach. Theo Lawson talked with many people connected with the U.S. men’s national team, which Few is helping as an assistant in the Olympics, and has their thoughts in this story.
Indians: Kyle Karros hit two home runs, Spokane won 6-4 in Eugene and the Indians stretched their second-half lead to three games over Vancouver. Dave Nichols has the story. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League on Saturday, Hillsboro topped visiting Canadians 5-2 … Everett shut out host Tri-City 6-0.
Velocity: Charlotte dominated the second half at ONE Spokane Stadium on Saturday night, though, to be honest, it dominated the entire match, winning 4-2. Colton Clark has the coverage.
Olympics: Caeleb Dressel may be 27 years old, which is not young in swimming years, but he still is something special in the pool. In eight Olympic events, he has won eight gold medals after anchoring the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team’s win Saturday. … The U.S. men’s basketball team takes the Olympic court for the first time today. The opponent is Nikola Jokić and Serbia (8:15 a.m., NBC) … Here is the S-R’s TV schedule. … Simone Biles has a bad calf. She still advanced to the all-around finals.
Seahawks: Jake Bobo wants to build off his rookie season. … Backup quarterback P.J. Walker wants to extend his career. … Jack Westover wants to make the roster. … Some players want to take back what happened Saturday.
Mariners: Randy Arozarena joined the lineup last night, with ace Logan Gilbert telling a national television audience – while dodging sunflower seeds – just making the trade was enough to give the M’s a lift. That and playing the White Sox. The still-short offense scored half-a-dozen runs and Seattle won 6-3. Despite Dylan Moore and Jorge Polanco being trouble catching the ball, something most 15-year-olds can do. … A big part of the offensive resurgence in Chicago is Polanco has found his stroke. Finally. He hit two more home runs Saturday. … Victor Robles has helped too.
Reign: Another day, another match in another in-season tournament.
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• We raced to the finish line this morning. Mainly because we want to catch the U.S. basketball game. It’s a test right out of the blocks. Is the group up to the winning the first sprint in the marathon that is the Games? Until later …