A Grip on Sports: If you ever thought a fly ball was ‘too high’ to leave the ballpark, today’s column is for you

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s a long tradition. Dating back to childhood. A long tradition indeed. Saturdays are fun days. More than any other day of the week. We keep the tradition alive here. Even if the M’s are doing their best to ruin our sunny outlook.

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• We mention the Mariners for a couple reasons, though Friday’s 3-2 loss in Miami isn’t the main one. Something our son said during the game actually fills that role.

As we were puttering in the yard yesterday, our mind wandered. Maybe it was the heat, we don’t know. But it wandered alright. Away from the weeds and into the world of film. And family.

We wandered all the way to the ’40s, and the 1948 movie “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Humphrey Bogart. Mexico. Gold. Greed. And one of the great movie lines of all-time.

“Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”

Why did that pop into our head? Not sure, actually. But it got us thinking about our dad, who used to use a variation of that line often. “I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ (fill in the blank)!” It was a go-to for him – made even funnier when Mel Brooks used the line in his 1974 cowboy comedy, “Blazing Saddles,” taking it from the lexicon of our dad’s generation and infusing into ours.

We realized movie lines have become a touchstone of modern societal interaction. Our parents used them. We use them. And, yes, the next generation uses them.

How do we know? Well, in the sixth inning of the Mariners’ third-consecutive loss, Bryan De La Cruz blasted an elevated George Kirby fastball high into the Miami night. And we started laughing. Not because De La Cruz’s drive landed beyond the right-centerfield fence. Nope. Because while it was en route, our son started chanting, with just a hint of irony, “Too high, too high.”

“Major League,” anyone? The always-disappointed by still-optimistic Cleveland fans? Yep, a movie quote from one of the funnier baseball movies of the 20th Century. And it entered the conversation when it was needed most.

Like the movie, the hope the ball was “too high” to get out of the park – “Too high? What does that mean, too high?” one die-hard bleacher bum says to another as the then-named Indians lose again – was a forlorn one.

Yes, we laughed. Not because Kirby’s day was ruined by the second of back-to-back solo dingers. Nope. But because a movie quote was just thrown into the fray from out of nowhere.

It has to happen in your life, right? We hear such things way too often in the real world not to believe our recollection isn’t based on some make-believe, Wizard-of-Oz dream. A universal language of sorts.

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli,” is one of our go-to quotes, though, like our father, we sometimes substitute different nouns for gun and/or cannoli.

“Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore,” fits a lot of different scenarios, especially when you are away from the Northwest.

“May the Force (or anything else) be with you,” pops up from time to time

“I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” is uttered when we are downtown.

And our go-to response when anyone looks at us askew after we let them down? It comes from “Animal House,” of course. “You (oops, a bad word here) up. You trusted us.”

Like we did this morning. You expected to read a whole bunch of words about baseball or conference realignment or the Stanley Cup Final. And got this drivel? Just go with it, OK?

Or you could say “Forget it, he’s rolling.” And run for the door. Alone.

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WSU: The Olympic Trials began yesterday and we have an update of the results for locals such as Washington State’s Paul Ryan and Lee Walburn and Gonzaga’s Wil Smith. … A former Cougar sprinter just missed qualifying for the Trials. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner answered questions in a Friday mailbag, including some about the Pac-12’s future. … We expected this, though the first FCS school to challenge the House settlement might have been a bit of a surprise. … We screwed this up yesterday, but the Oregonian’s football numbers countdown continues today, with No. 71 for Oregon. … The Colorado women’s basketball coaching staff is back at full strength. … Utah’s roster is coming together. … Can Stanford attract transfers to rebuild its depleted softball roster? … Oregon State has a decent baseball draft history. … Bobby Hurley isn’t surprised brother Dan stayed at Connecticut. … We passed along the news Friday there is a shortfall in the Arizona athletic budget. Today we pass along some opinion writing about the plan to fix it.

Gonzaga: After years of not being included on the Bulldogs’ nonconference basketball schedule, Washington reached an agreement a couple years back for a four-game series. The Zags won the first one in Spokane. The Huskies rallied to win the second in Seattle last year. And now have pulled the plug. Two wins in the last 16 games against GU must be enough for UW. Jim Meehan has more in this story. … Rasir Bolton has found a new place to play overseas next season. Theo Lawson has the story.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State will be adding a legacy to its women’s basketball roster. … There is a Northern Colorado hurdler who hopes to make the Olympic team. For Jamaica. … A couple UC Davis players have picked up football preseason honors. … Cal Poly will travel to Utah in 2025. …Remember the football video of Portland State’s president working out with the team? It has won some awards. … A former Sacramento State men’s basketball player is headed to Georgia Tech. … A Northern Arizona runner is headed to Paris and the Olympics.

Indians: The second half of the Northwest League schedule began last night. And Spokane just kept winning. The Indians topped visiting Eugene 7-3, then set off some fireworks (we can hear them from our house). Colton Clark filled in for Dave Nichols and has this game story. … Elsewhere in the league, Everett topped visiting Hillsboro 8-2, and Vancouver edged Tri-City 6-5 in Pasco.

Mariners: Despite displaying a complete lack of clutch (or situational) hitting against the woeful Marlins, Seattle could have avoided losing 3-2 in the 10th inning if Cal Raleigh could have followed one of our dad’s baseball coaching dictums: do things in order. Raleigh tried to tag Jake Burger sliding toward home before he had secured Victor Robles throw from left. He didn’t successfully do either. … There was some good news on the health front. … It’s been 40 years since Ryne Sandberg had one of the best games ever for the Cubs. … Willie Mays’ catch still resonates. … Jesse Winker isn’t the same player he was with the Mariners. Of course he isn’t.

Kraken: There will be a Game Seven. The Stanley Cup will be handed out Monday, June 24, in Homestead, Fla., just as the folks gathered Nov. 26, 1917 in Montreal, there to start a pro hockey league, envisioned. A 5-1 win Friday night in Edmonton tied the series at three games apiece and sets up the winner-skates-with-the-trophy game Monday.  

Sounders: Three consecutive matches at home, starting today. If Seattle is going to re-assert itself in the postseason picture, now’s the time.

Golf: We had a bit of a discussion about Chambers Bay and another U.S. Open the other day. On a golf course. We’re of the opinion the poor place will never get another one, mainly due to the USGA’s mistakes they will never acknowledge. Our friend thinks the course will host another someday, even though all but a handful of sites have been named through 2051. Why mention it? The course has been named as the host of the 2028 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Just what everyone in Tacoma wanted to hear.

Olympics: As the trials’ focus moves from swimming and Indianapolis to track and field in Eugene, the L.A. 2028 organizing committee announced some venues for the next Games. Want to watch fastpitch softball or kayaking? Enjoy Oklahoma. Nothing says “the globe gathers for athletic competition” like spending a mid-summer week in the Midwest while the rest of the world enjoys their time in Hollywood. … Making a team doesn’t mean you have to go to Paris. … The number of stories from Eugene in just the Oregon newspapers is impressive. Then again, it is a local story. With many local competitors.

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• Movie quotes are one thing. Many of our go-to lines, however, come from TV. Like our favorite Homer Simpson quote: “Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?” No, there isn’t. Or one word, said over and over with a bit of an edge: “Pivot.” Ya, that fits many occasions. Or another one from Homer that we use often these days: “Kids, let me tell you about another so-called wicked guy. He had long hair, and some wild ideas, and he didn’t always do what other people thought was right. And that man’s name was … I forget. But the point is … I forget that, too. Marge, you know who I’m talking about! He used to drive that blue car.”  We don’t get very far into that last one before everyone just wanders away. Which, come to think of it, sort of fits today’s column. Hello? Hello? Anyone still there? Until later …