By A GRIP ON SPORTS • As we went through our mental Rolodex – if you remember those, good luck with your next colonoscopy – this morning, many subjects popped up. Some we kept. Others we discarded. In the end, there is only so much time, room and interest.
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• Yes, it’s Memorial Day. And we should probably share a story or some thoughts. But one thing we realized today is how long we’ve been writing this feature. More than a decade. And we’ve probably shared more thoughts and stories about such subjects more times than anyone would ever want. Or need.
We move on. To sports-related subjects.
Like the movies we watched Sunday. Wait. There is reason we are sharing that piece of non-sports-related information. And it has to do with the rain-delayed Indianapolis 500.
At one point Sunday afternoon, Turner Classic Movies was showing “The Great Escape” while BBC, we think, had on “Saving Private Ryan.” How do you pick between those movies? Classics. For different reasons. We couldn’t decide, so we would switch back and forth, watching Tom Sizemore look pensive then seeing James Garner jump from a train. If we had not viewed each film at least 25 times – with “Escape,” make it 50-plus – then there would have been no way we could have kept them straight.
But we didn’t see the ending of either. No Tom Hanks whispering “earn this,” or James Coburn asking “Espana?” We were watching something else at the time.
With about 50 laps remaining, we stumbled back into the 500. And never left. The stretch run showed so much potential we couldn’t hit the remote.
Every Indy race has a personality. And personalities. When we watch, we pick someone to back. To invest in. To try to will to victory. Rarely do we get it right.
We picked Josef Newgarden yesterday. With 50 laps left. In fourth place. Coming out of a caution. When speeds would ratchet up and it would come down to the last pass. Which the defending champ made. It was Indy car racing at its finest.
It had to be to keep us locked in. After all, Steve McQueen was on.
• By the time you read this, the NCAA selection committee will have made its baseball tournament choices. And we’re guessing it will have handed out three berths to the Pac-12. Only three. Why do we say that? Mainly because almost every bracket projection we can find – yes, people not named Joe Lunardi project the baseball bracket – only has hosts Oregon State and Arizona, along with Oregon as an at-large team. No one else. There should be at least four.
California, with a 36-19 record and a fifth-place finish in conference play, isn’t included in most projections. It is a travesty.
The Bears swept OSU. They also swept three games against UConn, Big East regular-season champions included as an at-large team in every bracket we found. That’s despite the Huskies being 4-7 on two West Coast trips early in the season. The evidence suggests would have finished around .500 as a Pac-12 member. We’ll see what happens. But we’re not hopeful.
• Ever since the Sonics were ripped away from our region, we’ve hardly watched the NBA. Nothing has changed. But we did want to see what would happen last night between the Mavericks and Timberwolves. Especially after reports early Sunday Luka Doncic may not play. He did. And once again Dallas found a way to win. The 116-107 win gives it a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Final. The Celtics have the same edge in the East. If both series end in sweeps, the NBA will disappear from the planet for more than a week. That doesn’t seem optimal.
• One last thought for today. Our father was a loud man. It was a genetic trait he passed along, that’s for sure. Anyway, he was rarely introspective, except once a year. Yep, Memorial Day.
He knew how lucky he was. Four years in the Navy during World War II. All over the South Pacific. Home safely. A handful of his childhood friends weren’t so lucky. It’s not something he talked about – few of his generation did – until he was older than the age we are now, but he thought about them. Often.
Especially on Memorial Day.
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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, we put together a preemptive rant above. We want to add one thing. The baseball RPI the NCAA put together is awful. Always has been. Has never been fixed. UConn is 41st despite being 10-16 in the top two quads in some ratings. Cal is 64th with a 13-11 mark in those two. And, of course, the three wins over the Huskies. … We also have stories on Oregon State and Arizona earning host roles in the NCAA baseball tourney. … The softball World Series, in Oklahoma City, starts this week. Stanford picked up the final spot in the eight-team field, topping visiting LSU 8-0. The Cardinal, behind Sophomore pitcher NiJaree Canady, will play top-seeded Texas. UCLA has Alabama to open the tournament Thursday. … Utah has added to its men’s basketball coaching staff. … USC has identified its kicker of the future but he is trying to stay in the present.
Gonzaga: A decent amount of Bulldog news today, what with guard Braeden Smith signing a financial aid form with GU (Theo Lawson has that story) and 6-foot-9 forward Noah Haaland, a legacy, announcing he will join the Zags as a preferred walk-on (Theo has that one as well). … Andrew Nembhard had his best game as a pro Saturday night but it was to no avail as his Indiana squad fell to the Celtics again.
Indians: The key first-half series in Eugene ended the way it began, with Spokane holding a 1½-game lead on the Emeralds. A 7-2 win Sunday assured that. Dave Nichols has the story. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver defeated Hillsboro 5-1 and Everett defeated Tri-City 5-3. The results mean Spokane and Eugene are not only the only two teams over .500 but no one else is within two games of the break-even mark.
Mariners: The best sporting event today? We’re of the mind it’s in Seattle this evening. The recently hot Astros, though still below .500 and 3½ games back, in town. The Mariners, in first place, ready for a four-game series with implications down the line. It’s a chance for the M’s to show who is in charge. And, maybe, the Seattle offense is getting untracked. Mainly Julio Rodriguez is getting untracked, with three hits yesterday, all of them crucial in a losing-streak-ending 9-5 win over host Washington. The East Coast road trip ended 4-6. … The M’s are really limiting the starters’ pitch counts. The bullpen better step up then.
Kraken: The Rangers took a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals by topping the host Panthers 5-4 in overtime.
Indianapolis 500: We shared some thoughts above. We share the story here. It was a great race to the finish. … We didn’t think rain would be a concern in Charlotte for NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 last night. Turns out it was. The race was called early.
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• We won’t be here tomorrow. We report for hernia surgery at 7:15 a.m. (If you are wondering, we had mesh surgery in November to fix two hernias. It did not take on one side. The doc will have to cut me open tomorrow and fix it the old-fashioned way.) We’ll be hard to deal with, what with no morning coffee. Or not having eaten in 12 hours. Hangry. Cross your fingers. Knock on wood. Rub your amulet. That should help us get back here Wednesday. That and a bunch of pain pills. Until later …
