A Grip on Sports: Sounders rally and drink to the general joy of the entire region
A GRIP ON SPORTS • With apologies to Professor Lentricchia, all I could think about late last night was how the winter weekend of our discontent was made glorious summer by these Sounders of Seattle.
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• I’m pretty sure Will Shakespeare was a football fan, in the classic English definition. How could he not? At least he would be if he had been watching the final five minutes or so of the Sounders’ remarkable 3-2 MLS playoff win over visiting Minnesota.
Our brows bound with victorious wreaths indeed.
It was a crappy weekend in the Northwest, made even worse by the dark clouds hanging over Lumen Field. They had built up Sunday, resulting in the Giants of New York raining thunder and lightning on the Seahawks in one of the biggest upsets of the NFL season. And they stuck around for the first 75 minutes of the Sounders’ Western Conference final with Minnesota, as the Loons built a 2-0 lead.
And then a bear entered the fray. Will Bruin came off the bench, found a loose ball in the box and Seattle roared to within a goal.
The Sounders were still there as time wound down. But finally Minnesota buckled under the pressure. Raul Ruidiaz’s foot had a merry meeting with the ball in the box, punched it past the Loons’ defense and the match was tied a minute before stoppage time.
It wasn’t a couple minutes later, as Gustav Svensson’s header off a corner sneaked in the left side of the goal, moving Seattle into its fourth MLS final in five years. And sending Sounders fans into a state of delirium not seen in, well, since last season.
It also ended a weekend that seemed to be star crossed – in a bad way. Every major athletic team in Washington had suffered a defeat of some sort.
We lamented the anguish yesterday. And sports editor Ralph Walter brought his own brand of humor – and optimism – to the subject this morning in the S-R.
But when Seattle fell behind 2-0, after having one tying goal taken off the board by an iffy VAR-called penalty and another rocket off the stanchion, an optimistic attitude seemed misplaced.
Until it wasn’t.
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WSU: Nick Rolovich used the fourth quarter of the USC loss to see what his backup quarterbacks could do. And, as Theo Lawson relates in this rewind of the game, he found out they can function pretty well. … The Cougar basketball team, idled by COVID-19 issues after a 3-0 start, are receiving votes in the Associated Press basketball poll. Theo tells us more in this piece. … Around the Pac-12 and college football, it doesn’t look as if the conference will do the right thing if the football season ends the way it is right now. What a shock. … Looking back on the weekend, Stanford really overcame a lot to defeat Washington. … The Huskies head to Eugene to face Oregon, which has, statistically, the conference’s most efficient passer. But people are still critical. … Utah struggled against Oregon State but found a way to win. The Beavers could have Jermar Jefferson back this week. But quarterback Tristan Gebbia will have surgery on his hamstring. … USC did a lot of things right against WSU. The Trojans will have to do even more in rivalry matchup with UCLA. The Bruins almost stumbled heading into the battle of L.A. … The mountain rivalry between the Utes and Colorado has a lot at stake again. … Arizona State thinks it will be able to put together another stellar recruiting class. … Arizona has lost another player to the transfer portal. … In basketball news, the only Pac-12 school ranked in the AP poll is Arizona State. … Arizona played much better in routing Northern Arizona. … Utah has Idaho State tonight but a big one looms on the weekend. … Colorado filled a hole in its schedule with a matchup with highly regarded Tennessee.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs moved into the top spot of the USA Today coaches poll this week, even though the game with No. 2 Baylor didn’t occur. Jim Meehan has all the information. … Andrew Nembhard came off the bench against West Virginia and earned WCC player of the week honors. Jim has more in this story. … Jim also joined Larry Weir yesterday for the latest Press Box podcast. … The women stayed in the women’s AP poll, at 25th, despite a 1-2 start to the season. Jim Allen talked with coach Lisa Fortier about it. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Loyola Marymount lost at UC Santa Barbara.
EWU: The Eagles’ outside shooting deserted them in the second half of a 69-52 loss at Oregon last night. Ryan Collingwood watched and has this story. There is coverage from Oregon as well.
Preps: Oregon has decided to move sports back even further, all the way to March.
Seahawks: Chris Carson is getting healthier, so he’ll probably play more and carry the ball more against the Jets. … Russell Wilson likes to hit the deep throws. It’s also part of the reason why he gets hit so often.
Mariners: Who will play left field until the M’s are ready to call up Jarred Kelenic? … The M’s reached an agreement with Mitch Haniger.
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• Honestly, there was only one English professor at UC Irvine I actually despised: Frank Lentricchia. And yet, 43 years later, things I learned in his Shakespeare class I’ve never forgotten. I wonder if there is a correlation? Until later …