A Grip on Sports: You know things are not going well when summer’s best event has to be canceled
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Where were we? Oh, yes. Lamenting lost loves. In that we love Hoopfest, it is lost for 2020 and we are lamenting it. That and other things.
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• The announcement Monday evening our favorite Spokane event is no longer on the 2020 summer schedule came as no surprise. But the expected can hurt just as much as surprises.
When the virus numbers began to grow – to those of you who work downtown and were rumored to have a “get-the-corona” party after hours at a local restaurant, if true, you played a big part in that – it became obvious the event, based on the interaction of thousands built around basketball on city streets, wasn’t going to occur.
It wasn’t going to be safe to bring people in from all over for a basketball event. It isn’t safe anywhere these days, especially indoors, but that’s another bone to pick at another time. Today we are focusing on Hoopfest’s demise for the year and what it means.
Hopefully, nothing more than that.
But it won’t be easy. A non-profit community event like Hoopfest runs on a razor-thin margin. The loss of its signature event, and the revenue it produces, is crushing. Expenses remain even if the income disappears.
Which brings us to our point. Hoopfest is trying to keep its head above water though the help of sponsors – executive director Matt Santangelo told our Ryan Collingwood the sponsors have helped considerably already – and through donations from the playing public. And then there is a virtual Hoopfest the organization is sponsoring.
That seems right up my alley. The plan is to sign up a team of other over-the-hill athletes and help the cause by attempting the virtual tournament’s challenges in late August. It seems like a win-win. Not only do we get to help keep the tournament solvent, we also get a T-shirt to go in my collection.
After all, the last one I picked up early this century is getting a bit ratty.
(A quick note for full disclosure: The youth travel basketball group I help oversee is affiliated with Hoopfest. The organization helps us with administration and coordination of our events. It also supplies some financial support. But even if there were no connection, I would still go ahead with my plan. Hoopfest has always been important to me, from back in 1990 when we took part in the first event to last year, when we wandered downtown watching game after game.)
• There are more and more stories about schools making contingency plans for fall sports. We have one today about Whitworth. But it all seems like a waste of time.
The trend toward growing number of coronavirus cases, a corresponding number of hospitalizations and the seemingly inevitable deaths that will follow, doesn’t look to be abating.
Then I remember how we felt in early late May and early June. The numbers were falling. Mitigation efforts were working. The future seemed to be opening up. It all changed.
Such can be the case again, only in the other way. Maybe people will take wearing a simple mask as a good thing. That it will help control the spread. Maybe instead of gathering in large groups, folks will practice appropriate distancing and keep their germs to themselves. Maybe.
But right now the future isn’t bright. It’s not even a 40-watt bulb.
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Gonzaga: Over the past couple days, Jim Meehan has written about Mark Few and other college coaches – including WSU’s Kyle Smith – signing on to an initiative to increase opportunity for minority coaches and he’s covered the WCC deciding to stay out of the office for the rest of the year. … Connor Gilbert has a story on Lisa Fortier’s recruiting and why it has continued to branch out each year. … It looks as if Zach Collins will be able to play in the NBA’s bubble.
WSU: Another highly sought-after safety has decided to attend Washington State. Theo Lawson has a story on Jaden Hicks’ commitment and how that commitment is related to Nick Rolovich’s recent past. … Theo also covered Jahad Woods being named to an award’s preseason watch list. … Larry Weir’s Press Box podcast from yesterday included a conversation with Jim Walden about the upcoming season. … Around the Pac-12 and college sports, the pessimists about the fall are becoming a little more optimistic about spring football. … Is there a chance lawsuits will force a spring season? … The contracts for Oregon State’s nonconference games are interesting. … Canceling football games isn’t fun for anyone, including Colorado. The Buffs just hope they can play. … If Utah does play this fall, how many people will be allowed to watch? … UCLA welcomes in four transfers. … Former USC quarterback JT Daniels will be able to play at Georgia this season. … Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels is on the O’Brien watch list. … In basketball news, Utah’s players have a little more time to report to campus.
EWU: Monday’s Press Box pod featured Larry talking with Aaron Best concerning what the Eagles have on their plate this summer. Figuratively, not literally.
Whitworth: Speaking of planning for the fall, Dan Thompson talked with the Pirates’ athletic director, Tim Demant, about the school’s options for football and other sports.
Mariners: Today’s M’s coverage is mostly about hitters with notable exception. Yusei Kikuchi struggled yesterday in his first intrasquad outing. … The other stories? Well, there are catchers Tom Murphy and Austin Nola, some new arrivals to camp and the best of the lot, Jarred Kelenic’s swing – and why the M’s top prospect probably won’t be playing in the bigs this season.
Sounders: Seattle had an early match in Orlando yesterday. It lost. Now it has to win its final group match or this re-start tournament will really be a failure.
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• What a fun day trip. We left Spokane in the morning yesterday and drove to Palouse Falls. It was our first time seeing it. And, yes, we have lived in the Inland Northwest since 1983. Hey, we were busy. Saw one other couple there but stayed quite a ways away. Got back into the car and headed south, across the Snake River, through Dayton and up the hills beyond Ski Bluewood. After a long haul up a logging road, Kim and I picnicked in the middle of nowhere. We then went on a hike, looking at vistas that ranged from the Palouse on the north to a southern wilderness that stretched to Oregon. It was glorious. Coming off the mountain, we washed the caked dirt off the Rav4 in an empty car wash in Dayton and then, after getting across the Snake again, we drove mostly back roads home. Other than the masked-up folks we saw at a Ritzville gas station, the couple at the Falls and the two folks who drove by us while we ate or hiked, we didn’t interact with anyone. It was a day of alone time and beauty. Until later …