A Grip on Sports: Our memories of ‘ancient’ history can sometimes be fuzzy but we remember Dan and Dave clearly

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We sometimes wonder what we do if we had Doc Brown’s DeLoren sitting in the garage. Could we resist the temptation to travel back to a time when a small investment in Apple or Google could ease our retirement road a bit? Or to watch ancient sporting events and athletes with modern eyes? You know, like Dan O’Brien.

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• Thirty-one years doesn’t seem all that ancient does it? Except if you are, say 30 years old. Than it has as much relevance as Julius Caesar.

Which is why we’re happy Dave Boling fired up his own version of a DeLoren today and took us all on a ride back in time, to 1992.

Ask any high school athlete these days to name something athletically special about 1992 and, if they can recall anything at all, it will be the Dream Team. America’s greatest Olympic basketball squad. Ever. Michael, Larry, Magic. Even that Stockton guy. Made famous in real time on NBC and kept alive by ESPN and more than one documentary. Nothing in the year rivals the team’s accomplishment in Barcelona, a steamrolling run to an Olympic gold.

But that’s not what we recall when thinking about ’92. We recall how so much that went on in the world of sports that year had an Inland Northwest connection. The MVP of January’s Super Bowl? Shadle Park High and WSU’s Mark Rypien. John Stockton, from G-Prep and GU, starring for the Dream Team. North Central High’s Ryne Sandberg hitting over .300 again and making another All-Star Game start.

All overshadowed, though, by an ad campaign. Dan vs. Dave.

You couldn’t hoist an adult beverage at your favorite watering hole and not see it on one of the two or three TVs hanging from the wall. In that simpler time, it was “Where’s the beef?” for the Olympics. America’s two best decathletes, when being called the best in that event meant you were also called the world’s best athlete, selling shoes en route to an expected Olympic gold. For one of them.

Or something like that. See, Reebok really didn’t care if Dan O’Brien, the pride of Klamath Falls High, CCS and the University of Idaho, or Dave Johnson, who also attended high school in Oregon, won. In the world of corporate marketing, the company already had its gold medal pair.

That O’Brien no-heighted in the trials that June put a kibosh on a summer’s worth of ads, true, and probably cost Reebok millions. Good. Karma, maybe, for trying to regain lost relevance in the shoe market on the backs of two young athletes. Funny, though. As the company slowly faded into the background in the 1990s, O’Brien was able to rebound from the lowest point in his athletic career to the greatest heights seen in the event.

Just after the Olympics finished, O’Brien set a world’s record in the decathlon that would last seven years. He won the gold medal in Atlanta four years later. During that time, he won 11 consecutive competitions, an unheard-of feat in such a grueling test.

How? That’s what those of us living in those times always wanted to know. Not just how he bounced back but what happened in New Orleans.

Dave takes us there this morning. Explains what happened. Then grabs us and pulls us through time with Dan as he not only improves his scores but his mental outlook as well. It’s a story of redemption for a man whose entire life was chapter after chapter of redemption.

And you don’t even need a tricked-out DeLorean to take the ride. Just one click.

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Gonzaga: Yesterday afternoon we thought we had found our column fodder for this morning. An email arrived from People magazine. We were intrigued. Clicked on the link. It was a story on the recent wedding of Corey Kispert and another former GU basketball player, Jenn Wirth. A long spread accompanied by lots of pictures. We were going to opine on how now we know the school has ascended into the heavens of American stardom. Then we realized the key element of the People piece wasn’t their basketball careers, despite Kispert’s success in Washington. It’s Wirth’s worth as an Instagram and TikTok celebrity. Carry on. We’ll let the folks who focus on such things gush about it. … OK, back to hoops. Julian Strawther finished his NBA Summer League on a roll, as Jim Meehan chronicles here. … Strawther’s journey is also covered by his hometown newspaper. … Courtney Vandersloot made another All-Star Game appearance Saturday and once again showed why she’s a throwback to another time. … Former North Central High and Gonzaga pitcher Alek Jacob made his Major League debut yesterday, facing one hitter and striking him out.

WSU: If you crave a Cougar football fix, we can pass one along. It may not be from where you would expect, however. It comes from Boulder, Colorado. A look from outside the program is always welcome, right? Especially in mid-July. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Oregon’s Bo Nix hosted a fun event yesterday. … A Colorado trainer has been with football coach Deion Sanders for a long time. … Only time will tell if Arizona’s top recruit really is as good as people say.

Indians: We would link the story on Spokane’s 3-2 victory at Tri-City, but it was not on the S-R website. Headline, yes. Story, no.

Golf: Two days of competition at Indian Canyon and two players have separated themselves atop the 36th Rosauers Open Invitational leaderboard. Jim was there Saturday and has this coverage.

UFC: Terrance McKinney tapped out in the second round and lost to Nazim Sadykhov on Saturday.

Mariners: Remember that great feeling you had after the last series in Houston? You know, back before the All-Star break? It’s gone, right? Another loss to Detroit, at home, killed it last night. A 6-0 loss. Not good. … The next two weeks, before the trade deadline, are crucial to the franchise. … Julio Rodriguez feels better about his new sliding style. … Bad news. Rick Rizz will miss some time after suffering an injury in an ATV crash over the break.

Storm: Jewell Loyd has been in and out of the Seattle lineup lately due to injuries. But she was all in during the WNBA All-Star Game, scoring a game-high 31 points and winning MVP honors.

Sounders: It’s been a while since Seattle has put a full, healthy roster together. But the Sounders had one Saturday as they hosted FC Dallas. It didn’t matter though. The teams tied at one.

Tennis: The Wimbledon men’s final is ongoing as we write. We shared the women’s result yesterday but the men are going to take a lot longer before they finish. The final features the future (Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz) against the present (23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic).

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• We remember 1992 for other things as well. Ross Perot. Jay Leno taking over the Tonight Show. That Fleetwood Mac song the Clinton’s danced to. Our kids playing sports. “Wayne’s World.” Until later …