A Grip on Sports: The M’s seem to be stuck in sequel-hell while a golf major featured a script no on would believe

A GRIP ON SPORTS • How do you know summer is here? Not the weather. Not school being out. Nope. Neither scream summer around here today. But we have our personal way of gauging the seasons. Through the sports. And this Monday is bereft of anything but golf and baseball. Which means? Summer.

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• Best movie about summer? “Stand By Me” comes to mind. “Vacation.” “Meatballs.” “Jaws.” “The Sandlot.” And one of our personal favorites that no one reading this probably remembers, “Five Summer Stories.”

There are many more, of course, from early summer’s “American Graffiti” and “Dazed and Confused” to end of summer romances, “Grease” and “Dirty Dancing.” The sun’s time to shine has been romanced over and over. Just like the sport that supplies its soundtrack, baseball.

But when you big league team happens to be the Mariners, well, summer is a rollercoaster ride. And not necessarily one of those at Silverwood either. Thus far this season the M’s have been playing more like the old Dragon Coaster in Riverfront Park. A few slight ups, a few slight downs and, ultimately, a pretty flat experience.

Now, however, the hills start to get harder to climb. Seattle will welcome the calendar turning over in New York, against one of the better teams in the American League. Then the M’s travel down I-95 to Baltimore for a date with the Orioles.

Six games. Two cities. One goal. Get out of the 50-50 funk.

We’re looking forward to seeing what will happen. And the aftermath. If they go 2-4 there will protestations of how tough the series was. A 3-3 mark will be heralded as a win. Anything better? “We’re on our way, baby.” And worse?

Mumbles of how early it still is and the next homestand will cure all. As we said, the soundtrack of the M’s usual summer.

This time, though, none of it will ring true. The last week of June is not early. It’s the middle. It’s time to give the whip and begin running. If it starts this week on the East Coast, fine. If not, then we always can pull out some old movies.

• Honestly, we’re not sure we’ve ever really loved a golf movie. “Tin Cup” was fine but – 27-year spoiler alert – the bevy of golf balls in the water made me cringe.

“Caddyshack” is funny movie with millions of memorable lines, so it has to carry the weight for the rest of the maudlin and overblown movies you find when searching for golf movies on your streaming service.

Real life is so much better.

Really, who greenlights a movie in which the hero is, seemingly, named after a hotel chain and who finished up his college career at the University of Oregon of all places? Even calling it “The Mighty Duck” won’t get people into their local AMC.

Wyndham Clark hoisted the U.S. Open trophy Sunday, becoming the first UO golfer to win a major. That he only spent one year in Eugene is immaterial. He not only wore those multiple shades of green Nike produces for the school, he also led them to the 2017 Pac-12 title. In his home state of Colorado. And, for the only time in his college career, won the individual championship.

That doesn’t scream future-major-winner, but it does show the guy is capable of catching lightning in a bottle. He did it again over four days at Los Angeles Country Club – a place rarely disturbed by thunderstorms.

His caddie, John Ellis, kept imploring him to be an athlete, which is a funny way to refer to a golfer – sorry, that was unfair to at least 26% of you. But if you realize Ellis was referring to competing like one, free and easy and ready to win, then you get it.

That’s just what Clark did down the stretch Sunday, holding off Rory McIlroy over a stretch of tough par 4s that finish the course. The holes yielded few birdies yesterday but also, due to the wide nature of the fairways, also were nearly perfect for holding a lead. Bad trouble was hard to find.

Clark never did and now he has a major.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, only one conference team is still playing and that could end today. Stanford faces another elimination game, this one in Omaha when the Cardinal face Tennessee in a College World Series loser-out game. … A recruit is ready to grow along with Colorado. … A transfer is ready to help Utah succeed. … A couple of family oriented stories highlight Arizona State’s Father’s Day. And a young coach should highlight the Sun Devils’ football season.

Indians: Spokane can’t win the first half title now. The Indians’ 6-5 defeat to visiting Eugene sealed their fate. A five-game losing streak will do that. Dave Nichols was at Avista on a cool Sunday and has this story.

Golf: Before we get to the televised version of the game, we make a stop in Post Falls, where Jim Meehan spins a tale about changes at Prairie Falls Golf Club. … Now to Los Angeles. Clark’s win was accompanied by a whole bunch of hugs and plenty of joyful tears. … Poor Rickie Fowler. Three days of excellence was followed by one fateful Sunday of poor play. … If Chambers Bay doesn’t get another U.S. Open and LACC does, then it’s not about the experience for the fans or golfers. Sunday’s was worse for both than it was in Tacoma in 2015 and yet the USGA has never really hinted at coming back. Hey, guys, there are no peacocks screaming during backswings in Tacoma.  

Mariners: Matt Calkins mines Seattle’s trip East for his column in the Times this morning. … Ryan Divish takes care of the coverage from Sunday’s 5-1 win in T-Mobile and we add this little comment. Jarred Kelenic’s bases-clearing triple in the eighth was a rocket of a line drive, hitting the grass not too far into the outfield and rolling to the fence in, seemingly, about 1.2 seconds. … The approach at the plate seemed simpler. … The M’s have won their last two series.

Sounders: No Seattle players were playing but the U.S. National Team, missing two regulars, rolled to a 2-0 victory over Canada, taking home CONCACAF’S Nations League title.

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• As far as we can tell, Clark is the first men’s golfer from any of the Pacific Northwest’s four Pac-12 universities to win a major. Funny, with all the success the Huskies have experienced over the years, one might have thought a major would be included. But not that we were able to discover. Until later …