A Grip on Sports: It’s the lessons sports teaches in the mornings of our lives that carry through until the late evenings
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is something about those early morning minutes before the sun rises in the summer. Something about stepping outside and letting the warm air and the day’s possibilities embrace you. Something about allowing the accompanying quiet grab you and hold you safe before the inevitable hustle and bustle breaks through. It is something small. And something big.
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• What does that have to do with sports? Nothing, really. Or everything, if the day ahead is filled with competition – as every day in life is.
Many of us grow up playing sports. And being told over and over the ups and downs were building blocks for our character. And then, somewhere along the line, we are suddenly told sports not only builds character, it reveals it.
But what if playing sports, whether as a youngster or as a grownup, is more than that? What if it’s a constant prep course, a boot camp if you will, for the competition life throws at us?
I thought about such things Sunday while watching an ordinary golf tournament.
Watching the world’s best golfer, current edition, Scottie Scheffler, run down and run over 54-hole leader Robert MacIntyre en route to his 18th PGA Tour victory. Watching as Scheffler did Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods-like things – a chip in on the 17th hole to seal the deal? Never seen that before – to overcome a four-shot deficit entering the final round of something called the BMW Championship.
Golf is Scheffler’s chosen profession. A choice he made long ago, illustrated by the story his parents tell about his fashion sense. How, as a junior player, he only wore long pants to play because that was how professional golfers had to dress.
But clothes don’t make a champion. How they compete does.
The greatest in sports, from Michael Jordan to Roger Federer to Katie Ledecky, have an aura about them. It’s not easy to replicate or explain. It’s not just that they worked, and work, harder than everyone else. And it’s not just because they have more talent or better hand-eye coordination or are more laser-focused. It’s all those things. And one more.
I have yet to meet a champion, or delve into their history, their back story, their biography and find one who doesn’t love what they do.
Even Scheffler, in his recent soliloquy about the fleeting nature of success, admitted he loves the practice that’s necessary to reach greatness.
It’s the search for something you love that sports at a young age can accelerate. So often what a young athlete learns he or she excels at becomes their love. But not always. There is a world of possibilities available. Being able to throw a football over the nearby mountains doesn’t automatically translate into becoming a gridiron great. The joy of a perfect drop shot may beckon, or the thrill of placing a shot past an out-of-position keeper. And becomes what they embrace.
It is that fervor, that zeal, that ardor, that drives us through life. It happens in sports. And those lessons carry on even if, unlike Scheffler, wearing the right outfit and putting in the right work, doesn’t translate into a professional sports career. A pro life? That’s possible. Especially possible if one is doing what they adore. If being a lineman for the county instead of the county’s best football player is what makes days worthwhile. If being a judge is a better path than having to deal with a line judge. If serving patrons of your restaurant is more a passion than hitting a 140-mile-per-hour serve.
That’s what the early mornings of our lives are supposed to reveal. Those years when watching sunrises herald not just the day’s future but those about to unfold over the decades ahead.
Each day’s possibilities, riding a bike to the park, shooting hoops with the girl down the block, playing street hockey with friends, sitting around a campfire telling stories, are about the experiences, not the result.
Same with playing sports in those years. The time invested in finding what moves each young person rarely ends up being wasted. It may not lead to fulfilling a Scheffler-like dream but it lays the groundwork for what’s ahead.
And if it helps every child find what they love, the time, the money, heck, the sweat is worth every second or penny or drop.
As life’s sunrises give way to its sunsets, looking back and knowing you competed every day in an arena that you loved is everything. That the joy you found in who you traveled with, what you did, how you embraced each day makes the fading light that much more special.
And makes each summer morning even better.
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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we mentioned the Big Ten’s latest playoff proposal yesterday. How the conference is floating an idea of 24 or 28 teams in the postseason. Jon Wilner sees a method in the conference’s mad idea today in the Mercury News. It’s about making the conference’s earlier proposal seem sane by comparison. … The Athletic ranks all 136 FBS teams today. WSU checks in at 85. Oregon State is 76. Washington 40, Oregon at seven. … John Canzano tells us how much gambling on Oregon is growing. And we pass along this story on what gambling is doing to the WNBA to share the pitfalls of the practice. … Oregon has two punters vying for one job. The Ducks also have a battle at kicker. … One year is all this Colorado player has left. … Utah is offering multi-year NIL contracts as a way to build more roster continuity. …Ten players must step up for UCLA to thrive this season. … How will USC’s season go? Here are six predictions. … Arizona opened practice No. 15 to its fans.
Idaho: We can pass along this Athletic story on former UI star Kaden Elliss, who has become one of the NFL’s best pass rushers. The story, on the S-R website, includes one note that knocked our socks off. Or would have if we were not barefoot while writing. “As Elliss enters his seventh NFL season …” Elliss has been in the league seven years? Oh my. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, Portland State is BYU’s opener in a couple weeks. The Vikings will have a game under their belt. And will still be a huge underdog.
Indians: It’s not just that Spokane lost the fifth of six games during Vancouver’s visit to town Sunday. It’s more that most of the games were over early. Sunday’s was, as the Canadians scored five times in the third to put away a 6-1 win. Dave Nichols was at Avista Stadium and has this story.
Velocity: Not sure what the travel delays were that forced the USL to postpone Spokane’s match in Maine against the Portland Hearts of Pine, but whatever they were, they must have been horrendous. No makeup date has been released.
Mariners: If the M’s come up short of the postseason, again, there very well could be a consolation prize. Again. Cal Raleigh’s 47th home run in the seventh inning played that role in their 7-3 loss to the Mets on Sunday night. It was Seattle’s fourth loss in the six games of this road trip. … Before the game, played in Williamsport, Penn., the Mariners enjoyed their stay at the Little League World Series. … Did you see Raleigh’s cool chest protector? The only things that ever decorated mine over my 30 years of catching was blood and dirt. … Victor Robles has had 15 at-bats in his rehab assignment with Tacoma. He’s been hit five times. The fifth one, last night, ticked him off. And he showed it.
Seahawks: A hole in the defense was plugged Sunday, as pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu was cleared to practice again. Nwosu had offseason knee surgery. … The Hawks’ right guard battle seems over. Is there also one going on at center? … What have we learned about the rookie class thus far? … A Colin Kaepernick documentary by Spike Lee has been in the works for ESPN for years. Now the network is not going to release it. Could it be the NFL bought 10% of the network just to ice the darn thing? No, but it sure looks odd.
Storm: Sunday morning the Storm revealed Sue Bird’s statue out front of Climate Pledge Arena. Bird is the first WNBA player immortalized in bronze. But that night, Seattle was unable to honor her legacy the right way, losing 85-82 to the Mercury despite the best efforts of the 14,169 in attendance. … There is a new generation of players trying to put together a new CBA with the league.
Golf: We mentioned Scheffler’s comeback win above. It was great theater and showed another way Scheffler’s streak of great play has come to resemble such streaks from Nicklaus and Woods. Other players seem to melt a bit when he’s on the leaderboard. … LIV is actually sending a couple golfers to the minors.
Tennis: The U.S. Open begins in New York soon. But there is a finals preview – maybe – available today in Cincinnati. Two of them in fact. Jannik Sinner (the top-ranked player in the world) and Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2) will play in a men’s final for the fourth time this year. That starts at noon (PDT) on the Tennis Channel. At 3 p.m. Iga Świątek plays Jasmine Paolini for the women’s title, with Świątek (ranked second) trying to run down world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka by the end of the year. … I found this Monica Seles story interesting. And sad too.
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• Enjoy your day. I sincerely hope you’ve found what you love in life. I have. And sports played a major role in that. Until later …