A Grip on Sports: If the U.S. could have won Monday instead of falling apart against Belgium, the wait for the Hawks to open training camp would have been filled with more fun
A GRIP ON SPORTS • That’s finally out of the way. Now that the U.S. has flamed out of the World Cup, America can return to its favorite July activity. Wondering when NFL training camps open again.
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• It’s 10 days until the Seahawks take the padlocks off the doors in Renton. The veterans have another week after that to report. Between now and then, everyone can argue whether they did enough in the offseason to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
The consensus around this great land of ours? No. Or hell no, if you are reading this in the home county of the team that is expected to supplant them, the Los Angeles Rams.
Myles Garrett and all.
You know what? I’m good with that. Being the underdog, I mean. Not Garrett getting to chase Sam Darnold around at least twice a season. Underdogs are cool. Everyone roots for them. It’s the American Way, like truth, justice and hoping Clark Kent successfully woos Lois Lane.
Which is why it was too bad FIFA undermined all that Sunday. Gave everyone in the world another reason to root against the home team. Pulled Superman’s cape right off. Turns out our national team was just Clark in a red, white and blue costume the whole time. After Lex Luther spiked his Wheaties with Kryptonite.
It’s always better, in any athletic competition, to be the aggrieved party. Rather than the grieved one, if that’s the right way to say it. All I know is about 6:30 last night, just about everyone from Atlanta to Almira, from Costa Mesa to the coast of Cape Cod, was grieving.
Grieving not just the end of a fun, jingoistic tournament run, but mainly the disappointing I’ve-fallen-and-can’t-get-up way it ended. And, of course, in the level-headed way of fans the world over, they immediately had to find someone to blame.
Here’s a novel thought. The Belgium team was better. More experienced. Stayed connected as European teams are forced to do or they don’t even qualify (we’re looking at you Italy). Nothing was handed to them. And it looked like it.
OK, I will admit it sure seems, in hindsight, as if it would have been better for the U.S. to take the Lumen Field grass feeling all ticked off because its best scorer was absent. Instead of looking across the pitch and seeing a Belgium squad snorting fire thanks to another instance, as they saw it, of a powerful nation pulling FIFA’s strings.
Shoot, the organization’s late decision to allow Folarin Balogun to play, to put his red-card suspension in the freezer for a year, even robbed U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino a chance to present his version of Herb Brook’s “not tonight” speech. Turns out the Turkey match wasn’t the only turkey the U.S. team was stuck having to deal with.
Usually, such “extra” motivation seems silly to me. The Belgium World Cup team is made up of a bunch of seasoned professionals who have one chance every four years to win their sport’s most prestigious trophy. While wearing their country’s uniform. If that’s not enough motivation, why the heck not?
But a good hate is hard to say no to. It can add a log or two to the fire. It’s why end of championship seasons always seem to include “no-one-believed-in-us” quotes despite the winner being a 25-point favorite in Vegas.
Every athlete everywhere tries to don Underdog’s big U shirt before they step on a court, a field or, heck, even a pitch. It wasn’t hard for Belgium, even though it is ranked at least 10 spots higher by FIFA than the home team. Not with 66,925 soccer fanatics in full throat at kickoff, all but seven of them (probably) rooting for the other guys. Or with Balogun suited up on the other side.
All the Belgian Underdogs saw were 11 guys who looked a lot like Simon Bar Sinister. And, over the next 90 minutes, exhibited all the diminutive villain’s athleticism and decision-making prowess.
Now, if only Myles Garrett can do the same.
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WSU: Around in the Pac-12, John Canzano has his Monday mailbag, which includes a lot of questions related to the rebuilt conference. … Oregon State’s coaches have some thoughts about the new athletic director and what he faces. … The Beavers’ Olympic sports will have new conference mates. … Utah State’s recruiting as a Pac-12 member seems to be going just fine. … Around the West Coast and the nation, who are Washington’s 22 most-important (non QB) players this season? … When will USC turn back into, well, USC? Or is the answer “never?” … Utah has a new-look tight end room. … In basketball news, Arizona’s new men’s roster includes a Tobacco Road veteran. … A former Wildcat guard is in trouble with the authorities. … A former Arizona State pitcher, a contemporary of mine, died this week. Darrell Jackson was 70.
Gonzaga: Which current NBA player is it? Who is donating the “transformative gift” to the GU basketball program, one whose name the school will add to its basketball strength and conditioning facility? Theo Lawson’s story doesn’t include that information – the school is keeping it under wraps until Thursday – but it does lay out the possible candidates. … One of them, Rui Hachimura, is leaving the Lakers. But not Los Angeles. He’s signing a free agent deal with the Clippers. And, no, I did not run his picture because he is my guess for the player. It was the best photo available.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, an Idaho State women’s soccer player is leaving school to play professionally in Mexico. … The Weber State women’s basketball team will feature a new group.
Indians: Spokane, riding a nine-game winning streak, probably didn’t want the weekly off day. But no game on Monday allowed space for Dave Nichols to fill with a notebook.
Mariners: As the M’s were traveling to play a series at surprising Miami, the front office made some news, promoting a couple hitting prospects to Tacoma. … Who would you list as the quintessential Mariner this season? The Athletic made its choice. Logan Gilbert.
Storm: Seattle won last night against the reeling Sparks. That makes the Storm 1-12 this season against conference foes.
World Cup: We decided to put (almost) all the stories here from the 4-1 loss to Belgium. All the how-embarrassing-was-that stories. All the who-do-we-blame stories. All the what-a-failure-of-a-World-Cup stories. You know, the usual. The coverage rivaled what was available this time 57 years ago, as the astronauts were getting ready to leave for the moon. Maybe it’s because everyone in the U.S. expected to be over the moon today. And barely limped to bed last night. … Seattle did put on a show, though. Throughout the Cup. And beyond. … Hey, lost in this country’s flotsam is Monday’s biggest news. Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup career is over. It ended with a whimpering 1-0 loss to Spain in which the world’s richest player performed more akin to just another guy playing on a rookie deal.
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• You can always count on me to dig deep into the comic book and cartoon archives for references. All the way back to the 1960s. After all, that’s when I watched cartoons. And read comics. Though, thanks to my boys, I’m also pretty fluent in early 1990s “Doug,” “Ren and Stimpy,” “Rugrats” and “Hey Arnold!” lore. Until later …
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• Photos: The Spokesman-Review, Getty Images, Tribune News Service, Reuters