A Grip on Sports: Is it Mother’s Day already? Yep, and, luckily, the gift was bought early this year. Now, if we can only remember where we hid it, we will be golden
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Another Mother’s Day is upon us. Another chance to say thanks to the person who brought us into the world. Who nurtured us. Who gave flight to our dreams. In a perfect world, of course.
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• Is there such a thing as a perfect world? Or a perfect mother? Probably not. Just like there is no such thing as a perfect way to honor your mom on this holiday. Then again, maybe there is.
Whatever way you want to do it is usually perfect to her.
At least that’s been my experience. When it comes to my mom, who died more than 40 years ago, I have to dig deep into the resources of my memory to recall how I honored her. I do remember one time picking a bunch of dandelions as a bouquet. And watching her face fall as I revealed them from behind my back. But I was not yet 10, so she accepted them, put them in a water glass and thanked me. They disappeared before dinner.
Mother’s Day back then came in the middle of some sort of baseball season in our house, which meant the Saturday before was filled with filling my uniform with the dirt of some long-paved-over baseball field and depositing said uniform, dirt stains and all, into the hamper. And expecting it to be bright and shiny by Tuesday.
As I look back on it, the dandelions were probably not enough of a thank-you-mom gift.
The mother of my children had it better. No dandelions. More of a commitment toward making the day special from her children. And their father. The same amount of baseball, though. More, actually.
As a youth, I never played on a Sunday. Especially not Mother’s Day Sunday. Her boys certainly did. Tournaments. With all that entailed for Kim.
When the boys were too young to be doing that, her husband was playing in a fastpitch softball tournament somewhere. As he aged out of that, the boys filled the void. Her Aerostar van certainly got a workout, dragging all of us from field to field. I may have been driving but Kim was the driving force. She made sure all of us were fed, watered and bedded down for the night.
If that last sentence made her sound like a cowgirl, so be it. We were a bunch of dumb steers, barreling through our daily lives with barely a thought how much she contributed to our ability to get from Point A to Point X without getting lost.
I’m pretty sure we were all properly appreciative, because she stuck with us all these years. Actually, I am not pretty sure. I am 100% sure we weren’t. Not because we didn’t try. But because there is no way the three of us could have been. Kim did that much for us, and not just in the athletic realm.
Oh well, that’s why there is Mother’s Day, right? To make up for all the misses. An ABS system for life.
Take advantage today. Check the video. Examine the edges. Challenge yourself. And then make the right call. While you can.
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WSU: We’ve talked about this before in this space. Recruiting pitches in college hoops have had to change. From “Pullman is a perfect place to spend the next four years” to “come to Pullman and we will help you increase your value to Power Four schools.” (Unless successful fundraising allows more NIL money to become available.) Despite a 12-20 season, men’s basketball coach David Riley could point to the amount of NIL money the Cougs’ outgoing players earned as a way to attract a new roster. An even-more talented roster as he sees it. For schools caught in the same rock-and-hard-place NIL conundrum as Wazzu, it seems to be a decent formula to follow until transfer rules change. If they ever do. Greg Woods has a breakdown of the almost complete men’s roster. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we linked Jon Wilner’s mailbag on this space yesterday. It was on the Mercury News site. It is on the S-R site this morning. … We also linked this Washington football story on its defense a while ago. It is available on the S-R site. … Recruiting actually did stop at UCLA. Or slow down at least. Not anymore. … Colorado hopes some incoming transfers will help its pass rush. … In basketball news, we tried to highlight a little-mentioned fact in NCAA basketball tournament expansion. The non-Power conferences will benefit financially as well. Jon Wilner tried to figure out how much in this Mercury News column from Saturday. … San Diego State’s men, like WSU’s, are caught in the middle of a changing environment. … Finally, we mentioned how Washington State’s baseball team has been on a roll recently. They won again Saturday to earn a series win at Air Force. But no school had been hotter in conference play than top-ranked UCLA. The Bruins were undefeated in Big Ten play until yesterday. And, of course, it was another former Pac-12 school that ended their streak. No. 13 Oregon rallied from a four-run deficit and earned a 9-6 victory. … The UCLA softball team lost 7-2 to Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament title game despite Megan Grant setting an NCAA single-season home run record with her 38th. … Arizona State won the Big 12’s softball tournament.
Gonzaga: Davis Fogle emerged as a force halfway through his freshman year with the Zags. And, as the offseason rolls on, he has emerged as a force for next season as well. Theo Lawson sat down with the wing recently and the result was this story on Fogle and his impact with the Bulldogs. … Not only did the Zags clinch the No. 1 seed in the WCC’s postseason baseball tournament Saturday, they did it thanks to Karsten Sweum’s no-hitter, only the sixth in the school’s long baseball history. Dave Nichols made a few calls and has this story of the history-setting 13-0 win at USF.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Portland State held its spring football game at its practice field Saturday. John Canzano was there and he used the event as a chance to delve into what the school needs to do to move up the Big Sky Conference ladder. … Northern Arizona has a rich basketball tradition.
Indians: One more story for Dave. From Avista, where the Indians gave up seven runs in the first five innings and went on to lose to Tri-City 9-5 in Northwest League action Saturday.
Preps: Dave returns with a roundup of Saturday’s playoff action.
Zephyr: A late goal from midfielder Emma Jaskaniec lifted Spokane to a 1-0 home win over the DC Power on Saturday and kept the Zephyr in the playoff hunt.
Mariners: There is little doubt Luis Castillo is the M’s starting pitcher who is struggling the most. The veteran followed up his best outing of the season with another mediocre one Saturday in Chicago. Then again, the way Seattle hit, he would have had to throw a shutout to win. The final against the White Sox was 6-1. … At least the M’s have starting pitching options. Bryce Miller is almost ready. Kade Anderson is showing he’s better than a Double-A pitcher. As for right-handed hitting depth? That’s not going to get better until Cal Raleigh heats up. If he ever does. … We’re pretty sure we watched Bobby Cox manage more games in a Braves uniform than we watched any other manager do the same for another team. There were years in the 1980s and 1990 we watched TBS broadcasts of the Braves at least 100 times a year. Cox died last week at age 84.
Seahawks: The sale. That seems to be the main topic of the offseason. If it will happen. Who will by the team. And how it could impact the hard-fought success. … Speaking of that success, the Hawks’ Super Bowl triumph also had an impact on the 49ers draft.
Storm: Pro athletes are also mothers. And doing both well takes some balancing.
Sounders: Danny Musovski’s goal in the 80th minute allowed Seattle to keep its home unbeaten streak alive, albeit with a 1-1 draw against struggling San Diego.
Reign: Seattle’s manager has been on the sidelines for more NWSL matches than anyone.
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• Yes, I know this showed up early today. There is a reason for that. Something came up yesterday which required me to be out of the house earlier than usual today. Nothing bad. But to get this done before took getting to bed at an unusually early time even for me and rising before the sun. Got it done though. … By the way, UC Irvine will play for the men’s NCAA volleyball title Monday. I will watch. Until later …