Sports Week In Review – July 9

The Girlfriend and I went to Las Vegas for a few days of well-deserved R&R, and it appears the sports world didn’t miss a beat in my absence. However, I missed quite a bit in the hermetically sealed silliness that envelops Sin City like a heat wave. So much happened, in fact, that I almost don’t even know where to begin. I’ll have to do what I normally do in similar circumstances: pick something out of thin air and see where it leads. With that in mind, how about the news that…

Brandon Roy has succumbed to the siren song of the game he loves? When he retired prior to last season, reports indicated that Roy had no cartilage left in his knees. Doctors advised him to retire to avoid doing further damage to his knees, which could impact his ability to lead a normal life. Those are tough words for any athlete to hear, particularly a 28-year-old superstar who was the face of the Trail Blazers. It seemed a brilliant career was brought to a denouement far too early by a pair of knees that just weren’t up to the challenge of the NBA game.

The Trail Blazers used the CBA’s amnesty clause to cut their ties with Roy, who then seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Was he hurting over being cut loose? Was he having trouble adjusting to life after basketball? Or had he just found it within himself to move on, living happily outside the glare of the media spotlight?

It turns out the answer was “none of the above.” While the Trail Blazers and their fans moved on and suffered through a miserable 2011-12 season, Roy was quietly planning a comeback. This past week, he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that drafted him in 2006 before trading him to Portland. Despite two knees lacking cartilage, which doesn’t regenerate, Roy feels as if can still play. For his sake, I hope he still can.

I also hope that he can still walk without assistance when he’s 50.

It’ll be odd to see Roy in a Timberwolves uniform at the Rose Garden, playing against the team whose bacon he saved so many times. Even more unnerving is that he may be taking…

Nicolas Batum with him to Minneapolis. Batum, who will sign an offer sheet with the Timberwolves, wants out of Puddletown. In a meeting with new Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey, Batum made it clear he wants to move on. As his agent said, “His heart went to Minneapolis.” His heart might be singing a different tune when the temperature drops to -20 in mid-January and the city’s lakes are frozen.

It’s tough to argue with Batum’s thought process. He knows the Trail Blazers are a mess, he’s frustrated with his role, and he wants to play with a decent point guard. Oh, and he wants to play on a team with a gifted, creative, and experienced head coach. After the fiasco that was last season, who can blame him for wanting stability and competence?

Olshey made it equally clear that he doesn’t intend to allow Batum to head off to the Great White North. The Trail Blazers have the right to match any offer Batum receives, and Olshey left no doubt that he plans to do exactly that. Stay tuned….

I feel as if the Trail Blazers and their fans are in the midst of a rousing game of musical chairs. Where it all stops, nobody knows….

And there’s more. The Trail Blazers’ search for a big man might (finally) be coming to an end, as Olshey made an offer to…

Roy Hibbert. The free agent center, who’s spent the last few years with Indiana, could be the (healthy) presence in the middle Portland desperately needs…except for one little thing. Hibbert’s a restricted free agent; it’s difficult to imagine the Pacers will let him go (think Paul Millsap, the power forward Utah resigned after Portland made him an offer).

It would be nice to see both Batum and Hibbert starting for Portland this coming season, but I wouldn’t bet the ranch on that happening. In my less lucid moments, I find myself fantasizing about a sign-and-trade involving Batum and Minnesota’s Kevin Love. I know; that’ll happen ‘round about the time I become Queen of England…but a boy can dream, right??

It seems the Trail Blazers aren’t the only local team trying to shake things up. The floundering Timbers acquired right back…

Kosuke Kimura from Colorado last week. Kimura, who the Timbers have coveted for some time, should help shore up the Timbers’ back line.  Judging by their embarrassing performance in Salt Lake City, the Timbers need more than an improved defense. They need a trip to the woodshed.

It’s not often you see a collection of professional athletes lose their composure as thoroughly and embarrassingly as the Timbers did in Saturday’s 3-0 loss. Five yellow cards and one red card (Diego Chara) represent a meltdown that’s inexcusable and unacceptable at any level. After surrendering three goals in 15 minutes during the second half, the Timbers completely lost their focus. They seemed more concerned with retribution and retaliation than playing soccer. After a decent enough first half, during the second half they looked every bit a team in disarray.

The Timbers seem locked in a pattern- play well and win at home, mail it in and get embarrassed on the road. How the same collection of players can perform so schizophrenically and inconsistently is a quandary that has to be resolved if this season is to be salvaged. Kosuke Kimura in a Timbers kit is a step in the right direction, but the problems run deeper than one person.

Since this is becoming rather dark and depressing, let’s shift gears for a story we can feel good about, like Portland’s own….

Galen Rupp. The skinny kid from Central Catholic and the University of Oregon has quietly developed into one of the world’s top distance runners. At 26, he’s poised to do big things on the international level. He qualified for the 5k and 10k at last month’s Olympic Trials in Eugene, breaking Steve Prefontaine’s 40-year-old meet record in the 5k. An Oregon kid breaking Pre’s record? No small amount of magic in that, eh?

Rupp makes for a great story, and if his coach, Alberto Salazar, handles his development properly, he could be competitive on the world stage for years to come. First, though, there’s the Olympics in London, where he’s hoping that maturity and experience will pay off with a place on the medals stand.

This is probably as good a time as any to give a shout out to…

Gigi Stoll. The 15-year-old golfing prodigy from Beaverton High School qualified for last week’s Women’s US Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, WI. Stoll’s trip to Cheesehead Nation was not the overwhelming success she might have hoped for, but how often does a 15-year-old play in a major? She may have missed the cut, but it’s difficult to imagine that the experience she gained won’t be invaluable down the road. When you’ve played in a US Open, competing in a high school tournament will probably feel quite manageable.

Stoll got her butt kicked by Blackwolf Run, but she had plenty of veteran professional golfers for company. Among others, Julie Inkster and Pat Hurst also missed the cut by a wide margin. Finishing at 26-over-par (rounds of 86 and 84) provided a tough lesson in just how challenging a US Open course is set up to be.

Kudos to Stoll for handling herself with grace in a very adult environment; it’s tough to be a minnow in a pool filled with sharks. And how many 15-year-olds can say they qualified for, and played in, a US Open?

While I’m in a golfing frame of mind, perhaps we should welcome back…

Tiger Woods, eh? Most of his detractors have been snickering about his lost mojo. While others reveled in his struggles, Woods has quietly and methodically returned to dominance. His aura of invincibility may have disappeared with his mistresses, but Woods has won three tournaments this year. He sits comfortably atop the FedEx Cup standings. OK, so he flamed out at the US Open and missed the cut at The Greenbrier Classic over the weekend.  Woods is no longer a lock to make the cut in any tournament he enters, but he’s still a force to be reckoned with. He’s worked himself back to the point where anyone who takes him lightly does so at their own peril.

It’s been easy to write Woods off over the past few years. He’s struggled with his personal life. He’s had difficulties adapting to his rebuilt swing. The rest of the PGA Tour seems to have (almost) caught up to him. There are a lot of youngsters who have the talent and the hunger to win on almost any given week. The past couple of years have demonstrated that Tiger Woods is a fallible human being. His fellow golfers collective fear of him has devolved into a healthy respect; they know what Woods is capable of, but they also know he can be beaten.

I still find myself thinking of Woods as the youngster who introduced himself to the PGA with a jaunty, “Hello, World!”…and then proceeded to take everyone’s lunch money. It seems incongruent to think that Woods is 36-years-old. Many athletes, and most golfers, find themselves dealing with diminishing skills and a body that doesn’t respond and recover as quickly as the years slide by. Woods, who works as hard as anyone on the PGA tour, may be able to beat back Father Time for a few more years, but he knows he’s closer to the end than the beginning.

In the words of the immortal Indiana Jones, “It ain’t the years, honey; it’s the mileage.” I’m here to tell you that truer words have seldom been spoken. Father Time (and the accumulated mileage) eventually has his way with us all.

Join me next week, when I’ll be channeling John Canzano as he pleads for the Trail Blazers to once again and finally put basketball first and let business follow. Portland’s become something of a running joke around the NBA (think Siberia with fewer perks), and it’s long past time to get to work on repairing the damage. It’s difficult to see that happening as long as Paul Allen owns the team, but perhaps the departure of Larry Miller will at least move things in the right direction.

Until next time….