On the Pre Classic, Rich Brooks’ 80th birthday party, Adley (and Ad) Rutschman, Damian Lillard, Kevin Calabro and the Trail Blazers …
Jess Lewis
Sporting items on my mind as we swing into a new week …
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I’ll put the Prefontaine Classic up against any 2 1/2-hour sports event in the state of Oregon — and yes, I’m including a basketball game involving the Trail Blazers.
The 47th annual invitational — with a crowd of 8,937 looking on at the newly refurbished track and field shrine called Hayward Field — featured nine meet records and seven world-leading marks in the first international meet since the end of the Tokyo Olympic Games two weeks ago.
Forty-seven athletes who won 62 medals in Japan were on hand on a perfect day (mid-to-high 70 temperatures, partly cloudy skies, little wind) for superior marks.
Two prodigies who won gold in Tokyo strutted their stuff in style.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, 20, won the Bowerman Mile in 3:47.24 — the fastest time ever run on American soil, moving him to ninth on the all-time list. Athing Mu ran away from the field in bettering her American women’s 800 record in 1:55.04.
Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway acknowledges the crowd of claiming the Bowerman Mile in 3:47.24, the fastest time ever run in the U.S. (Courtesy Vinco Sport Ltd.)
Mu wasn’t the only elite athlete to win in a rout.
Former Texas A&M standout Athing Mu ran away from the field in bettering her American women’s 800 record in 1:55.04 (Courtesy Vinco Sport Ltd.)
Two-time defending Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya ran the last 600 meters by herself in the women’s 1,500, rolling to a meet-record 3:53.23. Runner-up Linden Hall crossed the finish line 6 1/2 seconds later.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica won the women’s 100 in 10.54 — the second-fastest time in history and only .05 of a second shy of Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 10.49. U.S. Olympic Trials champion Sha’Carri Richardson — who didn’t compete in Tokyo due to a failed drug test (marijuana) and seemed to be the people’s choice prior to Saturday’s race — finished last in 11.14.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica is charged up after winning the women’s 100 in 10.54 — the second-fastest time in history and only .05 of a second shy of Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 10.49 (Courtesy Vinco Sport Ltd.)
American Dalilah Muhammad cruised to victory in the 400 women’s hurdles in a meet-record 52.77. (I’d have liked a rematch with Sydney McLaughlin, who beat her for the gold in Tokyo, but McLaughlin didn’t compete.)
Barlow High grad Ryan Crouser, who set the world shot put record in Tokyo at 76-8 1/4 — sorry, folks, you won’t get metric distances here, unlike everywhere else — blew away the competition with a best of 75-11 1/2. The two-time Olympic champion — who seems ready to extend his global mark — had four throws of more than 75 feet while earning the meet’s outstanding athlete award. Runner-up Darlan Romani was nearly five feet back at 71-2.
Barlow High grad Ryan Crouser won the shot put at 75-11 1/4 (Courtesy Vinco Sport Ltd.)
Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo of Portugal used only two jumps — in the first and final rounds — but won the triple jump at 57-10 1/4.
Kenya’s Norah Jeruto won the women’s steeplechase in a world-best and meet-record 8:53.65, and Courtney Frerichs of Portland’s Bowerman Track Club followed her home in 8:57.77. The silver medalist in Tokyo became the first American to run under 9 minutes.
Kenya’s Norah Jeruto breaks the tape to win the women’s steeplechase in a world-best and meet-record 8:53.65 (Courtesy Vinco Sport Ltd.)
My only complaint: Are victory laps no longer allowed at Hayward? Were they prohibited because the NBC-televised event is on such a strict schedule? If so, that’s a shame. Victory laps have been a big part of connecting fans with the athletes — and a chance for those athletes to feel the love of the throngs in the stands — through many years of big meets at the historic stadium. That piece of the Hayward magic was missing Saturday.
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Party lineup at Craig Hanneman’s West Salem home: Front row from left, Gene Hilliard, Don Wirth, Rich Brooks, Jon Sandstrom, Mark Dippel, Mike Foote. Back row from left, Jess Lewis, Mike Nehl, Jim Sherbert, Dale Branch, Scott Spiegelberg, Hanneman, Scott Freeburn, Jerry Hackenbruck, Jimmy Anderson, Bob Jossis. Not pictured: Chris Haag.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to be part of a celebration of the 80th birthday of Rich Brooks.
The party was held at the West Salem home of Craig Hanneman, the former NFL lineman who played under Brooks during the early part of the latter’s coaching career when he was an assistant under Dee Andros at Oregon State.
Brooks made a name for himself in turning around Oregon’s program during an 18-year stint as head coach of the Ducks (1977-84) and later as head coach of the St. Louis Rams, defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons and head coach at Kentucky before his retirement from the profession in 2009.
But from 1965-69, Brooks served as defensive line coach at OSU, where he began an extraordinary relationship with his position players there that remains today. When Brooks was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, 12 of his former Beaver D-linemen attended the banquet. Eight of them were on hand at Hanneman’s bash, including Jess Lewis, Jon Sandstrom, Jim Sherbert, Scott Freeburn, Mark Dippel, Dale Branch and Bob Jossis.
Eighteen men attended the affair, including three other players from the Andros era — linebacker Mike Foote, offensive tackle Chris Haag and punter Mike Nehl — along with defensive end Jerry Hackenbruck and quarterback Scott Spiegelberg, who played for the Beavers when Brooks was defensive coordinator in 1973.
Also on hand were ex-OSU basketball coach Jimmy Anderson, former OSU alumni association director Don Wirth and Gene Hilliard, who worked on the Beavers’ football coaching staff with Brooks.
Across three hours of pizza, cake and adult beverage, memories were shared and stories were told — many of them by Brooks to an audience that appreciated every recollection, even if they’d heard it several times before.
Brooks digs the needle as well as anybody, but he grew serious after blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.
“Those five years in Corvallis with you guys were some of the very best of my life,” he says. “It’s not very often you build relationships that last more than 50 years.”
Sherbert flew in from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., to attend — in part to honor Brooks, in part to spend a few hours with his former teammates.
“One of the best things that happened in my life was hooking up with these guys,” Sherbert says. “It has been a unique friendship of a lifetime.”
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Adley Rutschman is off to a sizzling start with the International League Norfolk Tides.
The former All-America catcher for Oregon State was hitting .410 (16 for 39) in his first nine games with the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A club following a call-up from Double-A Bowie.
“Adley continues to focus on the process,” says his father, Randy, from his hotel room in Charlotte, where he and wife Carol watched the Tides’ four-game series with the Knights. “He hasn’t hit his ‘Omaha stride’ yet — when pitchers) make mistakes and you’re making them pay most of the time.”
The junior Rutschman spent most this season at Bowie, slashing .271/.392/.508 with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs in 80 games — playing every single game except one he missed to participate in the All-Star Futures Game.
“He is staying healthy and making it through the grind,” Randy says. “He is enjoying it. More than anything, he loves the team aspect of sports. Fortunately, he already had relationships with about a third of the guys he’s playing with now in Norfolk.”
Rutschman was Most Outstanding Player in leading Oregon State to the 2018 College World Series championship. After claiming national Player of the Year honors as a junior — and confirming his status as the greatest player in the program’s long history — Rutschman was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft.
After receiving an MLB-record $8.1 million signing bonus, the 6-2, 215-pound Rutschman played 37 games with three Rookie League and Single-A teams in 2019. COVID cancelled his 2020 season, so this is his first full professional campaign.
Adley is hitting well and playing good defense, says his father, a former standout catcher at Linfield who is regarded as one of the foremost teachers of the position in the Northwest.
“Adley makes a lot of catching look pretty easy,” Randy says. “He is doing a good job behind the plate. He works well with the pitchers. His presence on the field makes a difference.”
Can Rutschman expect a call-up on Sept. 1, when MLB rosters expand to 28 players?
He’d have been up by now except for MLB rules, which inhibit talent-shy clubs from bringing up promising prospects. A player becomes a free agent at the end of the season in which he reaches six years of big-league service time. If the team waits 16 days into a season to call up a prospect, it gives them an additional year of control. If the player stays down a few weeks after that, it delays his arbitration eligibility (which comes after three years service time).
At this point, though, it may be more about development time than anything. Baltimore owns the worst record in the major leagues and wants its top prospect to play at least nearly every game. If it were me, I’d have Rutschman with the Orioles now, playing most games and learning. Randy Rutschman says Adley has been given no indication if a call-up will happen.
“If that’s what they’re planning, they’ve not shared that with him,” says Randy, who has watched about 20 games Adley has played in person this season.
The senior Rutschman had a recent conversation with Matt Blood, the Orioles’ director of player development.
“Every player is going to have times in a season when he struggles,” Blood told Adley’s father. “We want him to go through those in Bowie and Norfolk, when the spotlight’s not on him like it would be in Baltimore.”
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A new book will soon be available about Adley’s grandfather — legendary football coach Ad Rutschman.
Co-written by Carl Casanova, it is entitled, “Winning with Class: The Story of Hall of Fame Coach Ad Rutschman.”
The book covers the career of Rutschman — who won three national championships in football and one in baseball at Linfield, plus a state title in football and baseball at the high school level — and provides detail on the coaching philosophy of the man who turns 90 in October.
I’ll provide a review of the book at a later time.
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Damian Lillard (Courtesy @WeberStateMBB Twitter
I’m still chuckling a bit at all the fuss about Damian Lillard’s comments regarding his future with the Trail Blazers.
“I haven’t made any firm decision on what my future will be,” Lillard said after a report that he intended to ask for a trade, adding that he needs to see team management be “more urgent about our next step and how we move forward.”
In 2021-22, Lillard begins a four-year, $176 million max contract that calls for him to make more then $39 million next season and $48.7 million in 2024-25, the final season of the agreement. The Blazers’ All-Star point guard has a player option during the last season but is still bound to the local club for the next three years.
Unless general manager Neil Olshey decides to trade Lillard, he is not going anywhere for quite some time.
Sure, Lillard could try to force a trade, and then sit out a season, or two, or three if a stalemate were to cause it to reach that point. Lillard, 31, has a primary goal of bringing an NBA championship to Portland. As for individual goals, he has always told me he would like to become regarded as the franchise’s greatest-ever player — he currently stands behind only Clyde Drexler on the list — and would love to accumulate enough stats and accolades to one day gain entry into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Lillard won’t get there by spending a substantial amount of time on the sidelines in a bid to induce Blazer management into trading him away.
I’ve always admired Lillard’s loyalty to the organization and his disdain for creation of “super teams,” as did LeBron James with the Heat and Lakers. It’s also worth pointing out he is being paid handsomely to serve as the Blazers’ meal ticket and one of the most popular players in franchise history. Olshey may or may not decide to trade him in the future, but my educated guess is it won’t happen any time soon.
In other words, Lillard doesn’t have a “firm decision” to make. He signed that away with his recent mega-deal.
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I wasn’t surprised with the news that Olshey signed guard Norman Powell to a five-year, $90 million free-agent contract. I have been surprised the Blazers’ GM hasn’t made a move to trade the club’s third high-priced backcourt player, CJ McCollum.
The Blazers are on the books to pay Lillard, McCollum and Powell nearly $86 million next season and more than $282 million over the next three years. That’s an awful lot of moolah for a backcourt trio, however good it may be.
Portland’s payroll current stands at $138.6 million, well over the salary cap limit ($112.4 million) and just above the luxury tax threshold of $136.6 million. If that holds, the Blazers’ will be a “repeat tax offender,” an expensive proposition.
It appears that first-year coach Chauncey Billups will go into the season with a starting lineup of Lillard at 6-2, McCollum and Powell at 6-3, Robert Covington at 6-7 (he looks closer to 6-5) and 7-foot Jusuf Nurkic. I know the NBA has gone small, but there will be nights the Blazers are vastly undersized defensively with Powell at the “3” and Covington at the “4.”
Olshey will soon have plenty of flexibility to make changes. Only three players — Lillard, McCollum and Powell — are signed after next season. The Blazers can make qualifying offers on guard Anfernee Simons and rookie forward Trendon Watford and have a team option on swing man Nassir Little.
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The Blazers announced their 2021-22 schedule this week. They’ll open the season with four of their first five games at home, including the season opener against Sacramento on Oct. 20. There are eight home games in nine contests in late November and early December and seven of eight at Moda Center during a span in late December and early January. But there is a six-game road trip in January, then nine of 10 away from home in March and a five-game trek in April. Twenty-five of the final 41 games are on the road.
Kevin Calabro is back as television play-by-play voice after signing a three-year contract with the Blazers this week, re-joining analyst Lamar Hurd and sideline reporter Brooke Olzendam. Calabro, 65, had opted out after COVID interrupted the 2019-20 season and Jordan Kent served in the role for the truncated 2020-21 campaign.
Kevin Calabro
“They were very generous,” Calabro says. “They welcomed me back. They want to put the (broadcast) group back together. My wife and I talked about it a lot and decided I had a lot of juice yet.”
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