A GRIP ON SPORTS • No April Fools jokes here. We outgrew them nearly six decades ago. But that doesn’t mean the first day of one of the best sports months of the year doesn’t have us laughing a bit. As they say, laughter is good for the soul.
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• April is no fool in the world of sports, that’s for sure. It holds the best events two sports have to offer – golf and college basketball – and the beginning of the summer’s best sport – baseball. Add in showers and flowers and we’ve always had April on top of our lists of favorite months.
It starts today. In Minneapolis, of all places. The women hold their Final Four, the ultimate weekend in a sport that is finally taking center stage in the nation’s sporting consciousness.
No. 1 South Carolina vs. Louisville. Defending champion Stanford vs. 11-time champ Connecticut. It’s a Final Four for the ages. Or for today and Sunday. Because Saturday and Monday, the men are painting New Orleans blue. As in blue bloods.
There is North Carolina, representing the healthiest entity Tobacco Road ever produced. Unless, of course, Coach K and Duke, the Tar Heels’ semifinal opponent and longtime nemesis, holds that distinction in the legendary coach’s last weekend. There is Kansas, home of James Naismith, Phog Allen and Bill Self, only one of which can be considered a loser in the ethical sense of the word. And, finally, there is Villanova, the nouveau riche one of the group, a team that plays the game the right way – according to about 50 percent of basketball coaches.
Put the two events together and it’s a weekend beyond compare.
Until next weekend. And that’s what makes April so special.
The Masters may not be your cup of sweet tea, but it certainly is for any golf fan. And next weekend holds the promise of the greatest comeback story in history being written for the second time in four years.
The writer? Tiger Woods. The second-greatest player to ever walk the hills of Augusta. But easily the most emotional. And the one who brings out the most emotion in even stoic golf aficionados – of which there is a smaller percentage than there used to be thanks to his charisma.
Tiger opened the country club sport’s door to many folks, not the least of which is people who play the game with visible emotion. That’s a good thing. Just think how they will react of their hero crawls out of his hospital bed – he was in a major auto crash Feb. 23, 2021 and underwent multiple leg surgeries – and wins a sixth green jacket.
It will be bedlam, topping even his improbable triumph in 2019.
But even if Tiger doesn’t win, the Masters rarely disappoints. In our lifetime, we remember Arnold Palmer in 1962, Jack Nicklaus in ’65, Fizzy Zoeller in ’79, Jack again in ’86 (the top of our list), Nick Faldo back-to-back in ’89 and ’90, Tiger in ’97 and, well, let’s stop in the last century. We’re pretty sure we can name every winner in this one, from Mike Weir to Danny Willett to Phil and Angel.
And yet the Masters isn’t the end of April. It’s just the beginning. The beginning of baseball season. Finally. Will the M’s finally have a quick start? Will the Yankees finally spend some money? Will Red Sox fans finally stop acting like Goofus and more like Gallant? Anything can happen in April.
It’s 30 days of possibilities after all. And that’s no joke.
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WSU: One thing that happens in April around the colleges? The changing of the seasons. Basketball is done, football is springing ahead. The Cougars’ spring practices have found an increased emphasis on getting after the passer. That’s what we learned today (among other things) by reading Colton Clark’s notebook. … Colton does have one hoops story. It’s about fan favorite Ryan Rapp entering the transfer portal. He will be missed among WSU followers. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, if you have Washington questions, we have a mailbag to pass along that could supply some of the answers. … Oregon and Oregon State are deep into spring practice as well. The Ducks need to figure out their defense. The Beavers need to pick the right quarterback. … Colorado is doing the pick-the-quarterback thing as well. … Utah is in the process of building depth in the secondary. So is Arizona State. … USC welcomes a DB back from injury. … UCLA’s Chip Kelly is building street cred. We think. … Arizona has running back depth. … In basketball news, Stanford carries the Pac-12 banner. And Cameron Brink might just be the difference for the Cardinal. It’s interesting. Four of the five Cardinal starters have deep Pacific Northwest roots. … UCLA lost in the WNIT semifinals. … The Arizona State men added a couple brothers to its roster through the portal. … Finally, don’t miss this story. The Mercury News’ Jon Wilner delves into the costs of having the conference’s headquarters in San Francisco. Don’t you think Washington State could have used another $500,000 a year for the past decade?
Gonzaga: The Zags missed out on two highly coveted recruits in the past week. The second? That would be Mookie Cook, who will attend Oregon, which just happens to be in the state in which he grew up. Theo Lawson has the particulars. … Around the WCC, BYU’s women think they can get to the Final Four someday.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Weber State’s fall football schedule had to be revised after James Madison dropped out of the season opener. … A healthy Tyler Vander Waal is happy to be back at Idaho State’s practices.
Preps: Today’s sport in the spotlight is soccer, with North Central and its star midfielder Ben Hippauf leading off with this Dave Nichols story. … Dave also has capsules concerning each of the Greater Spokane League schools. … And there is also his roundup of Thursday’s action around the area. … Albi Stadium is coming down, as Jesse Tinsley’s photo shows. Jim Allen explains the process (and delves into no one being exactly sure what is next for the site) in this story. … Back to Dave, who has this story on three local wrestlers winning titles in a national high school meet.
Mariners: Julio Rodriguez better be on the roster when the season starts. That’s all we’ve got to say about that. … Last year’s rookie sensation, Jarred Kelenic, may be ready for a breakout year. … The M’s won yesterday as Rodriguez did a bit of everything. His inside-the-park home run was the highlight.
Seahawks: We almost wrote today about Bobby Wagner signing with the Rams. But let’s not look back at the greatest middle linebacker the franchise ever had and one of its greatest players. He’s going home to Los Angeles to play the rest of his career. And make a bunch of money. … Can the Hawks afford DK Metcalf? Or is their flexibility a mirage? … New defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt has a whole city counting on him.
Sounders: The World Cup draw will be held today. The U.S. team moved up in the rankings and is in the second pod of teams. Which probably just ensure it will be in whatever group carrying the dreaded label “The Group of Death” in the 2022 tournament. … Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan could be on the U.S. team.
Kraken: Seattle has a goaltending controversy. That might be a good thing.
Storm: Swin Cash is going into the basketball Hall of Fame. So is the Sonics’ George Karl.
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• Actually, we don’t think April is a good sports month at all. That’s why our column is an incredibly deep April Fools joke. Meta, actually. Or is the joke this last paragraph? You must decide. We’ll play the Twilight Zone theme music while we wait for your answer. Until later …
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