Talking pro sports’ return (for now), Blazers, college football, Pat Bailey, Ben Gregg and more …
Pat Bailey (osubeavers.com)
Bouncing it around on a few subjects this weekend …
Bryant Gumbel
• For the sports junkie, the return to action of the NBA, NHL and major leagues has been nothing short of a godsend.
Which begs the question: Will it last?
On HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” last week, the host asked journalists David Aldridge, Tom Verducci and Peter King what percentage they would give that their perspective professional sports league could finish the season.
Aldridge guessed 90 percent for the NBA. Verducci set the MLB at 50 percent. King said 40 percent for the NFL.
I think those percentages accurately reflect the odds — and in terms of baseball, that’s probably high.
The NBA has the advantage of a bubble. Of the 344 players tested for COVID-19 in Orlando 10 days ago, zero returned positive results, and none have been announced since. That’s exactly what commissioner Adam Silver — and those fans who would like to see completion of the season — wants to hear.
In baseball, the Brewers’ Friday home opener against the Cardinals was cancelled hours before the first pitch after two St. Louis players tested positive. On Saturday, four to six additional team and staff positive results were reported. The Miami Marlins have been on hiatus since Monday for a total of infections that at last report numbered 21. Tracing requirements and further positives seriously threaten the continuation of the season, with players allowed to stay at home during home series and a too relaxed approach to life in hotels on the road. Commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to shut down the season, and ESPN’s Keith Olbermann reported sources say networks broadcasting MLB games have been alerted that a shut-down could happen as early as Monday.
The Buffalo Bills sent all their rookies home from training camp this week after five positive tests. We’re early in this for football, but it’s ominous. Like baseball, football has the advantage of playing outside. But the players are is such close contact with each other, any semblance of social distancing is impossible. And can the players be disciplined enough off the field to keep the virus from spreading?
I don’t like the chances.
• Friday’s matchup between the Blazers and Grizzlies in their season-resumption opener was a must-win for Portland, and the Blazers got it by the skin of their teeth in a 140-135 overtime thriller.
The “want” factor was much greater with the Blazers, who would have been 4 1/2 games behind No. 8 Memphis in the Western Conference with seven to play. Portland now is in an advantageous position in its battle with the Spurs, Pelicans and Kings for the ninth spot, and the Grizzlies’ difficult remaining schedule — try San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah, Oklahoma City, Toronto, Boston and Milwaukee in succession — keeps the Blazers alive in their bid to climb to eighth.
Portland’s remaining schedule is challenging, too, beginning with the Celtics and running through the Rockets, Nuggets, Clippers, 76ers, Mavericks and Nets — the latter the one gimme on the list.
If Portland gets to No. 8 and the Grizzlies fall to ninth, they’d have to beat the Blazers twice to advance to a first-round playoff matchup with the Lakers. If Memphis stays at No. 8 and Portland ends at No. 9 (and within four games of the Grizzlies), I still like the local quintet’s chances.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum form the best offensive backcourt in the league and Jusuf Nurkic looked his his old self against Memphis, totaling 18 points, nine rebounds, six blocked shots and five assists in 33 minutes. No team has three 7-footers the quality of Nurkic, Zach Collins and Hassan Whiteside. Ageless Carmelo Anthony had his game face on against the Grizzlies, knocking down the two biggest 3’s of the year in the clutch with the Blazers flagging near the end of regulation.
I’m not sure I agree with old friend Charles Barkley that, if they get there, the Blazers will knock off the Lakers in the first round. I give them a fighting chance, though. No doubt, they believe they can do it, and that means something.
• Under the assumption that we’ll have a college football campaign, the Pac-12 has announced its revised 10-game conference schedules, with both Oregon State and Oregon opening at home on Sept. 26 — the Beavers against California and the Ducks against Colorado.
The Civil War contest — I’ll call it that until I hear an acceptable alternative — will be staged Oct. 17 at Reser Stadium. The in-state rivals, who traditionally meet in the regular-season finale, haven’t squared off that early (Oct. 23 in 1937) since … ever. The only time they’ve faced each other as early as October was 1937, when the Orangemen beat the Webfoots 14-0 on Oct. 23 at Bell Field.
Some of the other other traditional rivalries come early, too. USC at UCLA and Arizona State at Arizona are scheduled for the Sept. 26 opener. Stanford at Cal is Oct. 24. It’s being done, evidently, to give schools more wiggle room to make up the game if positive COVID tests force postponements.
The revamped schedule has Oregon State missing USC, and Oregon won’t play UCLA. The regular-season finales are on Dec. 5 with the Pac-12 championship game slated for Dec. 18. Let’s hope we get that far.
Pat Bailey (osubeavers.com)
• Pat Bailey was blindsided by this week’s news that his services as assistant coach with Oregon State baseball were being terminated.
But Bailey — who served as interim head coach after Pat Casey’s retirement in 2019 before assisting Mitch Canham in the COVID-shortened season this year — understands why it happened.
Ryan Gipson (osubeavers.com)
College baseball programs have only two paid assistants. The third “volunteer” coach primarily makes his money through camps. There were none of those this year due to COVID. Volunteer assistant Ryan Gipson would have had to look for work. Gipson — a former teammate and close friend of Canham — is 35. Bailey is 64.
There was no antipathy in the Canham-Bailey relationship. The head coach was merely looking to the future. That doesn’t lessen the hurt for Bailey, right-hand man for Casey through 13 seasons at OSU. He enjoyed his job as much as ever and was hoping to go at least a couple of more years.
“I really don’t want to retire, but I have kids and grandkids in Corvallis,” he says.
If this is it for Bailey — whose high school and college coaching career spans 35 years — it’s a shame he wasn’t able to go out on his own terms. But what a run he had as Casey’s trusted sidekick.
“I called Pat yesterday,” Bailey tells me. “We had 13 awesome years together. I’m so appreciative of how much he respected me and I respected him. We just had a lot of fun together. We had a like- mindedness in terms of what we believe.
“He’s such a hard worker and a good man. I told any player who thought he was being too tough on him, ‘He loves you and wants the best out of you. That’s why he’s pushing you. He cares about you as a person.’ ”
• Despite what you read elsewhere, Oregon State is still actively recruiting Clackamas High’s 6-9 Ben Gregg, ranked among the nation’s top 60 prep basketball juniors. OSU’s coaches consider Gregg their top prospect in the class of 2021 and believe they are still on the young big man’s short list. The Beavers may not land Gregg, but not for lack of trying.
Coach Wayne Tinkle’s staff has been working with all 15 of his squad members — including a pair of walk-ons — under the NCAA’s stiffer-than-usual summer guidelines due to COVID restrictions. No more than two players at a basket, no one-on-one action — mostly passing, drill work, fundamentals.
The Beavers return only three players with more than a season’s experience in an OSU uniform — seniors Ethan Thompson, Zach Reichle and Alfred Hollins.
Tinkle expects at least three of his five recruits to make a major impact — all bigs.
Rodrique Tha Andela, a 6-8, 230-pound junior transfer from Kilgore (Texas) JC, averaged 10.5 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting .671 from the field for a team that went 21-9. Andela is efficient around the basket and should be of major help on the boards.
Maurice Calloo, a 6-10, 215-pound native of Windsor, Ontario. started his college career at Oklahoma State before transferring to Indian Hills JC in Ottawa, Iowa. Despite playing only 20.8 minutes per game, Calloo averaged 9.1 points and 3.9 rebounds on a team that went 30-3 this season. He’s an accurate shooter with 3-point range.
Warith Atatishe, a 6-7, 200-pound junior transfer from Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., averaged 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting .557 from the field this season. Atatishe, who hopes to get an NCAA waiver to gain eligibility for next season, is athletic along the lines of a Drew Eubanks or Kylor Kelley, though not as big as the former OSU posts.
Readers: what are your thoughts about the return of the NHL, NBA, and the start of the MLB season? Will The Pac 12 play football this fall? Share your comments below.
Reach out to Kerry Eggers here.
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