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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
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“THE WHOLE TIME I WAS IN THERE I WANTED TO BE A BASEBALL SCOUT.
AND I REMEMBER PROBABLY MY FRESHMAN YEAR, SOPHOMORE YEAR, I WAS
LIKE I REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO ANYTHING BUT THAT. SO WHY AM I TRYING
TO ALMOST TALK MYSELF OUT OF IT AND FIND A DIFFERENT PATH?”
AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez
Oregon running back Royce
Freeman carries the ball
against Oregon State in Cor-
vallis in November. After the
trials of last season, Freeman
appears to have emerged with
two things: a college degree
and a bright outlook.
Armed with a
degree, Ducks’
Freeman looks
to senior season
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
EUGENE — After the trials of
last season, Oregon running back
Royce Freeman appears to have
emerged with two things: a college
degree and a brighter outlook.
The senior, who opted to stay
with the Ducks rather than enter
the NFL draft this spring, heads
into the season with 936 career
rushing yards to go to reach LaM-
ichael James’ Oregon record of
5,082.
“I’m comfortable in my own
skin. I’m a senior, I’ve been here
before, I’ve seen it all, been to a
national championship,” he said.
“I feel more than comfortable
being around these guys and play-
ing beside them — and that was a
huge reason for me coming back.”
Freeman completed a degree
this summer in general social sci-
ence with an emphasis on crime,
law and society, something that
was important in addition to “fin-
ishing on a better note than I did
last year.”
Freeman was the Ducks’ lead-
ing rusher last year with 945 yards
in 11 games. He was widely con-
sidered a Heisman candidate going
into the season, but he was held
back by injury.
Oregon was struggling overall,
too. The Ducks finished 4-8 over-
all and at the bottom of the Pac-
12 North standings at 2-7 — snap-
ping a run of nine straight winning
seasons in conference play. Three
days after the season ended with
a loss to Oregon State in the Civil
War game, the Ducks fired coach
Mark Helfrich.
Oregon went on to hire charis-
matic coach Willie Taggart, who
spent the previous four years turn-
ing around the program at South
Florida. The Bulls flipped from
a 2-10 record in his first year to a
10-2 mark last season and a spot in
the Birmingham Bowl.
“Coach Taggart and his staff
bring energy every day,” Freeman
said. “And they demand the same
from us.”
Taggart has been impressed
with Freeman.
“He’s excited. He’s ready to
go. I’ve seen a big difference in
him and his attitude and the way
he’s doing things and the way he’s
working. Really excited about it,
and glad that he decided to come
back,” Taggart said.
In his first two seasons, Free-
man has epitomized the speed in
Oregon’s hyper-drive offense.
The native Californian burst on
the scene as a freshman, rushing
for 1,365 yards — a Pac-12 true
freshman record — and 18 touch-
downs. He also caught a touch-
down pass. As a result, he was
named the league’s freshman of
the year on offense.
He followed that up with 1,836
yards — an Oregon single-season
record — and 17 touchdowns as a
sophomore.
Freeman currently has 44 rush-
ing touchdowns for his career,
trailing James’ 53. But he insists
he’s not paying attention to the
numbers, or closing in on James’
lofty records.
SEASON OPENER
• Southern Utah Thunderbirds
at Oregon Ducks
• Sept. 2, 5;15 p.m. TV: PACN
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Amanda Hopkins talks with others before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles in Seattle. Hop-
kins, 24, is about to complete her second year as an area scout for the Mariners, a position that has made her a part of baseball
history. She is the first full-time female baseball scout in more than a half-century, breaking through a barrier that required diligence
on her end and willingness by the Mariners organization.
First female baseball scout in 50 years
Hopkins eyes Southwest
region for Mariners
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
S
EATTLE — Nearly two years ago,
Amanda Hopkins’ phone rang. It was
a call she dreamt of receiving, one that
broke barriers and made her a part of base-
ball history.
Almost immediately, her competitiveness
took over.
“She put a sign up on her bedroom door
saying, ‘Stay out, we’re opponents,’” recalled
her father, Ron Hopkins, a special assistant
to the general manager for the Pittsburgh
Pirates. “In other words, my bedroom is off
limits to you, there is info in here. I got a kick
out of it.”
The 24-year-old Hopkins is now about to
complete her second year as an area scout
for the Seattle Mariners. Her responsibility is
the Four Corners area of the Southwest, tak-
ing her to destinations like Greeley, Colorado,
and Hobbs, New Mexico, two of the more
challenging places to get to from her base in
the Phoenix area.
She is also the first full-time female base-
ball scout in more than 50 years, breaking
through a barrier that required diligence on
her end and willingness by the Mariners.
Yet, Hopkins does not view herself
through that prism or want to be viewed as a
trailblazer. She’s a scout. That’s it.
“I think if anything people are more
shocked sometimes when I will go meet
with a player in the office or something like
that. Maybe they just know, hey the Mar-
iners’ scout is coming in to meet with you
today and they walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh.’
That kind of thing,” Hopkins said. “It’s usu-
ally more of like a shocked look. But then
they’re more curious, they’re like, ‘How’d
you get into this?’ And they kind of like want
a brief rundown of how I got to where I am.
All the players, all the coaches, are incredibly
respectful to me.”
While she is believed to be the first full-
time baseball scout since Edith Houghton in
the middle of the 20th century, Hopkins has
been around baseball since she was a child.
She traveled with her father to games, reg-
ularly making trips to the Alaskan Summer
League or the Cape Cod League in summers.
She would run the radar gun and pass along
the speeds to her dad when she was as young
as 8. It was obvious early on she possessed
the same critical eye as her dad.
“She learned at an early age the difference
between a curveball and a slider. As she got
older it just sort of grew on her,” Ron said.
“I’d go out with my dad and they’d be like
‘Oh what do you want to do when you grow
up?’ And I’d tell them, ‘I want to be a base-
ball scout,’” Amanda said. “It’s like this little
girl telling them that and it’s like, ‘Oh that’s
cute. She wants to be like her dad.’ But really,
I think it was kind of like she’ll grow out of it.
That’s kind of what everyone thought.”
Instead, her passion for the job only grew.
She majored in psychology while playing
softball at Central Washington University, yet
that failed to satisfy the desire to be around
baseball.
“The whole time I was in there I wanted
to be a baseball scout,” Hopkins said. “And I
remember probably my freshman year, soph-
omore year, I was like I really don’t want to
do anything but that. So why am I trying to
almost talk myself out of it and find a differ-
ent path?”
Hopkins served as an intern in Seattle’s
baseball operations department in the sum-
mer of 2014, but worked mostly with amateur
scouting. A year later, she was sponsored by
the Mariners to attend scout school and about
a month after returning she got the offer.
“I was a little nervous myself because I
knew she was going to be breaking a little
bit of a barrier and she was pretty young,”
said Tom McNamara, who hired Hopkins
and is currently a special assistant to the gen-
eral manager with the Mariners. “I went into
Jerry (Dipoto’s) office and I had a lump in
my throat and I said, ‘This is what I want
to do.’ And he was all for it. He didn’t even
hesitate.”
Raiders’ Lynch avoids questions about anthem
Running back
chose to sit
NFL PRESEASON
• Minnesota Viking
at Seattle Seahawks
• Today, 7 p.m. TV: NFLN
Associated Press
NAPA, Calif. — Oakland Raiders
running back Marshawn Lynch spoke
to reporters Thursday for the first
time in training camp and avoided
questions regarding his decision to sit
during the national anthem before last
week’s preseason game against the
Arizona Cardinals.
Not long after the Raiders broke
camp following their final practice,
Lynch spoke briefly about his charity
work in Oakland including an upcom-
ing backpack giveaway for needy
children, a business forum for youths
he recently held and his thoughts on
playing in the Coliseum this week.
When the topic turned to the choice
he made to sit during the national
anthem, something Seattle Seahawks
defensive end Michael Bennett also
did before a preseason game in Los
Angeles, Lynch responded with cryp-
tic answers.
One reporter addressed the situa-
tion as the elephant in the room when
questioning Lynch.
“I think the elephant just left the
room because a little mouse ran in
here,” Lynch said. “Didn’t they say
elephants are scared of mice or some-
thing? That (expletive) left the room,
cousin.”
AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch (24) sits during the
national anthem prior to the team’s NFL preseason football game
against the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz.
Pressed further, Lynch remained
evasive.
Asked if Raiders coach Jack Del
Rio gives his players space to be
themselves, Lynch instead referred to
a play.
“Yeah because on doctor-24, it’s
a designed way that you’re supposed
to run it but I have all freedom to go
any way that I choose to run it,” Lynch
said. “I would say, yes.”
Lynch was later asked if it mat-
tered to him whether or not fans wear-
ing his jersey during Saturday’s pre-
season game against the Los Angeles
Rams will sit or stand during the
anthem.
“When we run 74 or something
like that, where I have to scan and
read on both sides, that is pretty diffi-
cult,” Lynch said. “For the most part,
I’m a veteran so I can make it work.”
Del Rio said earlier this week that
he had spoken to Lynch about the sit-
uation and that Lynch told him it was
something he had been doing for 11
years.
There has been mixed reaction
around the NFL regarding Lynch and
Bennett’s decision to sit during the
anthem. Former Green Bay Packers
tight end Jermichael Finley called the
move “selfish” and a “marketing tool,”
while Commissioner Roger Goodell
has asked fans to be more understand-
ing of the players’ decision.
Lynch did turn serious for a few
moments while talking about his work
in the local community. The 31-year-
old has said repeatedly that his deci-
sion to come out of retirement after a
year away was based primarily on the
opportunity to play in his hometown
of Oakland.
“It’s truly a blessing and just to
have the opportunity to go and do that
is a good … feeling,” Lynch said. “I
plan on continuing to do what I do in
the community. It’ll probably be that
now that I’m here, more people that
are in the community might actually
come out and support what it is that
we’ve got going on.”