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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2016)
SPORTS WEEKEND, AUGUST 6-7, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS OUR VIEW Olympics Has it been a Games open with green plea year already? W hen I was my sports horizons and growing up, knowledge, and taken me I remember places I never would have everyone from my parents, imagined myself in. I went to two rodeos within two to grandparents, to aunts months of being on the and uncles, friends, and job, which was two more even neighbors always told me how the years just than I had been to in all run together when you get of my fi rst 22 years on this earth. I experienced older. my fi rst Pendleton I never Round-Up believed them, adventure, which though, because ended up being the years in school both overwhelming always felt like and fun to cover. they took as long And it also has also to complete as given me my fi rst it took dial-up in-person experi- internet to start up. Eric ences with sports Well, until Singer such as motorcycle now. EO Sports hillclimbing, prep On Friday, I rugby, prep trap celebrated my shooting, prep lacrosse, one-year anniversary and the madness that is of working at the East school bus racing at the Oregonian even though it Hermiston Super Oval. felt more like just a few months had passed. It’s It also gave me the said a lot, but I mean it opportunity to watch, when I say it felt like just write about, and soak in yesterday that my then- the sheer dominance that 22-year-old self walked some of the prep sports through the glass front teams displayed over the doors of the EO’s head- past year. quarters for the fi rst time, The Heppner Mustangs with no clue what awaited were one of the most me inside and around the well-rounded prep football schools of Eastern Oregon. teams that I’ve ever seen, In one very short year, See SINGER/5B this job has expanded AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris Fireworks explode over the Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. Rio welcomes world with sultry music, call for conservation By MAURICIO SAVARESE & JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO — With fi reworks forming the word “Rio” in the sky, hip-wiggling dancers and supermodel Gisele Bundchen shimmering to the tune of the “Girl from Ipanema,” Rio de Janiero welcomed the world to the fi rst Olympic Games in MLB Hall of Fame done, Griffey preps for number retirement Mariners to shelve No. 24 after batting practice By TIM BOOTH Associated Press SEATTLE — Just as much as the smile and the backward hat, the sweet swings and the 630 home runs, the No. 24 became synonymous with Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey chose it after South America with a serious message: Let’s take better care of our planet. After one of the rough- est-ever rides from vote to games by an Olympic host, the city of beaches, carnival, grinding poverty and sun-kissed wealth lifted the curtain on the games of the 31st Olympiad with a high-energy gala celebration of Brazil’s can-do spirit, biodiversity and melting pot history. The opening ceremony, a cut-price but welcome moment of levity for a nation beset by economic and political troubles, featured performers as slaves, laboring with backs bent, gravity-defying climbers hanging from the ledges of buildings in Brazil’s teeming megacities and — of course — dancers, all hips and wobble, grooving to thumping funk and sultry samba. The crowd roared when Bundchen sashayed from one side of the 78,000-seat Maracana Stadium to the other, as Tom Jobim’s grandson, Daniel, played his grandfather’s famous song about the Ipanema girl “tall and tan and young and lovely.” See CEREMONIES/3B Horse Racing hitting 24 home runs one season between his high school and summer base- ball teams, and he wore it throughout his 13 seasons with the Mariners. “Baseball is all about numbers. Some of the greatest players to play in sports wore 24. It wasn’t planned but it was defi - nitely one of the things when I signed my fi rst contract that was one of the things I asked for was to be able to wear 24,” Griffey said on Friday. “It’s See GRIFFEY/5B Sy Bean/The Seattle Times via AP Ken Griffey Jr. looks out across the Seattle skyline af- ter hoisting a fl ag with a number 24 in Mariner’s col- ors on op of the Space Needle, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. Milton Freewater chasing Derby dreams Patricica Har- rington shows Milton Free- water, a horse she bred and named, just be- fore it en- tered the auction ring and sold for $250,000. Horse named after Oregon town in care of top connections BY TIM TRAINOR East Oregonian Meet Milton Freewater — the horse, not the town. A 2-year-old thorough- bred, Milton Freewater has the opportunity to be a major player on the road to the 2017 Kentucky Derby. And, along the way, he just may raise the profi le of the Umatilla County town of 7,000. The colt was bred in California by the husband- wife team of Mike and Patty Harrington, who each have a connection to the city of Milton-Freewater. Mike attended both Oregon State University and Washington State University. At OSU he roomed with Bobby Ten Eyck, a Milton-Freewater kid. Patty’s fi rst husband was Richard Grieb, who lived in Walla Walla. The couple had a daughter together and the family would often travel Photo courtesy Patricia Har- rington across the state line to party and rope. “My fi rst husband was a cowboy,” said Patty. “Well, this husband is a cowboy too. And Milton-Freewater is a cowboy town right?” Mike and Patty met later, when both were working at Longacres Racetrack outside of Seattle. Their career led them to California, where they now have a breeding and training operation. The couple didn’t have a name picked out for the offspring of Creative Cause — a horse Mike campaigned to a fi fth-place fi nish in the 2012 Kentucky Derby — and their broodmare Lovehi. But while looking at the newborn foal, Milton Freewater came tumbling out of Patricia’s mouth. “She said ‘There’s that little Milton Freewater,’” remembered Mike. “I don’t know why I said it,” said Patricia. “It just has a nice rhythm.” It was kind of an unoffi - cial, around-the-barn name for awhile, but when it came time to register the horse with the Jockey Club, both Mike and Patricia agreed the gray colt couldn’t be called anything else. As he progressed through his training, the Harringtons thought they might have a pretty good horse on their hands. He was well-bred, healthy and fast. Milton Freewater quickly proved it on the track. The horse won his fi rst race, breaking his maiden and the track record in an April 22 stakes at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif. “He was spectacular,” See MF HORSE/5B Sports shorts Yankees slugger ready to retire NEW YORK (AP) Mark Teixeira plans to retire at the end of the season, announcing his decision during a tear-fi lled news conference Friday at Yankee Stadium. “I gave you everything I had,” FACES he said to Yankees fans in the televised announcement. Slowed by injuries, the 36-year-old switch-hitting fi rst baseman is batting .198 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs. A three-time All-Star and fi ve-time Gold Glove winner, he is in the fi nal season of Teixeira a $180 million, eight-year contract. His 404 home runs are fi fth among switch-hit- ters, trailing only Mickey Mantle (536), Eddie Murray (504), Chipper Jones (468) and Carlos Beltran (415). Teixeira made his decision around the time of the All-Star break. “My body can’t do it anymore,” he said. “This has been so weird not to be at the track. It’s frustrating ... I just want to get better. Nothing else is a priority. Our intentions are to get cleared and get back to racing. I’m not ready to quit.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr. The ultra-popular NASCAR driver made his fi rst public appearance to speak about his recovery from the concussion that has forced him to miss the past three races and will keep him out for at least two more. Athletics suspend coach after hidden camera discovered OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The Oakland Athletics say a team employee has been suspended after it was discovered he hid a camera inside the weight room at the Coliseum. Strength and conditioning coach Mike Henriques was sent home when the A’s were on a recent road trip. Henriques said he set up the camera to watch players working out and rehabilitating from injuries. He is in his fi fth year with the team. The A’s said Friday that there is an ongoing investigation. Yahoo Sports fi rst reported the story and said an independent law fi rm is handling the investigation. The camera was discovered by a player on July 25, one day after the A’s left on a nine- game road trip. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1926 — Nine- teen-year-old Gertrude Ederle of New York City becomes the fi rst woman to swim the English Channel as she crosses the waterway in 14 hours and 31 minutes. 1999 — San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn becomes the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits. 2006 — Tiger Woods wins his 50th PGA Tour title, shooting his fourth-straight 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over Jim Furyk in the Buick Open. Woods is the seventh member of the PGA Tour’s 50-win club. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com