INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS, MARKET RECAP & WEATHER
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2021
WORLD CUP
ALPINE SKIING
Crash sends Bend’s
Ford to hospital
ADELBODEN, Switzer-
land — American skier
Tommy Ford was airlifted
to a hospital after crashing
in a World Cup giant sla-
lom on Saturday.
Ford crashed three
gates from the finish after
going wide into rough
snow beside the course.
His skis touched and he
fell forward, sliding down
the hill first on his neck
and left shoulder.
The United States Ski
Team later said Ford’s
“head and neck injuries
are minor and resolving
nicely. He has a knee in-
jury that is undergoing
further evaluation.”
Ford knocked over a
course-side worker before
coming to a stop close
to safety nets beside the
finish. He initially lay still
with his face against the
snow though was soon
conscious and talking with
medical staff.
A helicopter landed
by the course 20 minutes
later to airlift the 31-year-
old racer, who is from
Bend.
Ford has one giant sla-
lom win and two more
podium finishes in 12
seasons on the World Cup
circuit. He wore bib No. 4
on Saturday as one of the
top-ranked racers after
top-10 finishes in his past
four starts.
Ford’s next scheduled
giant slalom is in six weeks
— on Feb. 19 at the wold
championships in Cortina
d’Ampezzo, Italy.
bendbulletin.com/sports
NFL PLAYOFFS
Seahawks can’t overcome mistakes in loss to Rams, 30-20
INSIDE
BY TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
Ted S. Warren/AP
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, right, eyes a receiver
wile trying to avoid being sacked by Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle
A’Shawn Robinson during Saturday’s wild-card game in Seattle.
SEATTLE — Quietly, Aaron
Donald, Jared Goff and the
rest of the Los Angeles Rams
seethed.
They watched less than two
weeks ago as the Seattle Sea-
hawks loudly celebrated a di-
vision title the Rams felt they
gave away. Los Angeles desper-
ately wanted another shot.
Behind a lot of Cam Akers
churning yards on the ground
and mostly a great defense, the
Rams are moving on in the
NFC playoffs at the expense of
the Seahawks.
“We come up here, and all
week we were told how good
they are and how we snuck
into the playoffs,” Goff said.
“Two weeks ago you saw them
smoking cigars and getting all
• Bills hang on against Colts for first
playoff win in 25 years, B3
excited about beating us, and
winning the division, and we
were able to come up here and
beat them.”
Akers rushed for 131 yards
and a touchdown, Darious
Williams returned Russell Wil-
son’s interception 42 yards for
a score, and the Rams beat the
Seahawks 30-20 in the NFC
wild-card playoff game Satur-
day.
“A lot of guys stepped up and
answered the bell in a big way,”
Rams coach Sean McVay said.
“Darious Williams showing up,
I thought that was a huge mo-
mentum shift for us.”
The best defense in the
league during the regular sea-
Sports for every kid
ADELBODEN, Switzer-
land — Alexis Pinturault
won a World Cup giant sla-
lom for a second straight
day on the storied Adel-
boden hill on Saturday,
topping his superb perfor-
mance from Friday.
Pinturault defied
fast-fading light in the sec-
ond run to post a huge win-
ning margin of 1.26 sec-
onds over Filip Zubcic, the
runner-up on back-to-back
days.
WILD-CARD ROUND
Bills
Colts
27
24
Buccaneers
Washington
31
23
See Skiing / B3
SPORTS BETTING
Table tennis rules
Oregon betting app
“The Big Four” of pro-
fessional sports leagues in
the United States are the
NFL, NBA, Major League
Baseball and NHL.
Not true of the big four
sports that attracted the
most betting money on
the Oregon Lottery Score-
board app in 2020 out of
more than $218 million
wagered:
First is basketball at
$70,622,322. Second is
football at $53,869,591.
Third is soccer at
$24,843,983. And fourth?
Table tennis at
$21,105,652.
Baseball came in fifth
at $16,956,942, while
ice hockey was eighth at
$6,610,076.
The Scoreboard app
has seen tremendous
growth since it launched
in October 2019.
From October to De-
cember of that year it
brought in $45,272,477
in bets, with a gross profit
of $2,924,428. During
the same period in 2020,
it took $81,482,414 in
bets with a gross profit of
$9,918,246. And its profit
margin jumped from
6.46% to 12.17%.
And this is still with-
out college sports on the
table.
Matt Holt, president of
U.S. Integrity, a Las Vegas
company that monitors
betting behavior, de-
scribed Russian table ten-
nis to ESPN as “a controlled
Wild West in the U.S.”
Though table tennis
ranks No. 4 in Oregon in
bets handled, it ranked
No. 1 in average bet
amount at $51.54 in 2020.
— The Oregonian
Pinturault
takes giant
slalom, ties
Miller for wins
Associated Press
NFL
30
20
See Seahawks / B3
WORLD CUP SKIING
ROUNDUP
Community Sports
— Associated Press
Rams
Seahawks
son carried its dominance
into the playoffs — even while
missing unanimous All-Pro
tackle Aaron Donald for much
of the second half. No team
was better at limiting yards or
points than the Rams (11-6)
and they continued to torment
Wilson and the Seahawks (12-
5).
Seattle’s quarterback was
under siege from the defen-
sive front and a secondary that
minus one play never let DK
Metcalf or Tyler Lockett break
loose. Donald, before leaving
with a rib injury, and Jalen
Ramsey were superb. But so
were other role players such as
Troy Reeder, Jordan Fuller and
Leonard Floyd.
Floyd had two of the Rams’
five sacks.
NHL PREVIEW
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Natalie Hummel, executive director of Every Kid Sports, stands in the office of the nonprofit in Bend on Thursday.
A Central Oregon-based nonprofit that helps underprivileged kids
pay for sports programs looks to go national
Players prep
for 56-game
season sprint
BY STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
Every Kid Sports mostly aids youth
in Central Oregon, but has recently ex-
panded to help youngsters throughout
the Pacific Northwest and nationally.
The Every Kid Sports Pass program
approved more than 1,700 grants for
kids in 2020 throughout the Pacific
Northwest, according to Hummel. The
goal, Hummel says, is to have it be avail-
able nationwide by September. Families
can register discreetly online at every-
kidsports.org.
The NHL has started sea-
sons of fewer than 82 games
in January and played into
the summer to award the
Stanley Cup.
Just not like this.
When the puck drops on
the regular season in five
rinks Jan. 13, it will be the
start of a 56-game sprint to
the playoffs with all divi-
sional play until the semi-
finals.
That will ramp up the ri-
valries, reduce travel during
the pandemic and make
this a once-in-a-lifetime
chase for a title.
“We’re going to see a 56-
game season, but it’ll be
56 playoff games,” veteran
New York Islanders general
manager Lou Lamoriello
said. “It’s exciting. I think
the divisions the way they’re
in front of us, it’ll be great
for the fans and I think the
players will enjoy it, also, so
I think the rivalries will just
raise to a level we haven’t
seen in a long, long time.”
If hockey can navigate
the perils of the virus like
other sports. Already three
teams have been affected,
with Dallas unable to start
the season on time.
See Kid / B3
See NHL / B4
BY MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
A
s many families
struggle financially
amid the COVID-19
pandemic, signing kids up for
sports might not be a priority —
especially when fees for youth
programs can run $100 or more.
Every Kid Sports, a Central
Oregon-based nonprofit, helps
kids from low-income families
pay the fees required to participate
in youth sports. Though most
sports are still on pause, they
are scheduled to resume in the
coming weeks and months
and many kids will likely need
financial help in order to take
part.
Courtesy Amanda Conde
All four kids in the Valdez family, of Bend, have utilized the Every Kid Sports Pass to support
their jiujitsu practice at Clarks Martial Arts studio in Bend.
“There’s so much more need now,”
says Natalie Hummel, executive director
of Every Kid Sports. “And even families
that used to be able to cover their kids
playing sports are in trouble now. It’s
been wide-ranging, the amount of im-
pact COVID has had on families. If you
can’t get food on the table, you’re not go-
ing to be registering your child to play
sports.”
The nonprofit was founded 11 years
ago in Bend, and was formerly called
Kids in the Game.