FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
TRAIL BLAZERS
BEGINNING
OF DESPAIR
Lillard and fiancée
have twins
Portland Trail Blazers
guard Damian Lillard and
his fiancée Kay’la Hanson
had twins on Thursday.
On Sunday, Lillard
scored 39 points during
a 116-113 win over the
New York Knicks.
After the game, Lillard
said he hadn’t slept much
the past few days but was
more at peace than he
had ever been.
“I was really happy, I
was really at peace,” he
said. “I was with my fian-
cée the last three or four
days. I’ve been laying
in a hospital bed since
Wednesday. I haven’t
been in my own bed.”
Lillard said being
a father to Damian Jr.
changed his life in March
2019.
“The thing that I en-
joy and love the most is
being his dad, and going
home to him every night,
and being around him
every day,” Lillard said.
“That’s something that
I think has allowed me
to be a better player be-
cause I don’t take wins
and losses home. I’m not
as emotional about it
once I leave the arena. He
just brings me that happi-
ness and that peace, and
that love that I know I’m
gonna have regardless of
whether we win or lose
or whether I’m struggling,
or whatever the case
may be.”
Having twins has
taken those feelings up a
notch. The girl is named
Kali Emma Lee Lillard and
the boy is named Kalii La-
heem Lillard.
Sleep clearly is over-
rated for Lillard, who
made 11 of 17 shots
Sunday, all 11 of his free
throws and added eight
assists to his 39 points.
The Blazers’ game
Monday night against the
Oklahoma City Thunder
ended after the Bulletin’s
press deadline.
A year after Kobe’s death, the mourning and misery continue
BY JERRY BREWER • The Washington Post
A
year later, the tears have not
stopped. They flow with an anguish
as fresh as that dreadful Sunday
when word spread that Kobe Bry-
ant’s helicopter had crashed. They
are tears not just for a fallen superstar, however.
It turns out that his death presaged 12 months of
prevalent despair, a misery from which we have yet
to emerge.
Kobe Bean Bryant — who grew up on the big
stage, rebuilt his image after shame and created a
basketball afterlife that rivaled his superstar playing
—The Oregonian
days — died last Jan. 26 in a horrific accident that
also killed his 13-year-old, basketball-loving daugh-
ter, Gianna, and seven others. It was an unforgetta-
ble tragedy, an evolving icon gone at 41. But in the
devastation of the past year, it came to be just the
first unshakably bad thing.
The nation mourned for weeks. The Kobe and
Gianna public memorial wasn’t until about a
month later. Los Angeles, Bryant’s adopted home,
continues to weep. Yet there’s still a sense that the
grieving process was truncated. There was always
someone else to mourn, something else to inspire
sorrow.
People lift weights on
a sidewalk outside the
Hardcore Fitness gym, due to
pandemic restrictions, under
a mural honoring NBA star
Kobe Bryant and his daugh-
ter Gigi near Staples Center
in downtown Los Angeles
on Monday. Bryant, who be-
came one of the greatest bas-
ketball players of his genera-
tion during a 20-year career
with the Lakers, died in a he-
licopter crash with his daugh-
ter Gigi and other passengers
a year ago.
See Kobe / A7
Damian Dovarganes/AP
MLB
Spring training
could be delayed
The Cactus League
and Arizona community
leaders have asked Major
League Baseball to delay
the start of spring train-
ing due to coronavirus
concerns just over three
weeks before pitchers
and catchers are sup-
posed to report.
The Cactus League
made the request in a let-
ter to Baseball Commis-
sioner Rob Manfred ob-
tained by The Associated
Press on Monday. The let-
ter was co-signed by the
mayors of Mesa, Scotts-
dale, Surprise, Glendale,
Goodyear and Peoria, as
well as representatives
from Phoenix and the Salt
River Pima-Maricopa In-
dian Community.
Arizona is averaging
just over 7,000 new coro-
navirus cases per day, but
the Cactus League cited
data in its letter from the
University of Washing-
ton’s Institute of Health
Metrics and Evaluation
projecting a sharp de-
cline in infections by mid-
March, down to as few as
3,072 daily. Spring camps
are set to open the week
of Feb. 15, with the regu-
lar season set to start on
April 1.
Despite the roiling
case numbers, the NHL’s
Arizona Coyotes are host-
ing 3,450 fans for home
games in Glendale, while
the NBA’s Phoenix Suns
are playing without fans.
High school sports are
also still operating. The
Cactus League hosts 15
MLB clubs.
—Associated Press
NFL | SEAHAWKS
Super Bowl LV
BRADY BLOCKADE
Buccaneers’ legendary
QB stands in the way of
Chiefs’ 2nd straight title
BY GREGG BELL
The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune
BY BARRY WILNER
AP Pro Football Writer
onsidering that there has
been no repeat NFL cham-
pion since the 2004 season,
clearly some major obstructions
have gotten in the way.
For the Chiefs, that hurdle wears
a No. 12 jersey and is the last guy
to pull off the feat.
After demolishing Buffalo for
the AFC title, the Chiefs head to
Tampa looking to complete the
double. It’s been done eight times,
twice by the Steelers. But there’s
never been such a gap for a repeat
winner, and after winning its first
Super Bowl in a half-century last
year, Kansas City seems primed to
end that string of failures.
Except for that massive road-
block named Tom Brady.
“The job’s not finished,” Chiefs
quarterback Patrick Mahomes
acknowledges. “We’re going to
Tampa, we’re trying to run it back.”
To do so, young Mr. Mahomes,
you’ll need to beat that old man
and his penchant for collecting
trophies and rings.
“We’ve just got to be ourselves,”
added Mahomes, at 25 a mere 18
years younger than Brady. (Heck,
Mahomes’ father is only 50 years
Olsen retires
after leaving his
mark in Seattle
C
Jeffrey Phelps/AP
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady looks to pass against the Green
Bay Packers during the NFC championship in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Sunday.
old.) “I trust my guys over any-
body.”
The rest of the world has
learned to trust Brady over most
anybody.
The quarterback of the Patri-
ots when they took the Lombardi
Trophy for the 2003 and 2004 sea-
sons, Brady owns a nonpareil six
rings altogether. He’s headed to his
10th Super Bowl, and the big game
will be played at Raymond James
Stadium, which happens to be the
Buccaneers’ home field. Add an-
other record to Brady’s ledger.
“The belief he gave everybody
in this organization, that this could
be done,” says Bucs coach Bruce
Arians of Brady. “It only took one
man.”
When Brady signed as a free
agent with one of the historically
worst franchises in the sport — the
Bucs won their only visit to the
Super Bowl 18 years ago, hadn’t
been to the playoffs since the 2007
season, and have a 278-429-1 over-
all record — faith was reborn in
Tampa.
A leap of faith, it seemed. Like
needing a Hail Mary for the Bucs
to rise to the championship level.
Then they went 11-5 to become a
wild-card team spending all of Jan-
uary on the road.
See Brady / A7
“It was a great ride.”
That’s how Greg Olsen views his 14-year
career in the NFL.
That’s how he retired Sunday.
The 35-year-old former Super Bowl and
three-time Pro Bowl tight end posted his
retirement message on his social-media ac-
counts online two weeks after his only sea-
son with the Seahawks ended with a first-
round playoff loss.
He has a job as a football analyst for Fox
Sports television — plus his wife and chil-
dren, their charity and his work for kids
with congenital heart disorders — waiting
for him.
“To the countless teammates, coaches
and staff members in Chicago, Seattle, and
especially Carolina, I thank you,” Olsen
wrote Sunday. “You molded and shaped
me into the person I am today. I’ll cher-
ish those personal relationships more than
anything else. This career is built on rela-
tionships, and in that area I was so fortu-
nate.”
Olsen was the Bears’ 31st-overall choice
in the first round of the 2007 draft. In 2015
he had 77 catches for 1,104 yards and seven
touchdowns. He made his second of three
straight Pro Bowls for a 15-1 Carolina Pan-
thers team that beat Seattle on their way to
Super Bowl 50. The Panthers lost that title
game to Denver.
When Olsen signed with Seattle 12
months ago for one season and $7 million,
he said winning the Super Bowl was his
purpose.
See Olsen / A7