INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS, MARKET RECAP & WEATHER
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SUNday, JaNUary 31, 2021
MEN’S COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
Beavers edged out
by Bruins, 57-52
LOS ANGELES — The
No. 23 UCLA Bruins held
on for a 57-52 victory
over Oregon State at Pau-
ley Pavilion, though there
were more than a few
scary moments for UCLA
along the way.
What had been an
11-point UCLA lead was
down to three with 14
seconds to go before
Oregon State called a
timeout to set up a play
and Beavers guard Ethan
Thompson drove toward
the corner. Thompson
stumbled and lost the
ball out of bounds with
8.6 seconds left, pound-
ing the court with his
hand in frustration.
UCLA’s Tyger Campbell
made four free throws
in the final seconds to
close out the Beavers
and extend the Bruins’
home winning streak to
16 games going back
one year.
UCLA forward Cody Ri-
ley powered his way to 16
points and 10 rebounds.
The Bruins (13-3, 9-1
Pac-12) also extended
their advantage over
second-place USC to 1½
games one week before
the rivals meet at Galen
Center.
Thompson scored 16
points to lead the Beavers
(8-7, 4-5), who are happily
leaving Los Angeles after
a two-game sweep.
The Beavers’ defense
re-emerged, holding
the Bruins to 17-of-52
(32.7%) shooting from
the floor and 6-of-24
(25%) from 3-point range.
However, Oregon
State committed 20 fouls
and UCLA capitalized by
making 17-of-23 (73.9%)
of their free throws. The
Beavers also turned the
ball over 15 times, com-
pared to just seven for the
Bruins.
— Los Angeles Times
NFL
Lions, Rams swap
quarterbacks
LOS ANGELES — The
Detroit Lions are trading
quarterback Matthew
Stafford to the Los An-
geles Rams in exchange
for quarterback Jared
Goff, two future first-
round picks and a third-
round pick, a person with
knowledge of the deal
tells The Associated Press.
The person spoke on
condition of anonymity
Saturday night because
the deal has not been
completed. ESPN first re-
ported the swap, which
will include the Rams’
first-round picks in 2022
and 2023, along with
their third-round pick
this year.
Stafford asked to be
traded shortly after the
current season ended
with the Lions’ third
straight double-digit los-
ing record. He has been
one of the NFL’s most pro-
lific passers during his 12-
year career spent entirely
in Detroit, but has never
won a playoff game.
Meanwhile, the Rams’
coaching staff and front
office have publicly ex-
pressed a clear loss of
confidence in Goff in
recent weeks after Los
Angeles earned its third
playoff berth and posted
its fourth straight win-
ning record during his
four years under coach
Sean McVay.
Stafford, who turns 33
years old next month, has
two years left on a $135
million, five-year contract.
Goff is about to begin
a four-year, $135 million
contract with $110 mil-
lion guaranteed.
— Associated Press
bendbulletin.com/sports
Prep Sports
Taking
a toll
Mental health at the
forefront of high
school sports’ return
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
D
uring a recent television
interview, Patrick Walsh,
a football coach for Serra High
School in Southern California,
made a plea for his state to restart
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin file
Members of the Summit High School football team maintain a safe social distance while running through conditioning drills during
the summer.
youth sports.
“The biggest issue is kids are los-
ing hope,” he said. “Mental health is
declining, and we think youth sports
can help.”
Oregon, Washington and California
are still grappling with how to return
to official high school competition for
the first time in nearly a year. At the
forefront of the discussion is not the
number of games, the missing out on
state titles or players losing chances
at receiving college scholarships, but
rather, the mental health impact on
youth athletes.
“The social aspect as well, being
around friends, teammates and ded-
ication towards their craft whatever
sport that might be,” said Dr. Kyle
Ahlf of Peak Wellness Services in
Bend. “Those are the basics that ath-
letes are missing out on.”
As of now, practices for traditional
“The biggest issue is kids are losing hope. Mental health is declining,
and we think youth sports can help.”
— Patrick Walsh, a football coach for Serra High School in Southern California
fall sports are set to begin Feb. 22
(Feb. 8 for football) with official con-
tests starting the week of March 1. The
Oregon School Activities Association
will hold an executive board meeting
on Feb. 8 to further clarify what the
“fall” season will look like.
The OSAA, the school’s athletic di-
rectors and coaches all seem to agree
the mental health of student athletes is
the driving force behind bringing high
school sports back.
It is a sentiment that Redmond
High football coach Seth Womack
shares. The planning required to op-
erate a football program during a pan-
demic — scheduling, safety protocols,
practice restrictions and weight room
logistics — has taken a back seat to
the most challenging issue: telling his
players their season continues to be
delayed.
“The kids want to play,” Womack
said. “They have been on fieldwork
this whole week and our kids are
showing up. We are just trying to keep
morale up.”
Nick Moss wanted to be the cool
dad, but recently he has found himself
having to be a dorky dad just to try
and put a smile on his daughter, Lay-
la’s, and son, Jakoby’s faces. He found
his daughter, a freshman cheerleader
and lacrosse player, being sad with the
continuous bad news while Jakoby, a
junior quarterback for the Cougars
grows with frustration.
“I try everything that I can,” Moss
said. “I feel if you let a little bit of that
fester it is only going to get worse, it is
best to nip it in the bud. The problem
is we will know more in two weeks,
then two weeks go by and nothing
changes.”
Last week, Washington eased its re-
strictions to allow for different areas
to allow for high school football to
return to play. With Oregon, Wash-
ington and California having similar
guidelines to one another, there is op-
timism that Oregon might follow suit.
“We are seeing some hope, we just
hope it isn’t false hope,” Moss said.
See Mental health / B2
MOTORSPORTS | ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
Johnson invigorated after stint in prestigious Rolex 24
BY JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
The nerves hit Jimmie John-
son as he stood on the start-
ing grid before the Rolex 24 at
Daytona.
The seven-time NASCAR
champion is beginning a new
chapter of his career — at 45
years old — in unfamiliar race
cars. He was tabbed to start
the most prestigious sports car
race in America for his Action
Express team and Johnson had
just one goal for his first stint
in the Cadillac.
“Certainly didn’t want to
break the toy in the first couple
of hours,” Johnson said after
driving about 70 minutes Sat-
urday around Daytona Inter-
national Speedway.
He gave the No. 48 over to
teammate Simon Pagenaud
and then turned to Kamui Ko-
bayashi, the two-time reigning
winner of the Rolex 24, for an
animated debrief.
Johnson, a little more than
two months removed as the
most dominant NASCAR
driver of the last two decades,
has “jumped into the deep end
of the pool with weights on
my ankles” as he transitions
into new formulas of racing.
This Rolex 24 is the eighth of
his career but first in a decade
and its a warmup for his move
to IndyCar, where he’ll be a
rookie in a field stacked with
drivers half his age.
His career change has made
for a busy offseason of testing
alongside some of the top driv-
ers in the world and the de-
mands have lit a spark in John-
son. He was winless in the final
three seasons of his NASCAR
career.
“I know the world that I’m
stepping into and I know what
I walked away from and the
comfort that I had there, and
I’m very aware of how uncom-
fortable I am going to be step-
ping into this new arena and it
makes me feel alive,” Johnson
said.
The Rolex began with a field
of 50 cars, a rebound after an
event-low 38 entries last season.
Daytona officials said infield
attendance would be limited
for the event but did not release
a capacity number. Campers
were only permitted in moto-
rhomes with tents banned and
masks required on property.
Alegra Motorsports an-
nounced right before the race
began that driver Michael de
Quesada tested positive for
COVID-19 and had left the
speedway to self isolate. He was
replaced in the Mercedes com-
peting in the GT Daytona class
by Mike Skeen.
Otherwise, the event went
on as scheduled. The midway
bustled with fans visiting man-
ufacturer displays, the Ferris
Wheel was up and running
and many of the best road
course racers in the world were
eager for the twice-round-the-
clock endurance event.
Johnson held his own in his
first stint driving the Cadillac
and the Action Express entry,
fielded in part with Hendrick
Motorsports and sponsored by
Ally, has a solid chance at the
overall win.
See Motorsports / B2
FREESKIING | SUPERPIPE
17-year-old daredevil Eileen Gu
could be China’s next Olympic star
BY EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
ASPEN, Colo. — When
sports fans hear the name
Eileen Gu over the next 12
months — and they will hear
it a lot — it will not be by ac-
cident.
Hard work, laser-focused
planning, an unworldly wealth
of talent and a splendid bit of
timing could turn this 17-year-
old freeskier, who hails from
San Francisco but whose
mother is from China, into the
most recognizable daredevil in
the action-sports world.
She broke through this
weekend to become a two-time
Winter X-Games champion
— once on the halfpipe Friday,
then again on the slopestyle
course Saturday. Those victo-
ries place Gu squarely on the
short list of gold-medal con-
tenders at the Beijing Olympics
next February.
Wins there could be noth-
ing less than transformative for
snow sports in China. Though
Gu grew up in the United
States and skied most of her
childhood on the U.S. team,
she will compete for the home
team at the Beijing Olym-
pics. It was a difficult decision
made less so because of the un-
tapped audience in that coun-
try. When China was bidding
to host the Olympics, it set a
target of putting 300 million
people on snow in a country of
1.4 billion.
Gu, who speaks fluent Man-
darin and makes yearly trips
to China with her mom, Yan,
figures she could do her fair
share to bring some young girls
along for the ride.
“Some people retire with 10
gold medals and then, they’re
30 years old and don’t know
what to do,” she said. “But I
want to be able to have those
medals and to be able to feel
like I’ve changed someone’s life
or changed the sport or intro-
duced the sport to a country
where it wasn’t before.”
See Star / B6
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP
Winter X Games rookie Eileen Gu airs out of the superpipe during wom-
en’s finals at the 2021 Winter X Games Aspen on Friday night in Aspen,
Colorado. Gu took home the gold in her first superpipe final.