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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2021)
INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS, MARKET RECAP & WEATHER B S PORTS THE BULLETIN " SUNday, FEBr Ua r y 7, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports NFL Herbert offensive rookie of year LOS ANGELES — Be- fore the season began, no one was sure if Justin Her- bert would play in 2020. By the time it was over, no one was sure if Herbert could have played any better. The Chargers QB capped his impressive ar- rival Saturday by winning the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year award during the NFL Honors awards. “Being a rookie quar- terback is probably the hardest situation to be in in the NFL,” teammate Jus- tin Jackson said. “And he made it look easy, man. That’s how you know he’s going to be a great player. He already is a great player, if we’re going to be honest.” Herbert, drafted No. 6 overall in April, opened the season as the backup to veteran Tyrod Taylor. But Taylor was unable to start the Chargers’ Week 2 game against Kansas City after a locker room medical accident minutes before kickoff re- sulted in him suffering a punctured lung. Herbert was forced into action and led the offense on an eight-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to open the game, scoring himself on a four-yard keeper. He never did relinquish the starting job, even after Taylor returned to health. “The kid’s absolutely incredible on the football field,” linebacker Drue Tranquill said. “And I think he’s even a better person.” Herbert completed 66.6% of his passes for 4,336 yards and 31 touch- downs with 10 intercep- tions. He set numerous fran- chise and league rookie records, produced eight 300-yard passing games and threw for at least three touchdowns six times. He also ran for five scores. Also on Saturday night, Green Bay Packers quar- terback Aaron Rodgers edged out Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Ma- homes for the most valu- able player award, Rodg- ers’ third; Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry was named offensive player of the year; L.A. Rams tackle Aaron Donald is the defensive player of the year; Washington’s Chase Young is the defensive rookie of the year; Young’s teammate Alex Smith is the comeback player of the year; Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski is the coach of the year. The NFL also an- nounced the 2021 Hall of Fame class: Peyton Manning, Charles Wood- son, Calvin Johnson, Alan Faneca, John Lynch, Drew Pearson, and former Raid- ers and Seahawks coach Tom Flores. Leading the way outside Former champion Leon Spinks dies LAS VEGAS — Former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks Jr. has died after battling prostate and other cancers. He was 67. Spinks died Friday night, according to a release from a public relations firm. His wife, Brenda Glur Spinks, and a few close friends and other family members were by his side when he passed away. Spinks won gold at the 1976 Montreal Olym- pics. But he rose in prom- inence when he beat Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title in 1978. — Associated Press Storylines galore as Mahomes, Brady clash BY BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin Mike Rougeux was named the new executive director of the Bend Endurance Academy, which offers development programs for youth and juniors in rock climbing, cycling, and nordic skiing. New executive director of Bend Endurance Academy guides the nonprofit through the pandemic BY MARK MORICAL The Bulletin M ike Rougeux stepped in as the interim executive director of the Bend Endurance Academy the first week of March last year. “Little did I know what the next week was going to bring,” Rougeux said this week. “Some of those indoor programs, like dance or gymnastics, or basketball, have definitely been more impacted. But people are still hungry to get their kids that social interaction. So outdoor programs are more able to operate and parents are more comfortable with it.” — Mike Rougeux, executive director of the Bend Endurance Academy Rougeux has led the Bend Endurance Academy — a local nonprofit founded in 2009 that offers development programs for youth and juniors in rock climbing, mountain biking, and nordic skiing — throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and was recently announced as the offi- cial new executive director by the organi- zation’s governing board. The longtime climbing director of the Bend Endurance Academy, Rougeux took over for former executive director Sandy Visnak. Operating youth outdoor sports pro- grams has certainly been a challenge during the pandemic, but more and more youth are turning to outdoor pur- suits as indoor sports have been mostly shut down over the past year. See Outdoors / B3 Someone will make his- tory Sunday in a Super Bowl so filled with storylines it would fill a season of TV programming. Tom Brady, already the true Game of Thrones king, going for a seventh ring. Patrick Mahomes, the ap- parent heir to the quarter- backing summit, seeking a second in a row with Kansas City — something no team has done INSIDE since Brady • Nickelodeon led New England to to have sig- nificant pres- the double ence in CBS’s in the 2003 coverage and ’04 sea- of the Big sons. Game, B3 Brady, 43, is in his 10th NFL title game, but with a new outfit, the Buc- caneers — who happen to call Tampa home. Yes, Tampa, Florida, where the Super Bowl is being played this year. Pirates of the Ca- ribbean make port: No host team has ever played in the big one in its home stadium. “There’s a lot that comes along with the Super Bowl,” says Rob Gronkowski, the three-time champion tight end who came out of retire- ment to reunite with Brady. “There’s a lot that comes along with this week. I’ve been there before. I’ve ex- perienced it all before. But just having it at home, cut- ting out the travel, knowing where you can stay, where your friends can stay, where you family can stay, it just makes it a lot easier to have it at your home stadium, big time.” See Super Bowl / B3 TENNIS | AUSTRALIAN OPEN PREVIEW MOTORSPORTS | NASCAR SEASON PREVIEW New teams, new tracks, new energy BY JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer Andy Brownbill/AP file Serena Williams reacts after losing a point to Karolina Pliskova during the 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. — Los Angeles Times BOXING NFL | SUPER BOWL LV Outdoors As Serena, Nadal eye records, virus looms BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer Easy as it is to assemble a list of significant Australian Open story lines — from Ra- fael Nadal’s bid for a men’s-re- cord 21st Grand Slam singles trophy to Serena Williams’ try for her 24th, from Novak Djokovic’s attempt to win a third consecutive title at Mel- bourne Park to Sofia Kenin’s defense of her first major championship, and so on — nothing hangs over the up- coming two weeks quite like questions involving the coro- navirus. There is, after all, still a pan- demic in progress. “During the tough months of quarantine in Spain,” said Nadal, who equaled Roger Federer at 20 majors, three ahead of Djokovic, by winning the French Open in October, “(there) have been too many problems to think about ten- nis, no?” And no matter how much better Australia has contained its COVID-19 outbreak than countries such as the United States, a reminder of the pre- carious nature of a large, in- ternational sports event came just a handful of days before the scheduled beginning of the year’s first Grand Slam tennis tournament on Monday (Sun- day PST): See Tennis / B2 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mi- chael Jordan took his own ad- vice and just did it: Air Jordan formed his own NASCAR team and expects the founda- tion will be in place to build a stock car Dream Team cen- tered around Bubba Wallace. Jordan has some company on the celebrity starting grid: Pitbull bought his own piece of a NASCAR team and “Mr. Worldwide” could have fans — up to 30,000 of them at the Daytona 500 — shouting “Dale!” at next week’s season opener. “There’s no better time to be involved in NASCAR,” said Pitbull, who was attracted to the sport by the 1990 movie “Days of Thunder” and is now partnered with new team Trackhouse Racing, which along with Mexican driver Daniel Suarez provides a plat- form to reach a broader au- dience. “In the same way that mu- sic is a universal language, I also see NASCAR as a univer- sal language,” Pitbull added. “Everybody loves a fast car and a great story.” The fan favorites extend well beyond the owner’s box. Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, is the reign- ing champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner. Denny Hamlin — who helped usher MJ into the sport — has kids Ralph Freso/AP file Chase Elliott holds up the NASCAR Cup Series season championship trophy as he celebrates with his race crew in victory lane after win- ning at Phoenix Raceway in November in Avondale, Arizona. asking about his PJs in a na- tional commercial tagline he can’t shake. The schedule underwent an overdue overhaul and now has a whopping seven road courses and five new venues. NASCAR is even set for an off-road detour through the dirt at fan-favorite Bristol Mo- tor Speedway. Perhaps in any other sea- son, NASCAR could raise a glass to what its broadcast partner is billing as “The Best Season Ever.” But promis- ing “best” anything in a pan- demic seems as outlandish as a 62-year-old driver — 1990 winner Derrike Cope — in the Daytona 500. Yet here we are. While NASCAR can hope the racial reckoning from last season that led to its Con- federate flag ban have eased, concerns that it can reach the season finale without inter- ruptions to the schedule and drivers falling ill still linger. NASCAR last year navi- gated the pandemic by first filling the free time with na- tionally televised iRacing and found a way to become one of the first major sports to re- sume competition in May. It was the first sport to complete its full schedule but got to November only by moving races, running without spectators or limited spectators, and trusting par- ticipants to monitor their own health. See NASCAR / B3