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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2021)
FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT A5 S PORTS THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports GOLF Sorenstam to play in LPGA event More than a decade after Annika Sorenstam won her last LPGA Tour event, she’s ready to tee it up again. The LPGA Tour an- nounced on Twitter that Sorenstam, 50, has com- mitted to play the Gain- bridge LPGA in Orlando, Florida, scheduled for Feb. 25-28 on her home course of Lake Nona. It will be her first official event since she missed the cut in the season-end- ing ADT Championship at Trump International in 2008, her final season of a Hall of Fame career that included 72 wins on the LPGA Tour and 10 ma- jors. Her last victory was the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in 2008, and a month later she an- nounced she was retiring. Sorenstam recently played the PNC Challenge in December with her fa- ther, Tom. She said then her son was starting to play and motivating her to get back on the golf course. Sorenstam had said she was interested in a few senior events but did not hint at playing an official LPGA event. She was part of the celebrity field at the sea- son-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions last month. Sorenstam has kept busy since retirement, with two children at home and a foundation that includes a focus on junior golf. She also was appointed pres- ident of the International Golf Federation, which oversees the Olympics. Sorenstam received heavy criticism for accept- ing the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Donald Trump on Jan. 7, one day after a deadly riot at the U.S. Cap- itol as Congress was certi- fying the election victory of President Joe Biden. — Associated Press PREP SPORTS COMMENTARY Gov. Brown dropping the ball on high school sports BY JOHN CANZANO The Oregonian Officials in Michigan cleared high school basketball and ice hockey teams to return to play this week. Competitive cheer and wrestling can begin, too. So if you have the financial means and are ready to tap out of the bureaucracy of the state of Ore- gon, pack up and have at it. I won’t blame you. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority have boxed the non-affluent out of playing “contact” high school sports to this point. I know more than one family that has secured a short-term lease in another state and sent one par- ent and a child to go play their prep sports season. All because our state is woe- fully out of touch with the science and data that proves playing seven-on-seven foot- ball is really no different than holding a full-contact football season. The National Federa- tion of State High School As- sociations issued a statement this week indicating its research found that “proven cases of di- rect COVID-19 transmission during athletics remain rela- tively rare.” Turns out, per the orga- nization that, “the majority of sports-related spread of COVID-19 appears to occur from social contact, not during sports participation.” On Monday the governing body of high school athletics in our state was left to formulate a plan to create flag football or a seven-on-seven league or maybe some kind of virtual combine for the high school kids. I drove past a high school football field Monday late af- ternoon and found the varsity team lined up in formations running plays vs. air. They wore masks and didn’t have pads on. I’m left wondering if anyone in Salem is paying attention to what’s happened as it pertains to sports in our country. The NBA doesn’t have a proven case of COVID-19 trans- mission during competition. Neither does the NFL, MLB or college football or basketball. The high school data in other states echos that. We know that competition is a low-risk en- deavor. The medical community has learned that it needs to be open to re-assessing evidence and making appropriate changes to policy. So why are we still talking about a tiered system for high school sports in Oregon? New York has cleared high school contact sports. Illinois did it. So did New Mexico, too. They long ago played in a long list of other states. Peter Weber, head of the OSAA told me on Monday, “We believe that with the right protocols in place, it’s been done in other states, we can do it here.” Gov. Kate Brown’s office is- sued more word salad this week as it pertains to clearing kids to play sports. I can only surmise that those in charge haven’t spent much time communicat- ing with high school kids who are frustrated, depressed and feeling as though they don’t matter to our state leaders. See Brown / A6 ALPINE SKIING Good time to say goodbye Two-time Olympic champion skier Ted Ligety to retire after worlds BY PAT GRAHAM Associated Press T ed Ligety’s young son recently brought home a medal he earned at ski school and wondered if dad had any of his own. NFL Schottenheimer, ex-coach, dies at 77 Marty Schottenheimer, who won 200 regu- lar-season games with four NFL teams thanks to his “Martyball” brand of smash-mouth football but regularly fell short in the playoffs, has died. He was 77. Schottenheimer died Monday night in Char- lotte, North Carolina, his family said through Bob Moore, former Kansas City Chiefs publicist. He was di- agnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014. He was moved to a hospice on Jan. 30. Schottenheimer was the eighth-winningest coach in NFL history. He went 200-126-1 in 21 seasons with the Cleve- land Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and San Diego Chargers. His success was rooted in “Martyball,” a conser- vative approach that fea- tured a strong running game and tough defense. He hated the then-Oak- land Raiders and loved the mantra, “One play at a time,” which he’d holler at his players in the pre-kick- off huddle. Winning in the regular season was never a prob- lem. Schottenheimer’s teams won 10 or more games 11 times, includ- ing a glistening 14-2 re- cord with the Chargers in 2006 that earned them the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs. It’s what happened in January that haunted Schottenheimer, who was just 5-13 in the post- season. — Associated Press The two-time Olympic champion rummaged around to locate his medals. They then proudly pa- raded around the house with them. More golden moments like that with the family is reason No. 1 why Ligety plans to retire from the World Cup circuit, effective after the world champi- onships currently going on in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Ligety’s final race will be the giant slalom on Feb. 19. “I feel really lucky to have done what I’ve done and be in a place in my life and my career where I’m able to walk away on a happy note,” Ligety said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m just excited for that next step. It’s going to be scary and different and all those things, but it’s definitely ex- citing.” Known for his smooth, technical racing, Ligety captured a surprise gold medal in the combined at the 2006 Turin Olympics and then another gold medal eight years later in the giant slalom at the So- chi Games as the favorite. Giovanni Auletta/AP file Ted Ligety has been known for his smooth, technical racing in giant slalom. His storied career also includes five wins at world championships, 25 World Cup victories and five season-long World Cup giant slalom titles. Ligety’s dominance in the giant slalom once led Austrian skiing great Marcel Hirscher to pronounce him “Mr. GS.” Now, “Mr. GS” simply wants to be known as “Dad.” The 36-year-old Ligety’s retirement plans include spending more time with his wife, Mia, and kids at home in Park City, Utah. He has a nearly 4-year- old son, Jax, who’s already showing his talent in ski school, along with twin boys, Alec and Will, who are 7 months old. Ligety’s desire to dart off to Europe to race and train has dwindled next to the prospects of being home for the milestones of his kids. See Ligety / A7 KOBE BRYANT Pilot’s poor decisions blamed in chopper crash BY STEFANIE DAZIO, BRIAN MELLEY AND DAVID KOENIG Associated Press Jessica Hill/AP file Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna watch the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between Connecticut and Houston in March 2019, in Storrs, Connecticut. LOS ANGELES — The pi- lot who crashed the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, killing all nine aboard, made a se- ries of poor decisions that led him to fly blindly into a wall of clouds where he became so disoriented he thought he was climbing when the craft was plunging toward a South- ern California hillside, federal safety officials said Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board primarily blamed Ara Zobayan in the Jan. 26, 2020, crash that killed the pilot along with Bryant, his daugh- ter and six other passengers heading to a girls basketball tournament. Zobayan, an experienced pilot, ignored his training, vio- lated flight rules by flying into conditions where he couldn’t see and failed to take alter- nate measures, such as slowing down and landing or switching to auto-pilot, that would have averted the tragedy. The NTSB said it was likely he felt pres- sure to deliver his star client to his daughter’s game. The agency announced the long-awaited findings during a four-hour hearing pinpointing probable causes of what went awry in the 40-minute flight. The crash led to widespread public mourning for the retired basketball star, several lawsuits and prompted state and federal legislation. The agency also faulted Is- land Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the aircraft, for inadequate review and over- sight of safety matters. When Zobayan decided to climb above the clouds, he en- tered a trap. Once a pilot loses visual cues by flying into fog or darkness, the inner ear can send erroneous signals to the brain that causes spatial disori- entation. It’s sometimes known as “the leans,” causing pilots to believe they are flying aircraft straight and level when they are banking. Zobayan radioed air traffic controllers that he was climbing when, in fact, he was banking and descending rapidly toward the steep hills near Calabasas, NTSB investigators concluded. See Kobe / A6