FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021
PAC-12
BASEBALL
Beavs’ Ober named
player of the week
The Oregon State Bea-
vers’ successful start to
the 2021 season now in-
cludes a little individual
recognition from the Pac-
12 Conference.
Junior infielder Ryan
Ober on Tuesday was
named the Pac-12 Con-
ference Player of the
Week, earning the honor
for the first time in his
career thanks to prodi-
gious performance in the
Sanderson Ford Baseball
Classic.
Ober was dominant
in the Beavers’ sea-
son-opening tourna-
ment, batting .429 with
two home runs, two dou-
bles, six runs scored and
nine RBIs. The Beavers (3-
1) erupted for 41 runs in
the four-day event.
Only the first three
games counted toward
player of the week con-
sideration, but they were
an impressive three
games for Ober. He hit a
two-run home run in the
eighth inning of the Bea-
vers’ first game against
Kansas State, crushed a
grand slam in the second
game against New Mex-
ico and finished 2 for 3
with three RBIs and three
runs scored in the third
outing.
The Beavers play again
on Thursday, when they
open a four-game se-
ries at Grand Canyon in
Phoenix.
— The Oregonian
NWSL
Thorns ink Horan,
Dunn to contracts
The Portland Thorns
have signed star midfield-
ers Lindsey Horan and
Crystal Dunn to three-
year contracts, the team
announced Wednesday.
Although Horan and
Dunn will remain on con-
tract with the U.S. wom-
en’s national team, they
relinquished their NWSL
allocations from U.S. Soc-
cer as part of their new
deals with the Thorns.
Thorns coach Mark
Parsons called Horan and
Dunn “key pillars to our
future” in a statement.
“Their role on and off
the field is crucial to our
identity and the collective
goals of the club,” Parsons
said in the statement. “I
am inspired by their ded-
ication to the team and
our vision to take this im-
portant step forward as
a club.”
Horan is entering her
sixth season with the
Thorns, and the 2018
NWSL MVP ranks third in
club history in goals with
23 and fifth in games
started with 74.
Dunn, who came to
the Thorns via a trade
with OL Reign in Octo-
ber, won league MVP and
Golden Boot honors in
2015 when she scored
a league-high 15 goals.
Dunn has tallied 32 goals
and 20 assists across her
first six NWSL seasons.
“Having the ability to
sign two of the top play-
ers in the game to con-
tracts with Thorns FC is an
important move for our
club that highlights our
commitment as well as
the growth of the NWSL
in the global soccer land-
scape,” Thorns FC general
manager and president
of soccer Gavin Wilkinson
said in a statement.
Horan and Dunn will
join the Thorns in presea-
son camp after the con-
clusion of the SheBelieves
Cup in Orlando, Florida,
where they are com-
peting with the USWNT,
which routed Argentina
6-0 Wednesday night. See
A6 for a recap.
— The Oregonian
bendbulletin.com/sports
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Bump in
the road
Oregon coach Dana Altman looks to
get Ducks back on track in bid to
qualify for the NCAA Tournament
BY JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
EUGENE —
I
t’s that time of year again, when Dana
Altman works his magic and Oregon
gets hot entering the postseason.
The postseason train has rarely run late on
the Ducks under Altman, who has led UO to
a conference-leading 66-28 mark during the
second half of Pac-12 play over his 11 seasons.
Over the last seven years, Oregon is 35-8 after
Valentine’s Day in Pac-12 games.
“A lot of credit goes to Dana and the staff,” said
Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak, who has coached
against Altman for the past 10 years and is just 2-19
against Oregon in that span. “It’s
INSIDE
not atypical to have transfers on
this roster and top junior college
• Will OSU’s
players, not to mention plenty of
Ethan
five-star kids. When you talk about
Thompson
get recogni-
that combination, there’s some guys
tion he de-
back, (Will) Richardson and (Chris)
serves? A7
Duarte from a year ago, but there’s a
lot of new faces. I think what needs
to happen to be successful is that new faces find a
rhythm and get accustomed and fit into the system
and figure out where their niche is.
“Dana has always done a good job, a lot of his
teams peak at the right time and start gelling. Defi-
nitely kudos to what they’ve done. Their system is
not over-complicated. It’s pretty predictable what it
is they do and I think as the year goes on they get
really good at it. That’s all part of that success that
Oregon’s had since I’ve been here 10 years.”
The numbers don’t lie, not over such a large sam-
ple featuring so many different rosters and players
and varying levels of competitiveness in the Pac-12.
“Dana does as good a job as anybody in our
Ashley Landis/AP
Oregon head coach Dana Altman looks on during the Ducks’ game against Southern Cal on Monday in Los Angeles.
Altman is known for having his team playing its best late in the season heading into March Madness, but UO’s loss to
the Trojans may have thrown a wrench into that scenario.
league in terms of getting his team better as the year
goes on,” said Colorado coach Tad Boyle, who has
also coached against Altman for the past 10 years
and is 10-8 against UO and 5-5 over the last 10
meetings, the only Pac-12 team with a winning re-
cord against Oregon over Altman’s tenure.
In typical Altman fashion, he credited having
good players with being the primary reason for
Oregon turning getting hot in mid- and late-Febru-
ary and March into an annual tradition.
“The team aspect really takes over this time,” Al-
tman said. “You’re either with the team, the team
goals are the most important things, and if they’re
not, then you’re in trouble because some teams are
just trying to finish the year.
See Ducks / A7
MOTOR SPORTS | NASCAR COMMENTARY
GOLF COMMENTARY
Flag ban opens sport to diverse new crowd
BY JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP file
Tiger Woods, left, gives his son Charlie a fist bump after Charlie made a
putt on the 12th green during a practice round of the Father Son Chal-
lenge in Orlando, Florida, in December.
Woods escaped with his life;
we escaped from our grief
BY BILL PLASCHKE
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Twisted
metal on a February morning.
Wreckage of a vehicle wedged
amid the brush. Somber offi-
cial statement about a fallen
superstar.
When the news of Ti-
ger Woods’ single-car crash
scrolled across my phone Tues-
day, my heart leaped to my
throat as memories flooded
my brain.
Oh no. Not again. Not an-
other Kobe Bryant.
One day before the first an-
niversary of Bryant’s memorial
service, the Bryant tragedy ac-
tually was repeating itself? An-
other aging local athletic hero
who finally had found peace
was going to leave us too soon?
How much grief could one
sports landscape take?
It turns out, our worst fears
were not realized. For once
in these past horrendous 13
months, a bullet was dodged.
Woods escaped with his life.
We escaped from our grief.
See Woods / A6
A sign at the entrance to
Daytona International Speed-
way warned spectators the
Confederate flag was not wel-
come on property. Its pres-
ence, NASCAR wrote, “runs
contrary to our commitment
to providing a welcoming and
inclusive environment.”
Pass through the tun-
nel and onto the sprawling
grounds and not a single
Confederate flag was flying
over the campsites. If any
had been smuggled in, they
weren’t displayed to be easily
spotted over two weeks of rac-
ing at Daytona as the stock car
series kicked off its season.
NASCAR half-heartedly
tried in 2015 to ban the Stars
and Bars from its events, but
that first effort lacked a mean-
ingful enforcement plan. Five
years later, pushed by the only
Black driver during a summer
of national unrest, NASCAR
took its firmest position in its
73-year existence.
NASCAR is inextricably
tied to its Southern roots and
culture, and with it comes
a checkered racial history.
NASCAR founder Bill France
Sr. endorsed Alabama gover-
nor and segregationist George
Wallace for president, and
the Hall of Fame biography
for Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s
first Black driver, is white-
washed of his unrelenting bat-
tle for equality in the sport.
NASCAR was serious this
time, even if meant alienating
a portion of its fan base.
Steve Phelps, who in 2018
became NASCAR’s fifth pres-
ident and its most progres-
sive, only saw upside in social
consciousness — for every
fan who complained about
lost heritage, someone new
would discover a sport far
more inclusive than initially
perceived.
Phelps’ theory proved
true in June, on the very day
NASCAR banned the Con-
federate flag.
NFL running back Al-
vin Kamara heard about the
flag ban, heard about Bubba
Wallace standing up for ra-
cial equality and tuned in
that same night to watch a
rare midweek race. Kamara
saw Wallace, NASCAR’s only
Black fulltime driver, race
with a Black Lives Matter
paint scheme and wear a shirt
that read, I Can’t Breathe.
Four days later, Kamara
was at his very first race.
He’s now a super fan and
just 36 hours after attending
his first Daytona 500, Kamara
agreed to sponsor a young
Hispanic driver in last Sat-
urday’s Xfinity Series race.
Kamara, who is Black, was at
Daytona, this time as some-
one with a car on the track.
Michael Jordan made his
debut at Daytona as co-owner
of one of three new NASCAR
teams. Driven by Wallace,
23XI Racing is the only team
with a Black owner and Black
driver.
Pitbull also entered owner-
ship with Trackhouse Racing.
The Cuban-American en-
tertainer wants Trackhouse,
along with Mexican driver
Daniel Suarez, to establish it-
self as a NASCAR team with a
message of global unity.
Pitbull was all over Daytona
ahead of the Daytona 500,
posing for fans and celebrat-
ing with Suarez. Jordan played
golf at Oceanside Country
Club and schmoozed with
sponsors in a suite during the
race.
It is no coincidence these
NASCAR newcomers fol-
lowed the banning of the
Confederate flag.
“I don’t think this was a
place where a lot of us felt
comfortable being because
of what we thought,” Kamara
said. “You see that flag, you
see the scope of what’s going
on. … One bad apple spoils
the bunch.’”
See Motor sports / A7