FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • WEdNEsday, aprIL 28, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
NFL DRAFT
Some say Ducks’
Sewell is overrated
Penei Sewell is consid-
ered by most draft evalu-
ators as the best offensive
lineman in the 2021 NFL
draft.
The former Oregon
Duck’s combination of
power, athleticism and
speed is a potent mix that
has elevated him to a lofty
status in the draft. Sewell
is just 20, meaning there
is a high ceiling for his
upside. Those attributes
have many draft analysts
predicting Sewell won’t
last beyond the 10th over-
all pick in the draft, which
begins Thursday.
Sewell played at the
left tackle position for two
seasons with the Ducks.
He was exceptional in
pass protection, allowing
no sacks over 926 snaps in
2019, and only one sack
over 1,376 career snaps.
Not everyone is en-
amored with Sewell and
there are critics dissecting
his game. The critics point
to Sewell’s age, thin body
of work (21 games at
Oregon) and his decision
to opt out of the 2020
season due to the corona-
virus pandemic.
“A bit overrated. He
is a naturally thick, big-
framed tackle. His work-
out was actually better
than he played,” one
anonymous scout told
theathletic.com. “I didn’t
think he was super explo-
sive. He covered people
up with his size, and he
would gouge somebody
just because he was big-
ger than them. And name
one pass rusher he actu-
ally played against in the
Pac-12 who’s on a draft
board?”
The criticism could be
gaining some traction,
potentially leading to
Sewell’s stock taking a hit.
“I put the tape on ex-
pecting to see Jonathan
Ogden or Joe Thomas or
Walter Jones or Orlando
Pace, and I didn’t see it,”
one longtime scout told
theathletic.com.
Jones was the sixth
overall pick in the 1997
NFL draft and Ogden
was the fourth pick in the
1996 draft. Both players
have been inducted into
the Pro Football Hall of
Fame. Thomas, the No.
3 pick in the 2007 draft,
retired in 2017 and is ex-
pected to be inducted
into the Hall of Fame
when he’s eligible.
NFL
Who will
it be
at No. 3?
San Francisco 49ers face consequential
decision at quarterback in draft
BY JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. —
K
yle Shanahan gets advice about
what the San Francisco 49ers
should do with the No. 3 draft
pick wherever he goes these days.
Niners fans he runs into at restaurants, parents of
his kids’ friends, referees at youth soccer games or
longtime pals are happy to let the 49ers coach know
which quarterback they believe he and general man-
ager John Lynch should take after trading three first-
round picks to move up to No. 3 in the NFL draft on
Thursday night.
While the public sentiment among 49ers fans is
pointing to Ohio State’s Justin Fields and North Da-
kota State’s Trey Lance as the top two choices after
Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are projected to
go off the board at No. 1 and 2, Shanahan said he
won’t be swayed by public opinion and that Ala-
bama’s Mac Jones is squarely in contention.
“We do this for a living, and I think people should
be proud of us that we won’t let that affect our deci-
sion,” Shanahan said. “Then it’s up to us to live with
the consequences.”
NHL games to air
on TNT network
The National Hockey
League is coming to TNT.
The league and Turner
Sports on Tuesday an-
nounced a seven-year
agreement that begins
next season.
The deal means NBC’s
run of covering the league
ends after after this sea-
son’s playoffs. NBC has
broadcast games since
2005 and is in the final
season of a 10-year con-
tract.
When the Stanley
Cup Finals are shown on
Turner in 2023, it will mark
the first time since 1994
they will be only on cable.
The TNT arrangement
includes three Stan-
ley Cup Finals, up to 72
regular-season games,
half of the first- and sec-
ond-round playoff games
on TNT and TBS as well as
a conference final series.
One of the regular-season
games will be the NHL
Winter Classic, which is
played on New Year’s Day.
It also includes live
streaming and digital
rights across WarnerMedia
properties, including HBO
Max and Bleacher Report.
— Associated Press
“We decided we needed a starting quarterback.
So we traded two ones to get a starting
quarterback. That’s how much it costs to do
these type of things. Or you just sit there and
wait and keep your fingers crossed and hope
things work out.”
— Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers head coach
If this pick doesn’t work out the consequences for
Shanahan and Lynch could be significant based on
the heavy price they paid to move up in the draft.
San Francisco dealt the No. 12 pick in this year’s
draft, first-round picks in 2022 and ’23, as well as a
2022 third-rounder to Miami for the third selection
HORSE RACING | KENTUCKY DERBY
where they could be assured of one of the top pass-
ers in a quarterback-rich draft.
Shanahan said it’s a “little dramatic” to call this
one of the most consequential decisions in franchise
history, but it’s difficult to find many bigger ones.
“We decided we needed a starting quarterback.
So we traded two ones to get a starting quarterback,”
Shanahan said. “That’s how much it costs to do
these type of things. Or you just sit there and wait
and keep your fingers crossed and hope things work
out.”
The three likely possibilities offer different at-
tributes and Shanahan said he believed all of them
have what it takes to be the kind of quarterbacks
teams can win with in the NFL.
Shanahan said he had a preference at the time of
the deal in March but nothing “was set in stone.”
See 49ers / A6
YOUTH SPORTS | COMMENTARY
Governor’s office, state leaders have
a blind spot when it comes to sports
BY JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
Michael Conroy/AP file
— The Oregonian
HOCKEY
Mark Tenally/AP file
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is reportedly deciding among Ohio State’s Justin Fields, North Da-
kota State’s Trey Lance and Alabama’s Mac Jones for the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft.
Jockey Luis Saez rides Essential Quality to win the Breeders’ Cup Juve-
nile horse race at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, in No-
vember. Essential Quality is expected to be the first gray horse favored
to win the Kentucky Derby in 25 years.
Shades of gray rare among
Derby favorites, winners
BY STEPHEN WHYNO
Associated Press
Chris Goodlett has walked
around Churchill Downs many
times since joining the Ken-
tucky Derby Museum and
heard admiring fans say to each
other, “Oh,
INSIDE
look at that
beautiful gray
• Essential
Quality a 2-1 horse.”
favorite, A6
Not many of
those remarks
have come while looking at the
winner’s circle after the Derby.
Essential Quality is the first
gray horse to go off as the Ken-
tucky Derby favorite in 25
years. A gray horse hasn’t won
the Derby since Giacomo in
2005, and only eight grays have
won it since 1930.
According to historians and
experts, there are just fewer
gray horses compared to more
traditional chestnut, bay, brown
and black horses, and therefore
fewer chances to win the sport’s
biggest race.
“That genetic determinant
of the gray color is just not at
a high enough frequency in
the thoroughbred population,”
said Dr. James MacLeod, pro-
fessor of veterinary science at
the University of Kentucky’s
Gluck Equine Research Center.
“There’s no functional connec-
tion between the single-gene
determinant of gray coat color
and the genes associated with
elite athletic performance in
thoroughbred racehorses.”
Gray does belong in the spec-
trum of colors for elite race-
horses over the past century,
especially in recent decades.
Silver Charm won the first two
legs of the Triple Crown in 1997
before falling short in the Bel-
mont, and Winning Colors in
1988 remains the most recent
filly to win the Derby.
Success has just been rare,
with 110 grays running in the
Derby over the past 90 years
and 7.3% winning it. Goodlett
can’t say how that compares to
horses of other colors, which
have won the other 82 most re-
cent incarnations of the race.
See Derby / A6
I grew up playing sports. I
was crazy about them and my
parents supported it. In mid-
dle school I became the first
kid in my school’s history to
play all seven sports that were
offered.
My mother was the taxi
driver.
Give her the credit.
I played three sports for a
couple of years in high school.
Later, I played two in college.
Now, I’m around sports in
my profession and my three
daughters love sports them-
selves. What I’m saying is,
when I drive past a field or
court and see a game going
on, I have a good idea what’s
happening out there.
Our state leadership does
not. The Oregon Health Au-
thority doesn’t get it. Gov-
ernor Kate Brown’s office
doesn’t see it. She would have
done better in the last year
with a stronger staff around
her. The whole enterprise has
a glaring blind spot when it
comes to youth sports.
Give our state leaders some
credit for being willing to
re-evaluate their repeated
mistakes. They’ve revisited a
handful of mandates that had
errors and omissions in them.
But often, their fixes create
more questions. In the end,
I’m left puzzled as to why our
state leaders haven’t moved to
get a voice in the room who
understands the logistics,
challenges and nuances that
come with youth sports.
They badly need one.
Runners, competing out-
doors, were left masked up
and gasping for oxygen for
too long over the last year.
Soccer players are still stuck.
Runners, competing outdoors, were left masked up and
gasping for oxygen for too long over the last year. Soccer
players are still stuck. A centerfielder in youth baseball
or softball, standing at a great distance from anyone else,
is still being told to wear a mask or risk ejection.
A centerfielder in youth base-
ball or softball, standing at a
great distance from anyone
else, is still being told to wear
a mask or risk ejection. I have
a pile of emails and letters
from concerned parents who
aren’t just annoyed, they’re
terrified.
One mother wrote just
today of her soccer-playing
daughter, “She was playing the
second half when she came
over to me on the sidelines
crying and gasping. She had
been ‘breathing’ in through
her mask and couldn’t catch
her breath.”
The kid is 7 years old.
I’d give the OHA and Gov.
Brown credit for calling an
audible at the line of scrim-
mage this week. But I’m not
sure they’d understand the
analogy.
I’ll just say I’m glad
they’re now allowing some
cross-country runners and
track and field competitors to
pull the mask down if there’s
nobody within six feet. But
their new mandate has some
puzzling gaps in it, including
one for soccer.
Has anyone who makes
the rules ever been to a track
meet?
A diamond?
Played in a youth soccer
match? Or bothered to watch
one?
At the very beginning of
the pandemic, in that initial
news conference in March
2020, our public officials were
announcing shutdowns and
alerting the public of the dan-
gers. A reporter asked Gov.
Brown and the OHA officials
where this left the status of
Oregon and Oregon State’s
September home football
games.
Our state officials laughed
out loud.
It was a tell, folks. Our lead-
ers viewed college football as
some silly and unimportant
side show. They didn’t relate
to the 40,000-plus fans who
attend a game on a college
football weekend and plan
their lives around it. They
didn’t view the university ath-
letic departments the same as
other state businesses, never-
mind that OSU and Oregon
would later tell me they suf-
fered collective net losses of
$80 million-plus last year.
There are 99,000 high
school athletes who partici-
pate in OSAA sports this year.
Hundreds of thousands more
play youth sports. Do our
leaders see them? Will they
listen? Even to the OSAA,
who is desperate for answers?
Those kids will grow up and
become voters in our state.
Their parents already vote.
Turns out the most power-
ful lobbyist group in Oregon
remains largely ignored and I
wonder if anyone in Salem is
even aware of it.
They’ll pay for that one day.
See Youth sports / A7