FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
NFL
Expectations high
for Herbert in 2021
Justin Herbert will
attempt to improve on
what was an unexpect-
edly successful rookie
season in 2020 by reach-
ing new heights in 2021.
Expectations are much
higher for the quarter-
back and the team in
2021. The Chargers have
a new coach in Brandon
Staley, and a new of-
fensive coordinator, Joe
Lombardi. The Chargers
rebuilt their offensive line
to better protect Herbert
and he’ll have a bevy of
weapons on offense.
Many experts have se-
lected the Chargers as a
potential surprise team
to earn a playoff berth
in 2021. In addition, NFL
Network analyst Peter
Schrager selected Her-
bert as a dark horse can-
didate for the league’s
MVP award.
“He’s got a new coach.
There’s some new weap-
ons. I look at that of-
fensive line … they re-
vamped this entire front
five to protect this guy,”
Schrager said. “I think
Herbert has the mental
makeup. I think he’s got
the sizzle and the Char-
gers are going to be a
team to watch this year
because of that quarter-
back, Justin Herbert.”
Herbert and the Char-
gers posted four consec-
utive wins to close out
the 2020 season . Herbert
registered a grade of 77.4
under pressure in 2020,
the highest of any quar-
terback, according to Pro
Football Focus. Herbert
also threw 13 touchdown
passes while under pres-
sure, second only to Rus-
sell Wilson of the Seattle
Seahawks, according to
Pro Football Focus.
— The Oregonian
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
’Bama-Miami on
opening weekend
ESPN’s opening week-
end of college football fea-
tures defending national
champion Alabama fac-
ing Miami in Atlanta and
Clemson vs. Georgia in
Charlotte, North Carolina.
The network also an-
nounced a six-year agree-
ment with the Mid-East-
ern Athletic Conference
and Southwestern Athletic
Conference to continue
broadcasting the MEAC/
SWAC Challenge Kickoff
and the Celebration Bowl
matching both leagues’
champions. Both games
take place in Atlanta.
In anticipation of a re-
turn to normal this season,
ESPN announced Tuesday
its featured matchups for
Labor Day weekend and
the first three Saturday
night games on ABC.
The pandemic caused
most nonconference
games to be canceled last
season, along with a de-
layed start to the season
in the Power Five con-
ferences. This season is
expected to start on time
with the schedule intact
and Sept. 4 as the first full
Saturday of major college
football games.
Alabama-Miami will
kick off at 12:30 p.m.
and air on ABC, followed
by Clemson-Georgia at
4:30 p.m.
Notre Dame will play
at Florida State on Sun-
day, Sept. 5, kicking off at
4:30 p.m.
The Labor Day night
game will be Louisville
against Mississippi in At-
lanta at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The ABC Saturday night
matchups for the next
two weeks of the season
will be Washington at
Michigan on Sept. 11 and
Auburn at Penn State on
Sept. 18.
— Associated Press
MLB COMMENTARY
Next step in the MLB to PDX movement belongs to the people
BY JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
A friend of mine let me know
this morning that he’s going to
Petco Park to see the Rockies
and Padres today. I’ve never
been more envious of someone
about to pay $6 for a hot dog.
It got me thinking about
Portland and Major League
Baseball.
A recent Forbes piece
pointed out that commissioner
Rob Manfred is talking expan-
sion again. His owners need an
infusion of cash amid the pan-
demic. Expansion is the quick-
est way to provide it. Manfred
set the expansion-franchise fee
in the $2 billion neighborhood.
There’s another approximate $2
billion needed to build a ball-
park, bringing the total to a cool
$4 billion.
Here’s the question for the
Portland Diamond Project: Do
your backers have the needed
cash or credit, and the desire to
spend it in Portland?
That’s the $4 billion question.
I’ve spent considerable time
in recent months talking with
business leaders in Portland.
They’re frustrated with the mess
downtown and the lack of a
plan to fix it.
This is much bigger than
bringing a ballpark to
Portland. It’s about re-
framing the image and
condition of the most
notable city in our state.
One of them, Columbia CEO
Tim Boyle, sent the Oregon
Department of Transportation
$145,000 to be used to clean up
the highways (I-405 and High-
way 26) around downtown
Portland. ODOT spent $14,000
and sent the rest back, telling
Boyle it couldn’t figure out how
to use it. He then offered the
balance to the City of Portland.
He waited a frustrating year for
them, then Boyle shifted gears
and gave the money instead to
two charities aimed at down-
town cleanup.
Said Boyle: “Others are ready
to help, but we need a leader
and a plan.”
My colleague, Steve Duin,
wrote a hopeful piece this week
about modular housing units
that are being used to give
homeless people a warm, safe
place to sleep. There’s also a pro-
posed infusion of $240 million
from the Oregon Legislature
on the horizon. But for all that,
the reality remains that there
are simply too many people
without a safe place to lay their
heads right now. Also, Portland
is a glaring mess.
I’m as eager to see Port-
land cleaned up as you are, but
something tells me it’s going
to take a massive private ef-
fort. One likely fueled by those
frustrated business owners and
developers. Also, by you and I,
because if we leave this to lead-
ership in the city and state it’s
just not going to get done.
See MLB / A6
GOLF
In a good place
at the PGA
Jordan Spieth trying to become
only the 6th player to complete
the career Grand Slam
BY DOUG FERGUSON • AP Golf Writer
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. —
J
ordan Spieth has a
much clearer outlook
now than he did the
last time the PGA Championship
was at Kiawah Island.
For starters, he wasn’t even at
Kiawah in 2012.
Spieth was in Denver that week
preparing for the U.S. Amateur
while trying to decide whether
to turn pro or return to Texas for
Matt York/AP photo
his sophomore year of college.
Jordan Spieth hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during a practice round at the PGA Championship on the Ocean Course Tuesday in
Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
With an unclear future weighing
on him, he had to face NCAA cham-
pion Thomas Pieters in the opening
round at Cherry Hills and lost on the
18th hole.
Spieth headed back to school.
“I wasn’t in a good place back then,”
he said with a laugh Tuesday as he
headed out for his first look at the
windswept Ocean Course at Kiawah
Island.
Now it’s different, for a variety of
reasons.
Spieth has emerged from three dark
years of not winning, rarely even con-
tending and a slide so far down the
world ranking that he nearly fell out of seven of his last nine tournaments,
including the last four, one of those a
the top 100. He often says he’ll always
victory in the Texas Open for
bet on himself — a reference to
his first trophy since Royal
self-belief, not gambling —
Birkdale. He’s not all the
and there was a time the
Inside
way back — what golfer
odds were getting pretty
Brooks Koepka’s
ever feels that way? —
long.
knee still hurting,
but is among the leading
He comes into the
but he will play
favorites going into the
PGA Championship
PGA , A7
second major of the year.
trying to become only
And he believes the
the sixth player to com-
rough times have made him
plete the career Grand Slam,
better.
and this chance is as good as
“I’ve proven to be very human. It’s
any since he captured the third leg in
kind of fun,” Spieth said. “When I’ve
the 2017 British Open.
been on in the past, I’ve won tour-
Spieth has finished in the top 10 in
naments by eight out here, and that’s
obviously the goal. But the ability to
shun off a bad shot and come back
the next hole and make a long putt or
something like that — just the grind
— is enjoyable when you’re on the
positive momentum side of it.”
Spieth isn’t sure when he turned
the corner. He points to a two-week
stretch at Phoenix and Pebble Beach
where he had chances to win on Sun-
day as evidence he was on the right
track.
Will Zalatoris offered another ex-
ample.
See Spieth / A7
NBA
LeBron vs. Steph: Play-in game
will be a superstar tussle
BY TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
LeBron vs. Steph.
Oh, what a way to get into
NBA playoff mode.
Wednesday night includes
No. 10 San Antonio at No. 9
Memphis and No. 8 Golden
State at the seventh-seeded Los
Angeles Lakers.
LeBron James and Stephen
Curry have squared off four
times for championships,
back in the days of those War-
riors-Cleveland matchups in
the NBA Finals being annual
events.
They’ll square off Wednes-
day for a slightly different
prize — the No. 7 seed in the
West playoffs, but it’ll still be
a game loaded with hype and
intrigue.
“It’ll be a different scenario,
but another chapter in it,”
said Curry, the NBA’s scoring
champion this season for the
second time in his career. “At
the end of the day, you expect
greatness. That’s the part I’ve
enjoyed so much about play-
ing in the finals against him
… those games that matter, it
just brings out another level of
intensity and excitement and a
sense of urgency about it, be-
cause you know how good you
have to play to win games like
that.”
The Lakers are still the sec-
ond choice to win the NBA
title, according to FanDuel,
behind only Brooklyn. And
they’re the favorites to win the
West. Problem is, technically,
they’re not in the playoffs yet
— and they need a win in the
play-in round, Wednesday or
Friday if necessary, just to get
back to the postseason and
have a chance to defend their
championship.
James said he considers
Curry the MVP of the NBA
this season. He’s eager to cross
paths in a big-time moment
with Curry and the Warriors
once again, and said he’ll take
a playoff-game approach to the
play-in.
“They’ve got champion-
ship DNA as well,” James said.
“They’ve been there. They
know what it takes and what
it feels like to be in pressure
games.”
Confidence among the Lak-
ers does not appear to be in
short supply. They’ve been
Jeff Chiu/ AP
Golden State Warriors’ Kent Bazemore, top, pours water on the head of
teammate Stephen Curry after a game against the Memphis Grizzlies
in San Francisco on Sunday.
banged up all season, were
without James and Anthony
Davis for long stretches and
might have gotten another
scare when James appeared to
tweak his problematic right
ankle late in Sunday’s finale in
New Orleans.
James said afterward
that he’ll be fine, ready for
what comes next. He made
headlines a couple of weeks
ago when he said the person
at the NBA responsible for
coming up with the idea of the
play-in tournament should be
fired. If the Lakers don’t win
one of their next two games
and wind up missing the play-
offs, his opinion of the tourney
will figure to get worse.
See NBA / A6