FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
S PORTS
B3
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THE BULLETIN • FrIday, JaNUary 21, 2022
bendbulletin.com/sports
MLS
Timbers’ Valeri to
play in Argentina
PORTLAND — Port-
land Timbers midfielder
Diego Valeri is heading
home to Argentina.
The Timbers on Thurs-
day announced an agree-
ment with Lanus for the
transfer of the 35-year-old
former league MVP. Lanus
plays in Argentina’s top
division.
A nine-year veteran of
the Timbers, Valeri scored
100 goals and 104 assists
in 306 matches across
all competitions. He’s
the team regular season
leader for both goals (86)
and assists (91).
Valeri is the third player
in MLS history to reach
80 goals and 80 assists in
regular-season play.
He was named the
MLS Cup’s Most Valuable
Player in 2015 when the
Timbers defeated Co-
lumbus for the league
championship. In 2017,
he was honored as the
league MVP after scoring
21 goals with 11 assists.
He was a five-time MLS
All-Star and in 2020 was
named one of the league’s
25 greatest players.
“I do not believe there
has been a more impact-
ful Designated Player sign-
ing in the history of MLS
than Diego Valeri,” Timbers
owner Merritt Paulson
said in a statement.
Valeri also became a
beloved member of the
Portland community,
known for painting play-
rooms for foster children
and jumping into pickup
futsal games. Valeri and
his family were ardent
supporters of the Port-
land Thorns, the National
Women’s Soccer League
team.
In addition to the trans-
fer, the Timbers and Lanus
agreed to a testimonial
match in Portland next
year, during which Valeri
will play a half for each
team. Upon his retire-
ment, Valeri will be an am-
bassador for the Timbers.
PREP WRESTLING
Lessons
in losing
After tough loss in the Oregon Classic
final, Crook County rebounds with
dual-meet win over Mountain View
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
T
he Oregon Wrestling Classic title
was well within Crook County’s
reach, as the Cowboys held an
11-point lead over Thurston with just two
matches remaining in the 5A final of the
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
annual dual-meet tournament in Redmond.
But what could not happen — two losses by pins
— happened, and the Colts stunned the Cowboys
and walked away as the tournament champion in
the 5A division with a one-point
INSIDE
victory this past weekend.
The short-term disappointment
• High school
is not worrying Crook County,
sports
schedule
which still has its long-term goals
and results
well within reach.
in Score-
“I knew it was going to be tight,”
board, B4
said Crook County wrestling coach
Jake Gonzales. “I want to win ev-
erything, that is my competitive nature, but I think
it was good for us. We are using it as a way to get
better, and if we can do that then everything will
work out for us.”
The midseason OSAA coaches poll was released
Crook County’s Mitch Warren attempts to pin Mountain View’s Adrian Carpenter during a 120-pound match
Wednesday night in Bend.
“I want to win everything, that is my
competitive nature, but I think (losing) was
good for us. We are using it as a way to get
better, and if we can do that then everything
will work out for us.”
— Jake Gonzales, Crook County wrestling coach
Wednesday afternoon, and Crook County is right
in the thick of the highly competitive Class 5A at
No. 3, trailing only Crescent Valley and Thurston,
who received the same number of votes.
As frustrating as the narrow loss in the final
round of the Classic might have been, Crook
WINTER X GAMES | SNOWBOARDING
NFL moving closer to 1st female head coach
BY ROB MAADDI
AP Pro Football Writer
COLLEGE
SPORTS
NCAA — New constitu-
tion paves way to restruc-
turing. Story on B5.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK — Robot
umpires have been given
a promotion and will be
just one step from the
major leagues this season.
Major League Base-
ball is expanding its au-
tomated strike zone ex-
periment to Triple-A, the
highest level of the minor
leagues.
MLB’s website posted
a hiring notice seeking
seasonal employees to
operate the Automated
Ball and Strike system.
MLB said it is recruiting
employees to operate the
system for the Albuquer-
que Isotopes, Charlotte
Knights, El Paso Chihua-
huas, Las Vegas Aviators,
Oklahoma City Dodgers,
Reno Aces, Round Rock
Express, Sacramento River
Cats, Salt Lake Bees, Sugar
Land Skeeters and Ta-
coma Rainiers.
The independent At-
lantic League became
the first American profes-
sional league to let a com-
puter call balls and strikes
at its All-Star Game in July
2019 and experimented
with ABS during the sec-
ond half of that season. It
also was used in the Ari-
zona Fall League for top
prospects in 2019, draw-
ing complaints of its calls
on breaking balls.
— Associated Press
See Wrestling / B4
FOOTBALL
— Associated Press
Robot umps to be
used in Triple-A
County’s Tucker Bonner said it is something that
the team might have needed heading into the heart
of the schedule with district and state tournaments
just weeks away.
“It gave us something to work toward,” said the
126-pound Bonner. “We got a little ahead of our-
selves at the Oregon Classic.”
There were no signs of a hangover from the nar-
row defeat in the Cowboys’ Wednesday night dual
meet at Mountain View — which also finished sec-
ond at the Classic but in the 6A division — in what
has become something of a rivalry between two of
the state’s top programs.
Against the Cougars, the Cowboys came out
swinging, winning the first five matches — four by
pins — to jump out to a 30-0 lead.
Ng Han Guan/AP file
Scotty James, of Australia, performs a trick during the snowboard half-
pipe for the FIS Snowboard World Cup held in northern China in De-
cember 2019.
In a private halfpipe,
Aussie boarder schemes
for Winter Olympic gold
BY PAT GRAHAM
Associated Press
ASPEN, Colo. — On a pri-
vate halfpipe in Switzerland,
Scotty James schemed for the
future.
The location became his
own secret lab, the Australian
snowboarder joked, where he
was free to experiment with
new tricks and combinations,
and keep everything under the
radar.
Introducing James’ newest
creation: His spin on a triple
cork, the three-flip jump that
could be the trick needed to
win a gold medal at the Beijing
Games.
Never one to hold anything
back, the 27-year-old might
give the public a rare look at
his latest concoctions at the
Winter X Games on Friday, no
doubt wearing his trademark
red boxing-glove mittens (he
views competitions as prize
fights).
It’s a chance to give a tiny
glimpse of what could be in
store next month in China.
“I’m in a good position with
that trick,” James said in a
phone interview with The As-
sociated Press. “It’s a big trick
that requires a lot of energy.”
It’s a trick that a number
of Japanese riders have these
days, too. In December, two-
time Olympic silver medal-
ist Ayumu Hirano pulled off
what’s called a frontside triple
cork 1440, a jump that involves
three head-over-heels flips
with a twist while grabbing the
board above the 22-foot-high
halfpipe.
That was viewed as a game-
changer on the halfpipe circuit.
If the rumors prove accurate,
James might have more than
one version of the triple cork in
his bag of tricks.
No easy feat for him, either.
At 6-foot-2, he’s tall for a snow-
boarder and that’s a lot of ro-
tations.
See X Games / B5
The NFL is moving closer
to having its first female head
coach.
It may take a few more
years, perhaps another de-
cade. However, the question
is no longer if it’ll happen but
when it will happen.
“We asked basically every-
body that, including all the
head coaches, and I think the
general agreement is that it is
going to happen,” Jane Skin-
ner Goodell said on the AP
Pro Football Podcast. “I think
the important thing that ev-
erybody seemed to point
out was that it has to happen
organically and it has to be
a good fit, right? It’s going
to happen. … I do think it’s
in the probably near future.
Everybody, including the
women, want it to happen in
the right way so it’s the right
person at the right time.”
Skinner Goodell, a former
TV reporter who is married
to NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell, is the executive
producer of a new five-part
docuseries from NFL Films
called “Earnin’ It.” The series
highlights the careers of some
of the most powerful women
working in the league. The
first episode premieres Sun-
day on Peacock.
Last year, Tampa Bay Buc-
caneers assistant defensive
line coach Lori Locust and
assistant strength and condi-
tioning coach Maral Javadi-
far became the first female
coaches on a team to win the
Super Bowl. Sarah Thomas
also made history as the first
woman to officiate a Super
Bowl, working as the down
judge.
In 2020, Katie Sowers be-
came the first woman to
coach in a Super Bowl. She
was an offensive assistant for
the San Francisco 49ers in
Chris O’Meara/AP file
Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant strength and conditioning coach
Maral Javadifar reacts before a game against the New Orleans Saints
in 2019 in Tampa, Florida. Last year, Javadifar and Buccaneers assis-
tant defensive line coach Lori Locust became the first female coaches
on a team to win the Super Bowl.
their loss to Kansas City.
“Earnin’ It” spotlights Lo-
cust, Thomas, Washington
assistant running backs coach
Jennifer King and other trail-
blazing women. It will feature
first-hand accounts from NFL
owners, coaches, players, offi-
cials, agents and other league
insiders.
“The pace of change with
bringing smart football minds
who happen to be female into
the game has been really, re-
ally rapid,” Skinner Goodell
said. “I’m a former reporter
and I just felt like somebody
needed to chronicle this be-
cause it’s such a great story for
the NFL. But also, I feel like if
you’re in a different industry,
you might look at it and say,
I would like to make some
change and bring more di-
verse voices into our company
or our team.”
Singer/songwriter Ciara,
wife of Seattle Seahawks star
quarterback Russell Wilson,
narrates the series.
“I am honored to be a part
of something so special that
will undoubtedly be meaning-
ful to so many people,” Ciara
said. “I am awe-inspired by
their incredible stories and
am grateful to be part of shar-
ing them with the world.”
Buccaneers coach Bruce
Arians, Buffalo Bills coach
Sean McDermott, Hall of
Fame cornerback Deion
Sanders and New York Giants
running back Saquon Barkley
are among many men who
talk about the impact women
have had on football.
Arians realized in the early
1990s that women deserved
an opportunity to coach in
the NFL when he met Dot
Murphy, an assistant at Hinds
Junior College.
“I used to clinic with them
all the time and she was one
hell of a coach, so I knew it
back then,” Arians said. “It
was just who was going to
open the door. That was going
to be the thing.”
Arians and other promi-
nent coaches helped kick that
door down.
See NFL / B4