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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2022)
FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT A5 S PORTS THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022 bendbulletin.com/sports WNBA College football commentary Griner opened up during trip home WASHINGTON — WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. govern- ment plane that would bring her home. “I have been in prison for 10 months now, listen- ing to Russian. I want to talk,” Griner said, accord- ing to Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who helped secure the bas- ketball star’s release and bring her back to the U.S. last week. She then asked Carstens, referring to oth- ers on the plane: “But, first of all, who are these guys?” “And she moved right past me and went to ev- ery member on that crew, looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them, got their names, making a personal connection with them,” Carstens recalled in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It was really amazing.” Ultimately, Griner spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said. The two-time Olym- pic gold medalist and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star spoke about her time in the Russian penal colony and her months in cap- tivity, Carstens recalled, although he declined to go into specific details. “I was left with the impression this is an in- telligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person, a pa- triotic person,” Carstens said. “But above all, au- thentic. I hate the fact that I had to meet her in this manner, but I actually felt blessed having had a chance to get to know her.” Although Griner is un- dergoing a full medical and mental evaluation, Carstens said she ap- peared “full of energy, looked fantastic.” Griner, who also played pro basketball in Russia, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February af- ter Russian authorities said she was carrying vape canisters with can- nabis oil. The U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected. President Joe Biden announced on Thurs- day that the U.S. had secured Griner’s release. In exchange, the admin- istration offered Russia the release of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he con- spired to sell tens of mil- lions of dollars in weap- ons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans. But the U.S. was un- able to secure the free- dom of Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for nearly four years. Administration officials have stressed repeatedly that they are still work- ing to release Whelan, whom Russian officials have jailed on espionage charges that both his family and the U.S. gov- ernment say are baseless. Carstens, the U.S. government’s top hos- tage negotiator, said “there’s always cards” to play in securing an of- fer for Whelan and said he spoke with the jailed American on Friday. —Associated Press Mark Ylen/AP Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith congratulates Oregon State offensive lineman Jake Levengood after the team scored during the first half against Wash- ington State on Oct. 15. HEAVILY INVESTED With new contract in hand, what magic might Jonathan Smith perform next at Oregon State? BY BILL ORAM •The Oregonian W here does Jonathan Smith go from here? If you’re a wise guy, you’d say: “The ATM.” But now that Oregon State has invested roughly another million dollars a year in their football coach through 2028, it’s time to ask just how far the campus legend can take this thing. He has already pulled off one of the best coaching jobs in school history. Not just with a 9-3 regular season that earned OSU a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl, but also with the five-year resurrection of Bea- vers football since the former quar- terback returned in 2018. The Beavers lost 10 games in Smith’s first season. With a win over Florida on Saturday, they would win 10 for just the third time in program history. Yeah, in these times, that’s worth a $30.6 million investment. OSU made Smith the fifth high- est-paid coach in the Pac-12 and it still feels like a bargain. A turnaround like that in college football usually means the coach has one foot out the door toward a bigger program with greater re- sources and more cachet. Another coach might look at the history of the program, and the growing in- fluence of donor collectives in NIL, and ride a nine-win season with a win over Oregon right out the door. Not Smith. He doesn’t see this season as mission accomplished. But that doesn’t mean other pro- grams won’t inquire. Oregon State’s football coach strikes me as someone who is less concerned about having something to prove and more focused on what he’s trying to build. I don’t think he was a threat to leave anyway, but consider Oregon State’s latest pay bump a brushback pitch to prospective suitors just the same. The Beavers are committed. Smith is, too. NFL COMMENTARY So where does this partnership lead? In Mike Riley’s second stint at Oregon State, the Beavers reached a bowl game eight times in 12 years. Riley won at least eight games six times. With the excep- tion of the unmatched 2000 Fiesta Bowl run under Dennis Erickson, Riley’s tenure — which was con- sistently competent with an occa- sional breakthrough 10-win season — is the gold standard at Oregon State. See Smith / A7 SOCCER Seahawks’ once-magical season Messi, Modric carry takes another turn for the worse Argentina, Croatia BY LARRY STONE The Seattle Times Remember the warm glow of unexpected overachieve- ment by the Seahawks? Remember the stirring re- vival of a once-porous defense that at midseason turned itself into something at least resem- bling a formidable unit? Remember when the Sea- hawks seemed to be teeming with magic and good karma, headed on an inexorable path to a playoff berth no one could have imagined at the start of the season? Well, the Seahawks’ story line, once filled with feel-good redemption plotlines, has taken an abrupt turn for the worse, or even the perverse. The rags-to-riches, under- dog-rising tale that captivated the NFL for a long stretch is becoming a distant memory. into World Cup semis BY STEVE DOUGLAS Associated Press Gregory Bull/AP Carolina Panthers running back Raheem Blackshear (20) leaps into the end zone for a touchdown against Seattle Seahawks safety Ryan Neal (26) during the second half Sunday in Seattle. Heartwarming has turned into heartburn. And now that once-prob- able playoff berth is hanging by a thin thread after Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the latest in a line of seemingly underwhelming opponents that have system- atically exploited every Sea- hawks weakness. See Seahawks / A7 DOHA, Qatar — Tears are flowing from soccer’s biggest superstars as they make emotional exits from what might be their last World Cup. First it was Neymar. Then it was Cristiano Ronaldo. Could Lionel Messi be next? Momentum is build- ing behind Messi’s push to cap his career with the biggest prize in the game. The 35-year-old Argentina playmaker has carried his team to the semifinals, al- most in the same way Di- ego Maradona — the man with whom Messi is so often compared — led the South American nation to its sec- ond and most recent World Cup title in 1986. Now in Argentina’s way is Croatia, a country with a population of 4 million which is establishing a repu- tation as the most stubborn and durable of opponents while also boasting one of soccer’s most graceful play- ers in Luka Modric. The teams go head to head at Lusail Stadium — also the venue for Sun- day’s final — in a meeting between the last two run- ners-up at the tournament: Argentina in 2014 and Cro- atia in 2018. See World Cup / A6
