SPORTS / A.C.E.
Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
April 4, 2022
Portland Rose Festival dragons
awaken to begin the 2022 festival
Saturday, March 26 marked the
return of Portland Rose Festival
activities with an eye-dotting
ceremony of the dragon boats used for
races during the Portland Rose
Festival.
2021 Rose Festival Queen Lili
Rosebrook and members of the
community joined representatives
from the Portland Rose Festival
Foundation,
Portland-Kaohsiung
Sister City Association, Taipei
Economic and Cultural Office in
Seattle (TECO), and Royal Rosarians
for the traditional “Awakening of the
Dragons.”
The “Awakening of the Dragons”
introduced the ornate dragon boats
and their teams to the Willamette
River and started the preseason
practice schedule leading up to the
races, which are scheduled during the
weekend of June 11 and 12, 2022.
Following a blessing ceremony,
attendees watched dignitaries paint
red dots on the eyes of the eight
dragon boat figureheads to officially
“wake” them up. Attendees were also
treated to a water cannon salute by
the Portland Fireboat.
ROSE FESTIVAL RETURNS. Portland Rose Festival dragon boats are seen at the
RiverPlace Marina dock in downtown Portland prior to the “Awakening of the Dragons.” The
eye-dotting ceremony of the dragon boats introduced the ornate dragon boats and their teams to
the Willamette River and started the preseason practice schedule leading up to the races, which are
scheduled during the weekend of June 11 and 12, 2022. (AR Photo)
After being on pause for two years Coronation, and more. Festival
due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers invite everyone to join
Portland Rose Festival is returning in them to carry on traditions, honor
2022 with big outdoor events such as diversity, and celebrate unity and
the Grand Floral Parade, Starlight community spirit.
Parade, Junior Parade, Dragon Boat
To learn more about the 2022
Races, CityFair, Fleet Week, the Rose festival, call (503) 227-2681 or visit
Festival
Court
and
Queen’s <www.rosefestival.org/p/programs>.
Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki finalizes
five-year deal with the Chicago Cubs
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki
has joined the new-look Chicago Cubs, finalizing an
$85-million, five-year deal.
Suzuki gets a $5 million signing bonus and salaries of $7
million this season, $17 million in 2023, $20 million in
2024, and $18 million each in 2025 and 2026. He also
receives a full no-trade provision.
Chicago will pay an additional $14,625,000 as a posting
fee to Suzuki’s club, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan’s
Central League.
The 27-year-old Suzuki was a five-time All-Star and
Gold Glove winner in nine seasons with the Carp. He
batted .317 with 38 homers and 88 RBIs in 132 games last
season and had nearly as many walks (87) as strikeouts
(88).
Suzuki plays right field, a position five-time Gold Glove
winner Jason Heyward has manned for the Cubs since
signing a $184-million, eight-year contract before the
2016 World Series championship season.
The Cubs finished fourth in the NL Central at 71-91 in
2021, missing the playoffs for the second time in three
years. It was their worst record since the 2013 team went
66-96.
Under 2017 changes to the posting system, the posting
fee for Suzuki will be 20% of the first $25 million of the
contract, including earned bonuses and options. The
percentage drops to 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15%
of any amount over $50 million. There would be a
supplemental fee of 15% of any earned bonuses, salary
escalators, and exercised options.
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“Beacon of goodness”: NCAA women’s gymnastics is booming
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Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
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Solution to
last issue’s
puzzle
Puzzle #59714 (Easy)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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SUZUKI SIGNING. Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs tosses a ball to
fans (top photo) and bats (bottom photo) during a spring training baseball
game against the Colorado Rockies on March 25, 2022 in Mesa, Arizona.
(AP Photos/Matt York)
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a select few. The decision by athletes
like Lee and Carey — who won gold
on floor in Tokyo — to join
non-traditional powers helps.
So does aggressive on-campus
marketing.
On random Thursday nights, 2011
world champion and 2012 Olympic
gold medallist and current Arkansas
head coach Jordyn Wieber walks
along sorority row and invites young
women to meets. She gets far more
yesses than she used to.
“One of my major goals was to build
the student fan base, at UCLA we had
a huge student section,” Wieber said.
“I looked at the marketing, how could
we make these meets fun for someone
who is 60 years old, a mom and dad, a
young gymnast, and a college
student?”
While men’s gymnastics at the
NCAA level is struggling to survive —
there are currently only a dozen
Division I programs — women are
heading in the opposite direction.
Long Island University came on
board in 2020. Clemson is aiming for
2024. Fisk University will become the
first historically Black college to field
a women’s gymnastics team when the
program launches next season.
It’s a far cry from Fisk coach
Corrinne Tarver’s career at Georgia
in the late 1980s. The first Black
woman to win an NCAA all-around
championship believes she could
count the number of women of color in
the upper reaches of her sport on one
hand, maybe two.
“Honestly when I first went into
college gymnastics, I don’t know if
there was enough of us to fill an
HBCU team,” she said. “There was
not a lot.”
There is now.
Lee, who is Hmong American, is
the third straight American woman
of color to win an Olympic title after
Gabby Douglas in 2012 and Simone
Biles in 2016. Black women account
for nearly 10% of the scholarship
athletes at the NCAA Division I level,
an increase from 7% in 2012.
Fisk offers young gymnasts a
chance to be on the ground floor of a
sport growing in nearly every
tangible way. The proof is in the
stands, in the ratings, and in the lives
of the women who have wrested back
control of their sport and in some
ways, their lives.
“(They) are literally changing the
sport from the inside out,” said
two-time Olympic medallist Kathy
Johnson Clarke, now a commentator
for ESPN. “Now it’s the way it should
be, with the athletes at the center of it
guiding our conversations and
leading us to where we all need to be.”