{"id":2386,"date":"2016-08-09T20:51:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T20:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2016-08-09T20:51:29","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T20:51:29","slug":"back-in-the-boneyard-where-i-see-king-is-the-queen-of-swimming-and-moral-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2386","title":{"rendered":"Back in the Boneyard where I see King is the queen of swimming and moral truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

TERRY MOSHER<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lilly<\/a><\/p>\n

LILLY KING<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time again to visit the Boneyard to unload those swirling thoughts that cramp up by brain. It\u2019s difficult to digest too many thoughts, so I unload them here to get some relief.<\/p>\n

I like Olympic Games swimmer Lilly King. She is tough, and as you know, I like toughness. First of all, King, a 19-year-old Indiana University student, doesn\u2019t look like a swimmer. She\u2019s not sleek and slender, but she walks very upright, her shoulders thrusted out and her head held high, and she\u2019s got that knowing smile that tells others \u201cI got this.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she certainly \u201cgot it\u201d Monday in the 100 breaststroke at the Rio Olympics. If you have followed the swimming competition you know that there has been some concern over Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, the world champion in the 100 breaststroke who has been connected to a doping scandal, but at the last moment was allowed to compete at Rio by the IOC.<\/p>\n

Then, when Efimova won her semifinal heat she was caught on TV signaling she was No. 1 with a finger. The TV camera caught King looking at this in the holding area and as Efimova raised her finger, King raised her finger right back at the image on the TV.<\/p>\n

In an interview, King was quoted as saying, \u201cYou\u2019re shaking your finger \u2018No. 1\u201d and you\u2019ve been caught for drug cheating. I\u2019m not a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, when asked about her comment in another interview, King touched my heart when she didn\u2019t back down while saying this,\u201d That\u2019s kind of my personality. I\u2019m not just this sweet little girl. If I do need to stir it up to put a little fire under my butt or anybody else\u2019s, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

King then went out and won her semifinal heat in the event\u2019s top time to set up a much anticipated match.<\/p>\n

As they prepared for the finals, the two swimmers paced about but avoided looking at each other. Then King won the gold and as she finished she slapped the water in Efimova\u2019s lane as to say, \u201cOkay, who is the best now, and who did it the clean way?\u201d<\/p>\n

The two rivals did not speak or acknowledge each other, but that slap told it all.<\/p>\n

Later, King would gently touch Efimova on the shoulder after she said, \u201cIt just proves you can compete clean and still come out on top with all the hard work you put in behind the scenes, behind the meet, at practice and weight sessions. There is a way to become the best and do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I say bravo to King. In a world where we are fed instant information on our smart phones, much of it bad stuff, including a very divisive presidential campaign where one of the candidates practices hate and spews darkness, it\u2019s overwhelming nice to see something good, to see somebody stick up for the moral right and for justice and come out on top. It makes me feel that maybe the world does have a chance to be saved, that there is light in it and if enough of it comes pouring through, we can have peace and security and live a fruitful life.<\/p>\n

It looks to me like the Mariners are in the midst of a rally that might get them into the playoffs. I\u2019m not completely sold on them just yet, but with two back-end guys now on the pitching staff that can reach 100 mph on their fastballs, it\u2019s possible that close games that were once 50-50 will now be tilted more like 75-20 and that is good news for them.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll see. As it stands today while I\u2019m writing this (Tuesday, Aug. 9), Boston and Detroit are tied for the two wild card spots in the American League. The Mariners are 2.5 games behind them in the third spot and they host Detroit again today and Wednesday, so if they continue to win \u2013 they are on a four-game winning streak \u2013 it could really get interesting.<\/p>\n

The one thing I have noticed about the Mariners this year is that the front office is not afraid to make decisions based solely on the basis of baseball. In the past, I believe decisions were made on the basis of bottom-line and not on baseball.<\/p>\n

In short, in today\u2019s Mariner world if a player is not producing, he\u2019s sent packing, either by trade or down to the minor leagues.\u00a0 Pitcher Taijuan Walker, the much-heralded guy, was sent to Tacoma yesterday, and I say, good for Jerry Dipoto, the first-year general manager. Can\u2019t hack it in the big leagues? Then go down to the little leagues and get your act together. That wouldn\u2019t have happened much in the old days.<\/p>\n

I covered the Mariners in the days when sweet Lou Piniella was managing and he did not have much patience for guys who did not produce. Produce or hit the highway was his motto, and you saw that his way produced some of the best teams in franchise history, including a 116-win season (2001) that tied the Major League record for wins.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sort of amused that football gets such a front row seat in our psyche. It\u2019s not just the king of all sports when it comes to the attention it gets, but it\u2019s the god of all sports from high school to college to professional.<\/p>\n

The media swarms to the VMAC \u2013 Virginia Mason Athletic Center \u2013 when training camp opens. In fact, most of them set up camp there. I even heard about a bald eagle and another big bird (I forgot what it was) that got into a fight in a tree overlooking the training camp. It wasn\u2019t the only fight that occurred there, but it took up about a minute of shock jock talk on a sports radio station.<\/p>\n

Seems like there have been more than several fights among the players at the VMAC, most of them by rookie offensive lineman trying to make a name for themselves. If they play as hard during the regular season the main concern about this year\u2019s Seahawks may be erased in a hurry.<\/p>\n

Why does football grab our attention unlike any other sport in America? I think, and I don\u2019t have the sole answer to it, that it\u2019s because the violence in it appeals to our base instinct. It\u2019s not like the gladiators and the lions, but its close. If you play the sport you are going to pay for it if you play over a long time because, well, because it doesn\u2019t seem healthy to run into each other at full speed. And when you got guys who run 4.5 and weigh 240 pounds spread over a six-foot-five frame it\u2019s like two Mack Trucks colliding head on.<\/p>\n

And we like to see that, for some ungodly reason.<\/p>\n

I played football as a kid. I was the quarterback and I can tell you I was under attack from the moment the ball was snapped. The lines I worked behind were like a sieve. I used to yell at them in the huddle, \u201ccan\u2019t anybody here block?\u201d to no avail. So I know in a small way how it feels to be hurt all over your body. I can\u2019t imagine how one feels after playing a full-game in the NFL.<\/p>\n

On a similar note, I used to tell my fellow scribes who were also covering the Mariners that these players had it tough because almost night after night they had to play a game with various bumps and bruises and small injuries and that was for seven and half months, counting spring training. I told them I can\u2019t imagine doing that.<\/p>\n

My fellow writers just rolled t heir eyes and thought I was nuts. And I know these players make millions and it\u2019s a kids\u2019 game they play, but it\u2019s still not easy playing at such a high level for such a long time. I still believe that, but I\u2019m guessing I\u2019m the only one that feels that way.<\/p>\n

I see where Joe Kennedy is suing the Bremerton School District over being fired for praying on the50-yard line after football games. I think the district is going to lose this one. NFL players pray after games, baseball players hold Sunday chapel before games, and there is no good legal reason a guy can\u2019t pray if he wants.<\/p>\n

Joe apparently just wants his job back. I don\u2019t know if that will happen but I don\u2019t see Joe losing this one in court.<\/p>\n

The good thing about this great country we live in is you can believe in God and all that accompanies that or you can deny the existence of God and all that accompanies that. You are free to even be neutral about God. And I am fine with all of that.<\/p>\n

Personally, I know God exists. So I\u2019m in the praying camp. But, hey, if you don\u2019t believe that\u2019s okay, too. I can\u2019t be judgmental with your disbelief.<\/p>\n

As I have written before, I have had messages from the \u201cother side\u201d, the side that I call home. I was told who I would marry (I was nine years old at the time) and I wound up marrying her. I was told two winners of horse racing, which has stunned me because I haven\u2019t figured out why somebody on the other side would want me to know that.<\/p>\n

And our granddaughter talked to me hours after she was killed on May 26, 1989. Her words to me convinced me that God exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry about me, I walk with the grace of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is what Junior, our granddaughter who was three and half at the time of her death, told me. I took me a while to understand why she told me that. Maybe a year before I could figure it out.<\/p>\n

In simple terms, Junior was an angel that came into our world to straighten out the Mosher family. It worked. Where we were as an extended family then as opposed to where we are now after her death is a contrast of two different worlds.<\/p>\n

So no matter how dark the day seems, I know that there is light in my future and that keeps me going until the day I return to my home on the other side.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s enough of the Boneyard for today. I feel better already. It\u2019s been nice to talk to you. I\u2019ll see you down the road.<\/p>\n

Be well pal.<\/p>\n

Be careful out there.<\/p>\n

Have a great day.<\/p>\n

You are loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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