There were highlights and lowlights from a packed and frenetic weekend of sports. For some, there were spectacular shots and no-you-didn’t moments. For others (here’s looking at you, Ben Simmons) the fallout was rough and unforgiving. There was Kevin Durant’s not-quite dagger, when a few millimeters of sneaker on the toe of a guy who deliberately wears one size too big, turned what would have been one of the most famed game-winners in postseason history into something that merely set up an overtime defeat. There were feats of physics-defying goalscoring from soccer’s Euro 2020, collapses aplenty on the treacherous back nine of golf’s U.S. Open and exploits of head-shaking force at the Olympic swim and track trials, including a really big guy – Ryan Crouser – hurling a 16 lb shot put farther than some of us can throw a baseball. Sports moves quickly these days and yesterday’s unmissable buzz moment is quickly supplanted by the next. Yet a pair of endearing images from Sunday will stick with me beyond the typical short-span, use-by date. The first came on Sunday afternoon, Father’s Day of course, when Spain’s Jon Rahm rolled in snaking putts of vicious difficulty on 17 and 18 to take a U.S. Open lead that he would not surrender. As he strode from the final green, his wife Kelley pressed their 10-week-old son Kepa into his arms, as his parents Edorta and Angela looked on. As he walked off to complete the post-round formalities, Rahm brought Kepa with him, because … why not? Rahm’s effort was spectacular – a closing 67 to take the title when so many others fell apart – and capped an absolute belter of a storyline. Two weeks ago, Rahm was denied a highly probable victory and a $1.7 million paycheck at the Memorial, when he tested positive for COVID-19 while leading by six shots following round three, and had to be withdrawn from the event. Sunday, he got a chance at something even better – and he took it. For all the gravity of that sporting moment and how it was the culmination of his career’s work, the thing Rahm, 26 and mature beyond his years, looked proudest of on Sunday was the bundle he held in his arms as he strode off towards the scorer’s tent. I hope every family had a wonderful Father’s Day, for everyone deserves one. Not many people got to have one like that, turning in the coolest of clutch performances to win your first major, returning to world No. 1, then getting to hang out with your little guy as you wait for the trophy. “As a father, on my first Father’s Day, with my dad here, to get this one done … is incredible,” Rahm told reporters. “It feels like this is a movie about to end and I’m going to wake up soon. (Kepa) won’t remember this, but one day he will know.” Not much can match that, but a few hours later the Young family likely felt something similar. On Sunday night, Trae Young’s father Rayford watched his son struggle and flounder and generally turn in a nightmare of a Game 7 for the Atlanta Hawks. Until … it turned around. Young and the Hawks never let their heads drop, and when the Philadelphia 76ers’ nerve failed them for the final time, perhaps summed up by the unfortunate Simmons being so short on confidence that he passed up an open dunk deep in the fourth quarter, one of the postseason’s wildest developments had come to fruition. Led by Young, who missed 17 of his first 19 shots but proved unstoppable down the stretch, the underrated Hawks are going to the Eastern Conference finals. And, as he made his way down the tunnel at Wells Fargo Center, Young felt something wasn’t quite right, so he turned, and headed back to the court. He moved a chair aside, stepped up into the stands, skirted up some steps, peeled off his jersey and lightly tossed it to Rayford, who responded with a fist pump, tears welling in his eyes. “A winning jersey,” Trae Young told TNT. “I wanted to come out here and win, not only for my teammates but for my dad. We’ve been through a lot, so for us to have a playoff game on Father’s Day, it was only right once we won to give it to him.” Happy Father’s Day, indeed. Fathers of young male and female athletes everywhere will know it is a special privilege to watch and to be there – all the transporting and writing of checks over the years notwithstanding. It’s hard, so hard at times, especially when you know how badly they want it and you’re wired to want it just as badly for them. But it’s worth it, always worth it, whether you get the fairytale Kepa Rahm moment or Rayford Young moment, or not. Father’s Day has had its share of remarkable sporting successes. Michael Jordan won his fourth NBA title with the Chicago Bulls on that day in 1996, sobbing on the floor of the United Center locker room as he remembered his murdered father, James. Jim Bunning threw the first perfect game in Philadelphia Phillies history at Shea Stadium in 1964, while in 2000 Tiger Woods claimed his third Major, and arguably his most dominant – winning by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach. Special performances, special moments. Special Father Days. Sunday was another one. Here’s what others have said … Skip Bayless, Undisputed: “Trae Young shot 5-for-23 from the floor and 2-for-11 from 3 and the Hawks won Game 7 by seven. ‘Ice Trae’ was shivering cold.” Jon Rahm, 2021 U.S. Open Champion: “I mean, I might have looked calm. I was not calm. I wish people could see our heart rate when we’re playing in those moments because that was tense, but you practice to let your body basically take over, right? That’s what I did.” J.J. Watt, NFL Star: “Rahm proposed to his wife on that course, won his first ever major there and had his newborn baby in attendance on Father’s Day? Man that’s awesome.” |
