The American Century Championship announced on Saturday that Steph Curry, the NBA’s first ever unanimous MVP, is coming to Lake Tahoe.
The festivities for the 26th ACC start next Tuesday, with the three-day, 54-hole tournament beginning three days later on Friday.
Curry appeared in the ACC for the first time in 2013 and held a lead with 18 holes to go before finishing in a tie for fourth, three points (Modified Stableford scoring) back of former NFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver. So no, basketball is not his only sport.
He’s often shown messing around with his Warrior teammates during pregame hitting the basketball like a golf ball. Maybe he was actually working on things.
Steph Curry golfing pic.twitter.com/RrPUzUcrGU
— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD_) May 19, 2016
He finished in a tie for 13th place in 2014 and sat out last year, likely opting to bask in a championship.
Curry’s last public appearance wasn’t exactly graceful. His squad, the best regular season team in NBA history, blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals to Lebron and the Cavs, falling twice at home. He did not play well late.
Few are going to feel bad for Curry, who now gets to golf Edgewood on the shores of Lake Tahoe in front of a largely pro Golden State crowd, but he will be asked a few tough questions that week. It’s refreshing to see a superstar step to the plate, er, tee box.
Spanish Springs becoming a Nevada talent factory
Two weeks ago, Reno 1868 FC announced a two-year affiliation with Major League Soccer’s San Jose Mercury.
Reno’s newest professional sports franchise joined the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Reno Bighorns (Sacramento Kings) as local minor league/feeder franchises.
Another local program, Spanish Springs High, is developing a relationship of its own, with Nevada.
Catcher Josh Prizina verbally committed to the Wolf Pack on Saturday, becoming the latest Cougar turned (future) member of the Wolf Pack.
Ryan Anderson will be a freshman pitcher for T.J. Bruce and Nevada next spring. Jake Ward will punt for Nevada in the fall, likely in a backup role behind Alex Boy. Lauryn Massic will run cross country and track for the Pack.
And that’s just over the last year. Quarterback Hunter Fralick is entering his redshirt sophomore season on Brian Polian’s squad and will likely be the front runner for the starting job next fall as a RS junior. On the volleyball court, Gabby Szachara is preparing to start her redshirt sophomore season alongside senior Lyndsey Anderson, Ryan’s older sister.
Anna Preciado is a distance runner for the Pack.
There was no shortage of justified criticism surrounding Nevada’s move to the Mountain West nearly four years ago (Does Nevada have the resources to compete at that level? Is it too soon to make that jump?). But it appears Wolf Pack athletics as a whole are headed in the right direction under Athletic Director Doug Knuth.
Keeping the best ones home and putting a fence around Northern Nevada is proof of that.
Boneyard softball tournament takes over Northern Nevada
It was hard to miss the flocks of once-weres that invaded Reno and Sparks this weekend. I was among them.
More than 110 adult slow pitch softball teams from seemingly everywhere (we played a team from British Columbia) swarmed to Northern Nevada for the 10th running of the Boneyard Tournament. I’m convinced the tournament is run by zombies.
At 11:30 p.m. on Friday night, the triple-elimination bracket was released and everybody found out when and where they were starting. The tournament was held at three different locations: Rancho San Rafael on North McCarran and Virginia, Shadow Ridge right next to Reed and Golden Eagle in Spanish Springs.
Our draw? A 4 a.m. game at Rancho.
Not committed enough to hang around in the cold for four hours before our opener, my brother and I headed home for a “nap.” We set our alarms. We left our lights on. I even remained in my uniform.
It wasn’t enough. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to a slew of text messages and voicemails. I owed the team an 18-pack.
Paying $20 for a full night of sleep? I think I won that trade.
We lost our next game to fall into the win-or-go-home bracket before rattling off a couple W’s to make it interesting on Sunday.
Next year, I may just give the $20 directly to the selection committee. I enjoy competing just as much as the next old guy. But softball at 4 a.m.? Pass.
Nathan can also be reached via email at nshoup@sparkstrib.com. His weekly column, ‘Shoup Shots,’ runs in the hard copy of the Sparks Tribune every Tuesday morning.
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