By Jason Cruz
Northwest Asian Weekly
Welcome to another edition of The Layup Drill. In this month’s edition, a Husky says goodbye, Shohei Ohtani continues to be good at baseball, and Kyler Murray gets a new contract with a stipulation.
Tennis standout says goodbye to UW
Vanessa Wong (Credit: University of Washington)
University of Washington (UW) senior Vanessa Wong said goodbye to the Huskies as the women’s tennis player posted the best year of her college career with the Huskies. She finished her Husky career as the all-time leader in UW singles victories with 112. The Toronto-native earned all Pac-12 First Team honors with an 18-5 overall record and 17-4 in dual matches. She ended the season ranked No. 23 nationally and No. 2 in the Northwest Region. She was named the ITA Northwest Region Senior Player of the Year.
In an open letter to UW fans of women’s tennis, Wong reminisced about waking up on dark mornings to head to class with sore legs from the workout the night before and keeping awake during lectures. Wong maintained the term student-athlete as she graduated this spring with a 3.71 GPA and a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. She is pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration in Information Systems next year.
“Playing with the ‘W’ on my chest reignited my passion for tennis and made me fall in love with the sport again,” she wrote. “Over the past years, I have had the chance to compete my heart out and scream at the top of my lungs while playing next to some of my best friends.”
She was one of two UW women nominated for NCAA Women of the Year, along with softball player Gabbie Plain.
Wong returned to the Huskies for her fifth year in order to help lead UW back to the NCAA Team Championships.
Ohtani leaving Angels?
Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani at a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 14 in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Anaheim Angels have not had a good year. After a winning streak earlier this spring, the team has plummeted despite having Mike Trout and Shoei Ohtani in the lineup. Now, Trout is on the injured list and out indefinitely leaving Ohtani as the only star making plays for the team.
Once again, Ohtani was picked to play in Major League Baseball’s All Star Game and once again picked as both pitcher and hitter. This year, however, he chose not to pitch in the game. Rather, he focused on just being a designated hitter this time around for the game that was held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ohtani faced Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw as the first batter in the game. In a brief interview prior to the at-bat, Ohtani said he was going to swing at the first pitch. In fact, Ohtani did swing and lined a single into center field.
While Ohtani remains a key player for the Angels, there are rumors that the team was listening to trade offers about the Japanese-born superstar. Ohtani has one year left on his contract with the Angels and would be a free agent after next year. The thinking behind trading Ohtani is that the Angels are still not a competitive team with him and sending him out for good baseball prospects would be a cost-cutting move by the team. Ohtani, 29, is making $5.5 million this season but will be looking for much more when he becomes a free agent.
As the trade deadline passed in early August, Ohtani remained with the Angels, but there is still speculation that he may be moved sometime this winter. Rumors persist that the Mariners, who were one of the last teams in on acquiring Ohtani from Japan before signing with Anaheim, may still be interested.
Kyler Murray signs new contract with controversial clause
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray walks on the field before a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Aug. 12 in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Zach Bolinger)
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension to stay in Arizona.
$160 million of the contract is guaranteed. The signing came after some questioning of Murray’s mindset after he deleted team-related photos from his personal Instagram account this past February. He restored the pictures after several weeks, but it was inferred it was related to his pending contract situation. This past July, Murray signed the contract but it came with a clause which required Murray to complete at least four hours of independent study each week during each playing season during the term of the contract. The contract also included definitions of independent study, which noted that he could not be involved in activities such as watching television or playing video games while studying.
The clause was criticized once it was disclosed to the media as a sign that the Cardinals were concerned about Murray’s study habits. Murray does have a twitch channel where he plays video games and interacts with fans. But the clause was unique due to the specific nature of the study requirements and the need to place independent study in the contract.
The Cardinals rescinded the clause after Murray called criticism of his worth ethic “disrespectful.”
Murray, whose mother is Korean, made him the second-highest paid quarterback in the NFL behind the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers.
Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.