Forty years ago, my Aunt Martie listened politely as I spoke with considerable excitement about my budding career as a sports writer. She then posed the only question that seemed relevant to her.

“Do you,” my dearly departed aunt wanted to know, “think you’ll ever be able to work in REAL journalism?”

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Baseball fans have debated over all-star selections forever. Thanks to the wonders of technology – combined with an aging sports writer’s dogged research and cluttered memory bank – baseball fans can now debate the merits of five Washington-based all-star teams listed below.

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EUGENE – Bernard Lagat refuses to show his age, but his incredible running skills continue to take a toll on younger competitors.

“I’ll retire before he does,” 24-year-old Eric Jenkins said after the 41-year-old Lagat burst past five runners in the final 200-plus meters to win the 5,000 meter race Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Olympic Trials at historic Hayward Field.

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EUGENE, OR. – So many injuries and so many operations later, Jeremy Taiwo is headed to the Summer Olympics. Taiwo is now recognized as one of the world’s greatest decathletes, but he admits there were times he considered quitting, before everything came together Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

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Historically, Pacific Northwest men’s college basketball teams on the national level have played like they’re using underinflated balls provided by Tom Brady. A Northwest team has not won an NCAA championship since Oregon won the inaugural title in 1939.

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EUGENE – Baylee Mires is a charming young women, but the Washington Huskies track star shamelessly admitted to being a little selfish in her final college meet.

Mires, a three-time All-America in the distance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, finally made it to the NCAA Outdoor meet’s awards stand in an individual event Saturday afternoon at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

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EUGENE, OR. – Izaic Yorks finished his memorable college track career without winning an NCAA championship. Still, the University of Washington senior said he had to reflect only on his rocky freshman year to realize how far he came as an athlete and a man after he took second in the 1,500 meters Friday night at the NCAA track and field championship at the University of Oregon.

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TACOMA – Minor league baseball is exceedingly minor compared to the major leagues. The money, the crowds, the hotels, the meals, the transportation in the minors all pale in comparison to what is available in the big leagues.

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TACOMA -- The Los Angeles Angels are counting on Tim Lincecum to bolster their injury-riddled pitching staff. Lincecum showed signs of being able to accomplish just that despite a disastrous first inning in his season debut Thursday night with the Angels’ Salt Lake affiliate in the Pacific Coast League.

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Felix Hernandez, decked out in an aqua jacket almost as garish as the giant gold chain dangling from his neck, was in jovial mood when he arrived at Safeco Field Tuesday morning.

Hernandez’s mood soured later in the day when his strained right calf forced the Mariners to place him on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday morning, retroactive to May 28.

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PORTLAND – Skip Bayless, the cantankerous co-star of ESPN2’s “First Take” sports talk show -- at least until he leaves next month -- has made a living out of making outrageous comments with little or no basis in fact. It was the misfortune of Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard to become the bullseye for Bayless’s verbal dart board last week.

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Ken Bone, the rare individual who enjoyed basketball success as a Husky and a Cougar – not to mention a Falcon – is on the move again. A former Washington State and Seattle Pacific head coach and Washington and SPU assistant coach, Bone resigned as the associate head coach at Montana.

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Safeco Field’s reputation as a pitcher’s ballpark has done little to help the Mariners attract premier hitters over the years. First-year manager Scott Servais probably didn’t help matters with comments he made prior to Wednesday’s game with Texas.

Asked if he considers Safeco to be a “fair” ballpark, Servais responded with a question of his own.

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The college basketball season is long gone, but the losses continue to mount for the Washington State Cougars. CBS Sports reported that starting wing Que Johnson is set to become the seventh scholarship player to transfer out of the WSU program in Ernie Kent’s two years as coach.

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The exodus of basketball talent from Washington colleges continued Wednesday when multiple Gonzaga sources confirmed that sophomore power forward Domantas Sabonis is headed to the NBA. A Sportspressnw.com source said Sabonis plans to hire an agent, which will end his amateur eligibility.

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The latest in a long line of impressive basketball seasons at Gonzaga will forever be marred by memories of second-half collapses tied to an unsightly collection of turnovers and missed shots at crunch time.

Syracuse eliminated Gonzaga from the NCAA tournament Friday night when the Bulldogs blew a nine-point lead in the final six minutes by going 0-for-7 from the field and committing four of their 17 turnovers.

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Most press conferences at NCAA basketball tournaments resemble vanilla yogurt. You know: Bland. Plain. Uninteresting.

Credit longtime friends Mark Few of Gonzaga and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse for livening things up when the veteran coaches joined their players in meetings with the media Thursday at the United Center in Chicago. The Zags take on the Orange Friday in the Sweet 16 (6:40 p.m., KIRO 7).

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The Washington State athletics department continues to gush red ink.  The Cougars announced Tuesday a loss of $13,274,324 for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30. The loss was $440,118 less than the previous year’s record deficit of $13,714,442.

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The Zags of Gonzaga were zig-zagging early in the season, losing close games to good teams and barely hanging on to beat ordinary teams. Freshman point guard Josh Perkins said all that ailed the Bulldogs amounted to “easy fixes.”

Kids. They say the darndest things.

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LAS VEGAS – Sin City loves flashy. All the lights, glittering jewelry, luxury vehicles and stylish wardrobes on the Las Vegas Strip scream flashy.

The Oregon Ducks basketball team is a good fit on the Strip. The Ducks have flashy players, wear flashy uniforms – electric banana yellow is flashy, right? – and operate a flashy offense. More importantly, they have a flashy trophy to take back to Eugene.

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