Couch: The Brightest Star On Father's Day Is . . . A Mom
As they came to the back nine of the U.S. Open Sunday, golf’s homestretch, Bryson DeChambeau was in the lead with Brooks Koepka close behind, and NBC and Open officials and pretty much the entire golf industry and the sportsworld praying for those two feuding stars to emerge together, and. . .
You know what? Nevermind. Forget those guys. Their feud is petty and fake and done for social media anyway, played out where real men apparently take their problems today: Twitter and Instagram. In the end, DeChambeau choked historically and Koepka choked, too, to a lesser degree. They were embarrassing after all that buildup.
And the coolest story of the day on Father’s Day was a mother: Allyson Felix, American hero. If you missed it Sunday, Felix showed us what sports are about. Relentlessness. And courage. And a fighting spirit. And the power of one. And the strength of a mom. She did it with her 3½-year old daughter, Camryn, watching her in the stands in Eugene, Ore.
Felix rounded the final turn in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in fifth place, needing to finish in the top three. She had taken the early lead in the 400-meter sprint, and then fell back. Forty meters to go. Nobody who drops back in a sprint comes back and starts passing people.
Of course, Felix has been to four Olympics and needs just two more medals to pass Carl Lewis as the most decorated US track and field athlete of all time. But qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics next month would have extra meaning.
A few years ago, Felix decided to have a family and got pregnant in 2018. Her contract with Nike was up, and they offered her a new one with, she said, a 70 percent pay cut.
“I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth,’’ Felix wrote in an editorial in The New York Times in 2019, blasting Nike. “I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes, couldn’t secure these protections, who could? Nike declined.’’
Felix wasn’t the only athlete calling out Nike and the sports apparel industry for this. But she was the most prominent one. And Nike was shamed into changing its policy.
Anyway, on Sunday, there was Felix, a 35-year old mom needing to finish in the top three, in front of her daughter, back in fifth place -- or maybe fourth. It was close -- and fading as she reached the final 40 meters.
Should we go back to DeChambeau now? In that same spot, the one Felix was facing, he shot a 44 on the back nine and fell to pieces. He later said it wasn’t that he played poorly, but instead that he just had bad luck.
He and Koepka had been going back and forth with their little spat, with one of them offering up help to any fans who got in trouble for heckling the other one. Or something like that.
This plays well to the social media crowd, which can prefer snark to meaning. It also helps them to get golf’s massive new season-ending bonus for popularity, based on Google searches of a person’s name. The message: It’s important to be heard, not to say anything that matters.
Anyway, in November of 2018, Felix had an emergency C-section at 32 weeks because of a health issue that threatened her life and her daughter’s.
And you know how Nike gets too involved with social issues and athletes and makes their push fake? Yeah, not this time. Felix had never been one to make public social stands, but then became an advocate not only for the rights of mothers in the workplace but also for health issues regarding black women and pregnancy.
She is no longer with Nike.
So on Sunday, Felix started passing people in the final stretch. And you saw no expression, no change in her style, no panic. It was just her quiet relentlessness screaming out.
She finished in second place, dropped to the track on her back, kicked her legs in celebration and said “Thank you.’’
Felix is going back to the Olympics.
“Man, it has been a fight to get here,’’ she said, still on the track, in an NBC interview. “And one thing I know how to do is fight.’’
She brought Camryn, in denim overalls, down onto the track, which was probably the greatest football spike ever, though it’s a good bet she just considered it a moment to share with her kid.
Quanera Hayes, who had finished first ahead of Felix, brought her small son down onto the track, too. The children hugged on Hayes’ urging, and then Felix told her daughter, “We’re going to Tokyo.’’
“Super Mommies, right guys?’’ Hayes said to the kids.
Right.