From supporting role to running the show

With three children having played polo for the Bears, Lobdell has been associated with the polo program since 2012. He started out as a parent of players on the team before becoming a volunteer and became the team statistician.

“I am extremely excited to preserve the wonderful culture of this program and support these young women as they become better in and out of the pool,” Lobdell said in a press release from the school.

Lobdell was an all-CIF water polo player at Long Beach Wilson High School and went on to win a pair of collegiate national championships at Stanford.

But Lobdell’s experiences make him a perfect fit to coach at the high school level in education-based athletics. He began his career as a social studies and swim coach at Milpitas High School before becoming a consultant, content developer and publisher for Positive Coaching Alliance.

“We are very excited to have Jim assume the leadership of our girls water polo program,” said Steven Kryger, M-A co-athletic director, in the press release. “Not only does he have deep expertise in the sport, he has the institutional knowledge and experience to ensure the program maintains its high standards.”

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Phil Mickelson, one of the greatest golfers of this generation, has won six major championships, but will never catch Tigers Woods’ 15 major titles.

But apparently “Lefty” is in a race to the bottom of the “horrible human being” list.

Woods, famously, saw his meticulously curated professional life shattered, literally, when his then-wife smashed out the windows of his SUV the night after Thanksgiving in 2009 after finding out his years of cheating on her.

Now a report from golf writer Alan Shipnuck, one of the best of this generation, sheds some light on how Mickelson mirrored Woods off the golf course.

But not even Woods was this awful.

Earlier this month, it was reported Mickelson had his membership to a Southern California country club revoked after allegedly sexually harassing a club employee.

Turns out that was the tip of the iceberg. Shipnuck’s story on the Skratchgolf.com website details Mickelson’s long history of infidelity, lewd and crude remarks, and pictures to the wives of supposed friends. One instance included paying a young clubhouse employee to drive around the golf course with his phone, so his wife thought he was golfing, when he actually hooking up with women at a member’s on-the-course home.

If you can find the piece, it’s worth a read to get insight into the life of an increasingly horrible person. Mickelson may have committed professional suicide when he left for and caped up for LIV Golf. Now his personal life is in similar shambles.

Credit to Woods, who seems to have put his infidelities behind him, recently returned from drug and alcohol rehab and has been welcomed back by the PGA Tour with open arms.

I don’t know if Mickelson will rebound from this. How? Once LIV Golf shuts down at the end of the year, where will Mickelson go? He all but burned his bridges back to the PGA Tour.

And now this? My wife said she never trusted Mickelson after she noticed the fact he never blinked in one of the drug commercials he used to do.

Seems like her “douchebag” radar was working properly.

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Leave it to the Bay Area’s newest pro sports franchise to show the San Francisco Giants how Pride Night is done.

The second-year Golden State Valkyries, the Joe Lacob-owned WNBA team, celebrated “Pride Night” this past Friday at Chase Center — which is affectionately called ‘Ballhalla” during the Valks’ season.

Just from a performance standpoint, the Valkyries did better, as they rallied for a win over the Atlanta Dream — unlike a pitiful pitching performance from the Giants during their 5-1 Pride Night loss to the Chicago Cubs June 12.

Even better was the response from Valkryies’ forward Gabby Williams, who scored 13 straight points in the fourth quarter as Golden State rallied for a 78-75 win.

“I couldn’t lose on Pride Night,” Williams was quoted as saying after the game. “I take Pride Night seriously. … And you know, the Bay Area historically has been a pioneer for the Pride movement, and so I wanted to to get [the win] for the day.”

I don’t know what Williams’ sexual proclivities are. Nor do I care. Same goes for owner Lacob. Considering he was once married, has grown children and is currently dating a woman, I’m going to go ahead and assume he’s heterosexual. But that didn’t prevent him from pulling out all the stops in celebrating Pride Night with the Valkyries.

This is an example of an owner and a player reading the room. Maybe the Giants can learn something from the Valkyries — but I doubt they were paying attention.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.