At 87 years old, God willing, I will be sitting on a folding chair on the shore of a lake, watching a bobber get pulled below the surface by a rainbow big enough to fill a plate, my stomach and a modest picture frame.

I’ll be drinking an iced tea, maybe spiked, maybe not.

Grandchildren will dart around my chair, getting tangled in the monofilament line. Their grandma will look as radiant in the summer sun as the day six decades earlier that she came floating down the Snake River in a wedding gown and cowboy boots. Shaboozey will play on the staticky oldies station we get out there in the sticks.

The golden retriever laying by my side as I write this will live longer than any other dog has ever lived, and will still be next to me, snoring gently, dreaming of squirrels.

What I won’t be doing when I’m 87 years old?

Worrying about Jerami Grant’s contract and Scoot Henderson’s jump shot. Paying for Deandre Ayton to de-ice his driveway. And I especially won’t be explaining to people why I do not want to buy a professional sports franchise.

I’ll be 87! Isn’t it obvious?

Phil Knight, we thank you for your service.

But let the man rest. To fish, if he so desires.

Surprise! That swoosh was actually a fish hook all along.

The time has come for someone else to step up for Oregon and its sports teams. For the next generation of business leaders to come to the fore.

Phil’s commitment to the state and to his alma mater are beyond admirable. His impact is singular. The $400 million he pledged to help restore the historically Black Albina neighborhood is nearly six times what Paul Allen paid for the Blazers in 1988.

Knight is the philanthropic GOAT. Hell, before Phil came along they just called it “anthropy.” But the notion that Knight, and he alone, was the financial antidote to any obstacle we encountered was a small-time way of thinking.

Would Knight have made for a good owner of the Portland Trail Blazers?

Absofreakinglutely.

But people who know Phil were more surprised that he was interested in buying the Blazers three years ago than the fact he wasn’t this time around.

Knight may have seen the Blazers as an important piece of his legacy and another opportunity for him to give back to the city that raised him and that he, in turn, helped put on the map of the global economy.

But then his $2 billion offer with real estate investor Alan Smolinisky was unceremoniously refused in 2022. Phil couldn’t even get through to Jody Allen, as described by the Wall Street Journal.

So can you blame him for not wanted to swim with those particular alligators again?

Even at 87, Phil could have been a meaningful steward for the franchise in this moment, as long as a purchase ensured a thoughtful succession plan.

I would have loved to see what the Blazers could look like with the creative and business mind that created Nike driving its evolution. It would have streamlined the relationship between NBA players and their favorite sneaker company. It would have immediately made the Blazers more marketable beyond our humble borders.

Phil just doesn’t want to do it.

“At my current age … I no longer have interest in acquiring the team,” Knight said in a statement.

And to that I say, no prob, Bob.

Loosen your laces, kick up your kicks.

For the most part, Knight seems happy being an 87-year-old grandfather and Ducks fan. He’s earned that. Writing checks to Oregon Athletics and making the occasional call to five-star defensive backs is a much more manageable diet of duties than resurrecting an NBA franchise.

The problem is that there is no obvious candidate to backfill — back-Phil? — Knight’s place in this whole affair.

Ideal ownership for the Trail Blazers consists of people who care as much about Portland as they do about the bottomline of the franchise. Is it one person? A diversified group of investors? Who knows.

But I hope it’s someone who works to create a tangible connection between the very top of the organization and the city in a way that hasn’t existed for decades. And is willing to look at what Portland lacks in economic strength as an opportunity, rather than an obstacle.

I’m sure that person or group exists, but it won’t come in the tidy, digestable package that Knight might have represented.

And maybe, in the end, that will be for the best.

What the Blazers need is a fresh identity, new ideas. An enterprising enthusiasm. All things that Phil Knight sprinkled his various endeavors with over the last 60-plus years. Where plants his money, good things grow.

But by opting to sit out the new round of bidding on the Blazers, Phil is acknowledging that he is not the owner for this particular moment.

His business interests these days are primarily in his ongoing charitable efforts. And I think we could all understand if his personal desires are for a slower, quieter way of life.

He is 87, after all.

So when it comes to the Blazers, Phil is off the hook — I mean, swoosh.

— Bill Oram is the sports columnist at The Oregonian/OregonLive.