Don’t forget what day it is
A GRIP ON SPORTS
Unless you've been living under the Rock of Gibraltar, or possibly under Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's house, you know what today is. It comes fast on the heels of Groundhog's Day and, if you don't want to be stuck under a shadow for six weeks, most of you better get today right. Read on.
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• Of course, Valentine's Day isn't for everyone. As Kim and I were walking into another gym last night, she turned and said, "I didn't get you anything for Valentine's Day." I stopped, feigned surprise and said something about having bought her a beautiful necklace. Her answer: "You better not have," along with some not-so-complimentary commentary on her thoughts about the day. Man, I love that woman. ... Anyhow, for the rest of you. Good luck. Now on to today's sports commentary. ... But before we get there, last week we sent you to the S-R's weekly news quiz on the web, mainly because the prize it offered was two tickets to a Gonzaga basketball game. This week we're sending you there again because the prize is, let me get this right by quoting directly from the e-mail I received, "We'll be doing two random drawings on Friday: Two entrants will each win two tickets to the golf show. And the overall quiz champ wins a $50 (gift certificate) to the Davenport Hotel." Just click here and take the quiz. You don't have to get the questions right, there is a drawing from all those who participate. ... Yesterday was quite a dead sports day, so we're not going to get into much of anything in depth this morning. But we do want to look ahead, because this is a big week in Spokane-area prep ranks. Not only are there state tournaments going on in Idaho (girls basketball) and Washington (wrestling, where our Greg Lee will be this weekend), there are a handful of different levels of state basketball playoffs. For us, we'll be out at Central Valley tonight to cover a 4A boys district game between the Bears and Lewis and Clark (Greg is doing the earlier girls game) and other games during the week. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Wednesday, the Inland Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters' annual Junior Awards Luncheon will be held at the Spokane Convention Center, starting at 11:30. If you have never attended this event, you've missed one of the most uplifting things Spokane does every year. A huge room filled with junior high and high school kids, the best and the brightest our area has to offer. There is no way you can leave the event without being optimistic about the future.
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• Washington State: Christian Caple had to run down a news story yesterday, as Cougar long snapper Zach Koepp was arrested over the weekend. Christian has this story. He also has his morning post, covering the links from the Pac-12. ... We have a couple other things, including the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday for the Pac-12 Network's offices in San Francisco. Jon Wilner has some notes that came out of the event. ... ESPN has its weekly power rankings out of the conference. I think WSU should be up one spot the way Stanford is playing.
• Gonzaga: The Zags are back in the national rankings this week and probably deserve to be the way they played during the last one. Jim Meehan had this blog post about their ascension yesterday (and Kevin Pangos' third WCC player of the week award). ... Gonzaga (first and second rounds) and WSU (regionals) will host the NCAA women's basketball tournament again next season. Remember, the GU women will have the first and second rounds this year in McCarthey and had them last season, so that will make it three years in a row for them. ... Santa Clara has pulled the plug on Kevin Foster's season.
• Eastern Washington: Jim Allen took a quick look around the Big Sky yesterday.
• Idaho: The biggest sports news on Monday might have been the announcement the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA would be merging, creating a conference that will span an area covering from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic seaboard. Though there are a lot of questions, it seems Idaho might be interested in throwing its hat into that all-encompassing ring, as Josh Wright's blog post shows. ... In the current WAC, Utah State and Nevada will step away from conference basketball play this week.
• Whitworth: The Pirates may have won another NWC men's basketball title, but Jim Allen's story makes it clear they still have other goals.
• Preps: As we said above, it's a big week. Greg had a blog post yesterday about the Mat Classic and a poll question about basketball. ... Mason Kelley and Sandy Ringer have the Times' 4A/3A boys and girls basketball rankings. ... Former G-Prep basketball star Jennifer Williams now uses her energy in a different fashion.
• Mariners: There are a lot of stories out of the M's early spring training, including the usual ones about pitching prospects, but the best of today concerns a veteran reliever who is trying to control his game. ... What is going on in Oakland?
• Sounders: Seattle is looking for even more success this season.
• NBA: We asked you yesterday about stealing another team for Seattle (like, say, Sacramento's) and how you felt about that. Not too bad actually. And the Times' Jerry Brewer says you shouldn't.
• Olympics: The boxing trials begin with a big upset John Blanchette chronicles. ... A former S-R staffer, now with the LA Times, is in town for the trials.
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• That's all we have for today. Until later ...
