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• By the way, when you read "breaking news" in the paragraph above, did the ESPN jingle play in your head? If it did, you are a true sports fan. Or you were awoken before 6 by the ditty playing on your phone, as I did. And I thought I turned off the notifications. Silly me. You can't turn off the worldwide leader, especially when it has a breaking story. And Chris Petersen (pictured) reportedly heading to Washington is certainly that. Yep, the long-time successful Boise State coach has finally given in and accepted a BCS offer. It seems as if Petersen has said no to just about every big-time football school in the Western Hemisphere, from Oregon to Stanford to UCLA to USC, but he reportedly said yes to the Huskies last night. So what does that mean? For one, it means the Huskies are the winners of the press conference wars. Steve Sarkisian to USC? Big deal. Jim Mora Jr. staying at UCLA? Who cares. Chris Petersen is leaving Boise and heading to Seattle? Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner. Suddenly, you could argue Oregon has the lowest profile football coach in the Northwest. Now isn't that odd? There's the wise old sage at Oregon State, the mad scientist at Washington State and, now, the golden boy at UW. Except Petersen isn't much of a boy anymore – he's a man, he's nearly 50 – and, after an 8-4 record this season – including a blowout loss at Washington – he's not as golden as he once was. But he's still a bauble, a shiny bauble that just about any athletic director in the country would have given his club seating to entice to his school. And it was Scott Woodward who did it. How? My guess is it was time. Petersen looked into the USC job and reportedly decided he and Pat Haden didn't see eye-to-eye on things. But Los Angeles didn't seem to be a fit for Petersen, ever. He's a family guy – in the best sense of the word – and seemed at home in Boise. The Boise-to-LA culture swing might have been too much. But Seattle is a big city with somewhat of a small-town feel – except around 5 p.m. Still, as a culture change, it's going to be less invasive than Hollywood. Plus Petersen's family is growing up, probably lessening the burden from that end. But there is one other thing. The landscape of college football is changing. Petersen has always been quick to recognize change. It will only get harder, with the four-team playoff looming, for a Boise-type school to make an impact. There is little to no chance the Boises of the world are going to be included, especially early on. Which affects everything from recruiting to television money. If Petersen were thinking about making a change, this off-season would seem right. And so, as we write this, it appears he's headed to Montlake. And once again the football landscape around here has been uprooted. If you want to know why, just blame ESPN. It's the network's money (and the money from FOX) that has allowed the Pac-12 schools to build their edifices and to entice new blood, from Todd Graham to Mora to Leach to, now, Petersen. The world is changing folks, and changing quickly. Hang on.

• UPDATE: Speaking of change – and breaking news – ESPN is reporting Robinson Cano has agreed to a $240 million deal with the Mariners. We don't have any more than that, but we thought we would pass it along. What a day in Seattle. If the Cano news is true, then the M's are really serious about changing their culture. We'll mull that over a bit and have some thoughts later.

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• WSU: The change came to Pullman a couple years ago (showing once again WSU is on the cutting edge), but the biggest change should occur this weekend when the Cougars find out where they are headed for a bowl game. The team is back to practicing and Jacob Thorpe was keeping an eye on things, sort of. He has a story and a blog post but couldn't watch practice, as it was in the bubble. A bit cold in Pullman. ... More bowl talk, this from an Oregon State perspective. ... Did you know all these facts about the Pac-12?

• EWU: It will be dangerously cold in Cheney on Saturday but neither team should be affected all that much, in that South Dakota has a tendency to get a bit cool this time of year as well. Jim Allen uses this morning to get you better acquainted with another Eagle defensive back. ... Jim also held a live chat yesterday and posts some links this morning. ... A couple of recent Eagle football players have been named among the Big Sky's all-time best. ... There is a lot of respect between EWU and Montana. ... Weber State is still looking for a coach. Cross Chris Petersen off its list.

• Chiefs: Seems like a tough time to be in a bus driving around western Canada. Hope the heater works.

• Preps: Football season ends this weekend with the Washington state title games. Lind-Ritzville/Sprague expected to be back in the 2B title game, as Greg Lee writes in this advance. Greg also advances Freeman's 1A championship game. ... Basketball is in full swing, with Thursday's action covered in a roundup and the big tournament of the weekend, The Fitz, the subject of John Blanchette's column.

• UFC: John also has a feature on the newest Ultimate Fighter winner from Spokane. That's two-in-a-row.

• Seahawks: A typical Thursday for the Hawks. You know, Russell Wilson meets with a media and talks about everyone else but himself. Richard Sherman meets with the media and has everyone laughing. Dan Quinn meets with the media and only real fans care. And, lest we forget, the 49ers coach, everyone's favorite, Jim Harbaugh (pictured), met with the media yesterday as well. ... There was also the typical injury report with Brandon Browner and Percy Harvin out and a minor roster change. ... The 49ers might get reinforcements this week. ... It's time for another Jerry Brewer report card.

• Mariners: It appears Robinson Cano was in Seattle yesterday and he wasn't there to throw fish in the market. Nope, he was talking contract with the M's, who seem to be throwing around huge numbers. Are they really serious?

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• I can't think of anything else to pontificate about. Maybe tomorrow we'll be able to write about the M's making a huge splash. You know, something a bit bigger than Willie Bloomquist. Until later ...