All eyes this weekend will be on …

• Football reigns supreme these days. But it wasn’t always that way. Did you know, as late as 1980, almost 50 million people tuned it to watch game six of the Phillies World Series win over the Royals? It was a record at the time – and still is. These days the World Series struggles to attract 12 or 13 million viewers. That’s about a quarter of the viewers who once made up the audience. The airwaves are dominated by pro football, no matter how many injuries, assaults or public relation gaffes occur. Jacksonville lines up against Tennessee and folks turn on the TV to watch. A Sunday night game will draw twice the audience. Heck, many college football games draw more. Baseball, as a TV sport, is in danger of falling behind the NBA and into third in the pantheon of America’s sports ranks. This is hard to stomach. Some of my favorite memories revolve around the old Saturday Game of the Week, something my dad would watch religiously from first pitch to last. As a healthy American male, I would flit in and out, watching an inning or two, pestering pops with questions and then be gone, back to throwing the rubber-coated hard ball against the concrete-block wall and pretending I was Maury Wills or someone. The World Series was always a hidden treasure, played as it was in the daytime. It necessitated some subterfuge, hiding a radio form the teacher or faking an illness to stay home. When it switched to nights, the thrill of doing something on the edge disappeared but the joy of watching never did. I can still remember exactly in my house where I was standing when the ball trickled through Bill Buckner’s legs. And the pity I felt for the ex-Dodger. This year I have yet to watch more than a pitch or two of the games, though I have listened extensively on the radio. And, no, I didn’t have to hide it from anyone. The only thing hidden these days are the ratings.

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• WSU: A quick advisory note: I received a text from Jacob Thorpe at well past midnight last night, informing me he was just getting on the road to Pullman from the Spokane airport. He wanted me to let you folks know he’ll have links, but they won’t be up until later today. In his absence, I will pass along a few as per usual. … The big news yesterday came out of San Francisco, where the Pac-12 held its basketball media day. Ernie Kent took along senior DaVonté Lacy with him and the two chatted in front of a large crowd for a while. Jacob passed along video of the event as well as a transcript of their quotes as well as those of commissioner Larry Scott . He also put up a post of the media poll (Arizona is No. 1 – though not unanimous for some reason – and WSU was picked 11th) and a summary of the best of the sessions. Jacob also has a story in today’s paper concerning Lacy and his goals this season and a story on the media poll . … Bud Withers examines the young WSU secondary in this story . … Back to football, there are a few questions that need to be answered before this weekend’s games.

• EWU: Jim Allen also had a busy day yesterday, balancing football – he has a feature on Jake Rodgers (pictured), the Eagle offensive lineman whose road from North Spokane to Cheney wound through Pullman – and basketball – the Eagles held a meet-and-greet for both men’s and women’s basketball. Jim had a story and a blog post on the Big Sky polls for the men as well as a story on the evening excitement . Jesse Tinsley was also in Cheney and has these photographs . … Jim also held a live chat on the blog yesterday.

• Idaho: The Vandal volleyball team has won four consecutive matches.

• Chiefs: An Everett player received some bad injury news yesterday.

• Preps: The high school football weekend began at Albi with wins by Mead and Shadle Park. Greg Lee was there and has this story . … The state playoffs are in full swing in Idaho and Greg has a story on Sandpoint’s 4A soccer victory. … The GSL volleyball race is coming down to the wire. … We also can pass along a roundup of other prep action from Thursday.

• Seahawks: If there was any theme from yesterday’s conversations after practice it was there is no division in the Hawks’ locker room . Russell Wilson , who was accused of some pretty mean things in a Bleacher Report article, Richard Sherman and others all refuted any thought that was the case. Wilson’s advice is to “ignore the noise.” … Now, injuries, those are real . And getting even more so . … So why is the Hawks’ pass rush so impotent this season? Let’s ask Dan Quinn . … The Hawks are looking everywhere for a fullback , even to defense.

• Sounders: Is Saturday the biggest game in Sounders’ history? Sure it is. A lot is riding on Saturday’s outcome, including the best regular season record in the MLS and home-field advantage in the playoffs. … Speaking of the playoffs, the Sounders might be a bit short-handed during them.

• Mariners: Tonight’s World Series game will pit one starting pitcher who has waited his whole life to be here and another who is returning home . … The M’s have three finalists for Golden Gloves : Kyle Seager at third, Robinson Cano at second and Felix Hernandez on the mound. Cano is the only one with a good shot at the award. … The A’s may not stay in Oakland after all.

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• I know I pine for the past a bit too much. It wasn’t better than the present, I get that. It was just different. Heck, back when baseball was king, I couldn’t look up Al Kaline’s stats against left-handed pitchers unless I had access to the secret vault in MLB’s headquarters. Now all I have to do is Google it. That’s cool. You give up some things and gain others. The Tiger star hit .310 against them in his career, by the way. Until later …