A GRIP ON SPORTS

It's an eclectic mix we present for you this morning, with links ranging from New Jersey, where former Gonzaga star Adam Morrison had a tryout with the Nets, to Tampa, where the Bucs said goodbye to Kellen Winslow and sent him to the Seahawks. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

So what's a blogger to do on Mother's Day? Tell a story about mom? Would that be present enough? It's going to have to be. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

As most of you know, I'm a big Felix Hernandez booster. The guy can pitch, it's as simple as that. But yesterday evening, I found myself quietly rooting for Hernandez to fail. Don't judge me. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

We're going to get right at it today, not because there is anything earth-shattering to relate or any incredibly important place for me to go. No, we're getting right at it because we're running late today and want you to have your morning update. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • UPDATED: 9:40 A.M.

Sunday mornings were always a chore – and a joy – growing up in the newspaper world. The papers were huge, and when your family made its living making sure those papers were in folks' driveways first thing in the morning, that was a chore. But the papers were huge, which made them a joy to read. Times have changed. Read on.

• UPDATE: Now I don't make it a habit to read obituaries, but today while eating breakfast I spied the picture in this one and decided to read it. As it was intended, it made me laugh, which makes it worthwhile to pass along just for that. But there's an even bigger payoff in Larry McKay's obit, if you are a Mariners' fan. You have to read all the way down to the penultimate paragraph, but it's worth it. This is the type of sendoff I want.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

There was a lot of response yesterday to my thoughts on remaining a Mariner fan. To be honest, I appreciate the advice, but have yet to make up my mind. It isn't a results-based analysis, so the fact the M's lost again yesterday isn't really a factor. It's more about the process, which starts at the top and filters down to the field. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

It just may be time. Time to sell my allegiance. Time to give up being a Seattle Mariner fan and start rooting for another team. Time to root for a team with an ownership that wants to win consistently and is willing to do what it takes to make that happen. Or is it the wrong thing to do? Read on.

Former Eastern Washington quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell has signed a contract to play football this year for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

Mitchell, who led the Eagles to a national title in 2010 and won the Walter Payton Award last year, said he plans to sign a contract later today and report to rookie camp on May 30.

“It's a childhood dream come true,” said Mitchell from his hometown of Katy, Texas.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

What a day. The alma mater is headed to the NCAA semifinals and I read a headline I thought I would never see in my lifetime. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

It's Saturday morning. There is a lot to digest and we're not talking about last night's dinner. The NFL draft went through two more rounds (when is Roger Goodell going to realize you can stretch the seven rounds through six days and rest on the seventh, just like his counterpart upstairs?) with a few more Pac-12 stars being chosen. And the Mariners rallied in the ninth (in large part to a crucial error) and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays on a Michael Saunders' 10th-inning grand slam. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

“With the 12th pick of the draft, the Seattle Seahawks make a trade.” Now, those exact words were never spoken by Roger Goodell last night, but something similar was. Nothing surprising, of course, about that. Teams trade draft picks all the time. “With the 15th pick of the draft, the Seattle Seahawks draft Bruce Irvin, defensive end, West Virginia.” Those words, or something really close to those words, were spoken last night and they knocked most observers' socks off. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

I don't know about you, but I'll be listening to the NFL draft on the radio tonight when I drive back from Moscow. It will fill in the gap between Palouse and Garfield. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

What the heck? I got up this morning all ready to see how others around the country had began jumping on the Jason-Vargas-for-Cy-Young bandwagon and all I can find is stories about the Mariners' offense? Doesn't everyone realize yesterday's seven runs was a flash in the pan but Vargas – 3-1 already by the way – is the real deal? I don't get it. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • UPDATED: 10:20 A.M.

While driving back from the Seattle area yesterday, the ride was accompanied by a sports soundtrack. There was the news of Seth Greenberg's firing at Virginia Tech. There was the fallout from Ron Artest's elbow to James Harden's head. And, most prominently, there was the news from Arkansas that John L. Smith was headed back to the Razorbacks to become head football coach for the next 10 months. That, by the way, is twice as long as he was head coach at Weber State, his alma mater. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

For all of you who have been griping about the Mariners' offense, what do you want? Perfection? OK, you got it Saturday. Though not the right way. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

We're in the Seattle area this week on personal business but that doesn't stop us from filling you in on the sports happening around the Inland Northwest. Just like the dirty looks my wife Kim kept shooting me didn't stop me from saying “there's another person headed to the Cougar spring game,” every time an RV passed us headed east on Interstate 90. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • UPDATED 1 P.M.

While reading through items I found yesterday about the M's loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night, one line in a Geoff Baker blog post about Eric Wedge caught my eye. “Managing a baseball team is about leading people as much as it is about playing percentages and crunching numbers,” Baker wrote. Now Baker, the longtime beat writer for the Seattle Times is a numbers guy, in the sense he understands all the statistics that are in play and have become the rage in baseball. But he also understands there is more to winning at the major league level than just running numbers through a laptop. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

When we got out of the car last night, the Mariner's had built an 8-1 lead over Cleveland. Yes, Cleveland, the poster child of ineptitude as illustrated by “Major League” (and a bunch of progressively worse sequels). Of course, the fictional Indians were the comeback kids, roaring all the way back to win the American League title. The real Indians, there is no way they could rally to overcome a seven-run deficit Tuesday night, is there? Not with all of 12,461 (yes, that was the official attendance) in the Safeco stands to cheer the home team on. Maybe one of them should have been banging on a real big drum. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

If we were going to take a day off, today seems as if it would have been the day. Heck yesterday was expected to be pretty dead. No M's. No spring football. Then all heck broke loose around here. Read on.

A GRIP ON SPORTS

Yesterday was Friday the 13th (and just a few hours before the most inauspicious day of the year for everyone, tax day). Unlucky? Sure. If you are a pro sports fan and live in the Northwest. Read on.