Grip on Sports: If the weather gods have anything to say about it, the Seahawks will be in Minneapolis in February
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Have you bought your airline tickets to Minneapolis yet? You may want to beat the rush. Read on.
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• Early February in the land of 10,000 inches of snow should be really fun. Wait, you didn’t know? The Super Bowl will be in Minneapolis this year. Another cold weather site.
And the way the Seahawks looked yesterday, I’m sure some of you are dreaming of them being the NFC’s representative there.
Of course they will be. It’s cold in Minnesota that time of year, which makes the Hawks the odds-on favorite to be in attendance.
The last time Minneapolis hosted the Super Bowl was Jan. 26, 1992, with the Washington Redskins defeating the perennial also-ran Buffalo Bills 37-24. That was before the Seahawks were good enough to compete at that level, but there was a local representative.
Spokane’s Mark Rypien was the game’s MVP.
It was the first cold-weather Super Bowl. It wouldn’t be the last.
You remember the second one, right? Feb. 5, 2006. Detroit. The Hawks were there. So were Jerome Bettis and the Steelers. You remember who won, right? And who lost? Thanks Bill Leavey and company.
At least those two cold-weather Super Bowl towns had domed stadiums. The next time the NFL went back to a metro area known for its winter snows, it was played outside.
No big deal. It was actually decent in East Rutherford, N.J., Feb. 2, 2014. In fact it was downright warm on the Seahawks’ sidelines as they rolled Denver, 43-8.
So if you are keeping score at home, that is three true cold-weather Super Bowl sites and two Seattle appearances. The return to the great white north happens at the end of this season.
Odds are the Hawks will be there.
• Did you think I was going to crow about Seattle’s 48-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers yesterday and use it as a reason to buy those airline tickets?
Even I am not that silly. Or stupid. It was an exhibition, pardon me, the NFL prefers “preseason,” game. Results don’t really matter.
Injuries do and Seattle suffered a couple, most notably a shoulder sprain by Paul Richardson, the Colorado speedster who has struggled to stay healthy throughout his short career.
• A decent golf tournament broke out down the stretch of the PGA Championship yesterday with the winner turning out to be Justin Thomas, the youngster who shot a 63 at the U.S. Open earlier this year.
It’s not so much Thomas won his first major as the rest of the field lost it. At one point there was a handful of guys tied atop the leaderboard. Ten minutes later there was just Thomas alone there. And not because he put together a string of birdies.
Bogeys seemed to be the order of the day down the stretch for everyone expect Thomas.
No matter. It isn’t how you get it done, it’s that you do.
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WSU: A football field is 100 yards long. All those yards matter. But last night, Mike Leach was more concerned about the final 30 yards. Theo Lawson explains in this piece. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 yesterday, Arizona has an offensive lineman who has come a long way. … There are always players who surprise during preseason camp. Utah just hopes that happens at quarterback. … Colorado is about halfway through camp. … California held a scrimmage Saturday and the defense dominated. … Stanford’s first game will be a long way away. But it’s also getting close. … Oregon looks to its safeties to run the defense. … Oregon State has options, and questions, in its secondary. …
EWU: Jase Butorac loved Eastern Washington University. He loved playing football for Eastern Washington University. So he finally decided it would be nice to continue to be involved with both as he grew older. He got his chance. Jim Allen has a story on how that all happened. … Around the Big Sky, Montana looks to its linebackers for defensive leadership.
Indians: Yes, Spokane lost again, this time 2-1 in 12 innings at Eugene. It’s all part of the learning process minor league players must undergo. Whitney Ogden has this feature about that process. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Everett snapped a short losing skid.
Mariners: Four consecutive losses to the Angels can get anyone’s head down. It was not a good weekend. But it isn’t the end of the season. Not yet. And thankfully for the M’s, the teams they are chasing for the final wild-card spot are not all that good. That’s the thrust of our column today. … Yesterday’s loss was no better or worse than the other three, but the pitching staff did only yield four runs. … It looks as if the M’s will get David Phelps back pretty quickly.
Seahawks: If you watched the Hawks game on TV last night you might have noticed how many of the Los Angeles fans seemed to be in the Seahawks’ camp. Small stadium, small crowd, small home-field advantage. … Michael Bennett is doing something that will get under some folks’ skin. He is sitting for the anthem. And he intends to keep doing it. … Kasen Williams had a day. A great day. … What did we learn last night?
Sounders: One of Saturday’s MLS matches had to be postponed due to weather concerns. It didn’t faze Real Salt Lake, which hasn’t lost in six consecutive matches.
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• Guess what I’m doing this week? Give up? I’m going to be on the radio a couple times. The first is tomorrow, Tuesday, from 3 to 6 p.m. on 700 ESPN with Rick Lukens. Then we’re getting back together on Thursday. Mark you calendars. I already have. Until later …