Grip on Sports: I have a very bad feeling about this column …

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you aren’t a fan of Star Wars, then picking up the newspaper’s print edition might just make you shake your head. Read on.

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• It was a forceful front page in sports today, with four basketball stories, all with Star Wars-themed headlines. Our first thought, when seeing them, was to sprinkle Star Wars names and places throughout the column this morning.

Then sanity prevailed.

The sports page is dominated by George Lucas’ baby. My Twitter feed is full of The Last Jedi mentions. That’s plenty. The rest of this column will be a Star Wars-free zone.

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WSU: Robert Franks remade his body. And he reset his goals. His renaissance has helped the Cougars to their winning start. Theo Lawson has more in this story. … Theo also has a couple of videos of interviews with WSU basketball players. … And there are interviews with football players and coaches following yesterday’s practice on our WSU football page.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, there is another conference CEO saying not-so-complementary things about the conference’s administration, using “administration” as both a noun and a verb. … With the bowl games starting this weekend, picks had to be made. … One of the new trends: players skipping bowls as they prepare to enter the professional ranks. It seems a bit analogous to skipping the graduation ceremony to get ready for a job that starts on the next Monday. The bowl skipping is hitting Oregon hard, with Royce Freeman not playing, and could help Arizona State. … The Sun Devils may lose their offensive coordinator. … Utah hopes to have its quarterback back for the bowl. … There is an old storyline running through the Las Vegas Bowl. … Yes, the bowl games are starting. But the new signing period doesn’t begin until next week. … In basketball, Washington will retire Isaiah Thomas’ number. … Arizona and USC won last night and Utah hopes civility wins out in this weekend’s matchup with BYU. … UCLA still has two suspended players on the roster.

Gonzaga: The subject of Jim Meehan’s story? The emergence of Zach Norvell Jr., the redshirt freshman who has filled in admirably after Corey Kispert, a true freshman, when down with an ankle injury. Norvell has scored more than 20 points in each of the last three games. But is he still the starter. This quote from Mark Few might shed some light on that. “I’ve been looking for growth on the defensive end and growth in shot selection and kind of understanding what’s good and what isn’t so good,” Few told Jim. “I think we’re making some ground there.” … On the women’s side, Jim Allen covers two players who are neighbors. Both are being asked to step up in Jill Barta’s absence. … Around the WCC last night, Santa Clara got run out of gym by USC.

Idaho: Perrion Callandret is healthy. Peter Harriman explains how much of a difference that makes for the senior guard. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Northern Arizona lost to South Dakota.

Preps: Thursday nights are always busy, what with gymnastics, wrestling and girls and boys basketball all going on.

Chiefs: With a couple players playing elsewhere this week, Spokane decided this is a good time to give a couple young players a chance to join the squad.

Seahawks: With all the injuries the defense has suffered, the showdown with the Rams and quarterback Jared Goff may have to be won by the offense. To do that, Russell Wilson will have to overcome the best defensive player he sees.

Mariners: Edgar Martinez is picking up Hall of Fame votes. Enough of them? … The M’s selected an infielder and two catchers in baseball’s Rule 5 drafts. It’s all part of giving the lineup a younger feel.

Sounders: Seattle is already working to bolster its defense for next season.

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• Jar Jar Binks. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. How in the name of George Lucas did anyone ever think that character was a good idea? Until later …