Grip on Sports: Sunday afternoon is always the best time to serve your finest whine

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is it Friday already? And the end of the college basketball regular season? Yes it is. Read on.

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• This upcoming Sunday has a sports-based name, of course. It’s Selection Sunday. Or maybe it should be “Selection Sunday,” with neon lights and trumpets and maybe even a James Earl Jones voiceover.

But in actuality the NCAA tournament selections should be made on a Wednesday, so we could alliterate the day with the right word. You know, Whining Wednesday.

There is so much whining headed our way it does should have its own day.

“We deserve to be in over Whatsamatta U.” “Our seed is too low.” “The committee didn’t rate our win at Monsters U. high enough.” “Our path is too tough.” “We don’t get any respect.” “It’s not our fault our nonconference opponents turned out to be awful. It was better when we made it.”

The whines we will hear are all vintage. They come from coaches, players, administrators, sure, but mostly from fans. And sports writers. Don’t forget them. We will have some exquisite whining in this space come Monday, let me tell you.

No one is ever satisfied. Well, maybe the school that is in for the initial time and avoids a first-round date with Virginia. It, and its fans, may be more than satisfied. Of course, Villanova could be its opponent, so there is that.

For those of us who have made it a habit to plop down in front of the television at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon with a blank bracket and two sharp pencils, we will be complaining as well.

By habit we’ll probably turn on CBS and realize, some five minutes after the hour, the bronze frying pan infomercial isn’t ending. And the selection show is on TBS this year.

By then, the entire field will have been revealed. Not the games, mind you, just the 68 teams that are in the field. So if your team is on the bubble – we are looking at you Saint Mary’s fans – then you better get to the TV on time. CBS and TBS are planning on revealing the participants at the top of the show. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, sort of like telling us who wins “The Amazing Race” as they fight over the first envelope.

The powers that be must have really bought into the “it’s not the result, but the journey” philosophy – and figure you have too.

For Gonzaga fans, they can come in a bit later. Aren’t the Zags always the last team revealed? They were last year and it proved lucky. Maybe the same journey of six steps will begin the same way this weekend.

If not, you can always whine about it.

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WSU: It’s early March. Should we start with football news or basketball news? Your call. … OK, football it is. Fifteen Washington State players held a mass job interview for more than two-dozen NFL scouts yesterday. It went well. Peter Harriman has the coverage, filling in for Theo Lawson, who is in Las Vegas. … Theo was in the desert for basketball, and he has a story on Robert Franks and has future. … The baseball team rallied for a late-night win in Pullman, of all places. … The Times Stefanie Loh has a story about the Pro Day. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, there is football news from Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA, all but the Huskies in spring practice mode. … The basketball tournament continues in Vegas, with the semifinals tonight. Why do I keep getting the feeling the conference will only have two teams in the NCAAs? Because I’m a whiner. Arizona will be in for sure, but probably seeded lower than Wildcat fans want. They defeated Colorado yesterday, the same school that knocked out Arizona State. … UCLA will be in too after handling Stanford relatively easily. … USC still has a shot because they got past Oregon State. But the loser of the Trojans’ semifinal with Oregon tonight will be out. The Ducks blocked Utah’s NCAA road last night, giving Larry Krystkowiak another reason to go off on fouls and the rules. … It could be worse. He could be coaching California. … That was one subject not covered by Larry Scott last night. The Pac-12 women’s tournament was covered and it is moving from Seattle.

Gonzaga: We could have put this story in the Prep section I guess, but we’ll link it here. Jim Meehan has a piece on 2019 Gonzaga commit Brock Ravet being named the Gatorade player of the year for Washington basketball. … Saint Mary’s doesn’t always have to be so firmly planted on the bubble.

EWU: Basketball season is still going on for the Eagles, so we’ll start with that. Jim Allen is in Reno with them and has this story on their win over Portland State. … He’s also part of Larry Weir’s latest Press Box podcast. … Jim has a football story as well, with the Eagles holding their pro day today. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky basketball tournament, Northern Colorado surprised Weber State and will get to take on regular season champion Montana in one semifinal. The Griz made sure North Dakota’s last Big Sky game was a loss.

Idaho: There won’t be the expected showdown with rival Eastern Washington in the semifinals. The Vandals didn’t do their part, falling to Southern Utah. Jim Allen has that story and there is also coverage from Cedar City. … Idaho also held its pro day yesterday, allowing for an easier trip for the NFL folks. Peter also covered that for the S-R. … We can pass along this Idaho Statesman story which ran in the S-R today. It concerns the Vandals’ failure in a couple harassment cases a few years back.

Chiefs: Kailer Yamamoto is going to be in the NHL someday. Not right now, though. He’s too busy helping the Chiefs round into playoff form. Whitney Ogden has this feature on Yamamoto’s present and his future.

Preps: You want stars? We have stars. John Blanchette has this story on Gerry Lindgren, the best prep track star this area has ever produced, being included in the inaugural class of the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame. … We also have a list of all the winter all-league teams. … Included there is Post Falls Jake Pfennigs, who was Idaho’s Gatorade player of the year. Dave Nichols has that story.

Mariners: Spring (and spring training) is about optimism. New beginnings. New life. Which brings us to Mike Zunino. Is his potential about to be realized? … The M’s couldn’t make contact yesterday and lost. … The contact part is what Ichiro still can do well. … Felix Hernandez continues to move forward.

Seahawks: In the comings and goings department, Richard Sherman is expected to be part of the latter sometime today. That’s too bad. He’s been an integral part of the Hawks’ greatest era. … Others are leaving as well. … Another veteran running back may just be added to the roster. That’s an odd way to remake the roster.

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• You know the best part about daylight savings time returning Sunday? All those little appliance clocks I neglected to change last fall? They will finally be back on time. Until later …