Fresh air my … nose
A GRIP ON SPORTS
Remember when I wrote yesterday about it being too cold to work in the yard. I was wrong. And now my shoulders are paying the price. Read on.
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• There has to be a workout regime on television somewhere built around raking the lawn for an hour at a time. Maybe a reality show as well. If there is, I never want to be a contestant. Not even if it is displayed on the new scoreboard at Safeco, the M's ownership's answer to their fans cries for a better, more competitive team. Maybe the fans should have demanded a new scoreboard. Then the team would have spent money on a left-handed bat. It's obvious ownership doesn't want to listen to its fans. Anyway, not only are my shoulders aching this morning – making my typing a bit slower – but all the fresh air must have triggered some virus in my nose. Now I have the beginnings of a cold. Jeez, and on a day I'm on the radio too. What else could go wrong? How about the puppy we brought home a few days ago deciding the outdoors is no place for a dog doing its business. The upstairs bedroom is much, much better. That only took a half-hour in the middle of the night to clean up. And all night to air out. But still, with all that going on, we still have it better than some folks involved with our area's sports teams. At least no one is trying to get me fired.
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• Washington State: The Cougars head to sunny Tempe today and Christian Caple is headed there as well (there is an In-n-Out less than two miles from the football stadium Christian; I had an account there for a couple years). He was at practice last night and put up this blog post, then followed that with his usual morning post today. He also has a story on the Regents' vote today in Spokane on the football operations building. And one more thing. He has a story in today's paper concerning the defections and dismissals from Washington State's football team under Mike Leach. There have been 19 scholarship players leave since the end of last season and, according to my count, 38 of the 104 players with eligibility left (including walk-ons), or 36.5 percent. ... You can still win tickets to the Apple Cup. ... The basketball team heads to California. Christian has an advance. ... Pac-12 picks and power rankings from Jon Wilner.
• Gonzaga: The Zags women open their home schedule this evening against Wisconsin. That game leads Chris Derrick's women's basketball notebook. ... Portland had trouble but got past Idaho State at home. ... St. Mary's won in Logan, Utah, a tough place for visitors. The Gaels will be good again. ... USD, playing at home, struggled and lost to Northridge.
• EWU: Eastern's new Gateway project is moving forward, so Jim Allen updated the details in this S-R story. He also held a live football chat yesterday.
• Idaho: Jason Gesser told our Josh Wright he wants to stay at Idaho no matter what happens with the head coaching position. ... BYU will have its hands full with San Jose State's passing game. ... Speaking of the Spartans, they won their first basketball game last night, defeating Weber State at home.
• Chiefs: Former Chief Jared Cowan will not play in the NHL this season, even if there is an NHL season. He suffered a torn hip labrum and will undergo surgery.
• Preps: Idaho's girls basketball season is set to get going, so Greg Lee put together this roundup.
• Sounders: It will have been a week since the rout in Los Angeles before the Sounders and Galaxy meet again, but that helps Seattle. ... A couple of Sounders have been nominated for big MLS awards. ... Can Seattle keep both Eddie Johnson and Fredy Montero? The Times' Steve Kelley doesn't think so.
• Mariners: As you can expect with something as big as the new video scoreboard, it dominates the conversation around the M's this morning. And leads to some scathing commentary, which I enjoy. ... Did the M's have a hand in Miguel Cabrera winning the American League MVP? In a way yes. So all the new-wave stat guys can blame them.
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• We'll be on the radio from 3 to 6 p.m. today and, if you are so inclined, you can listen here. Please don't watch the video feed. The way I feel I must look a fright, so I don't want to scare any small children who might walk past your computer and see my face. We'll be back here tomorrow. Until then ...
