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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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A frustrating fall

A GRIP ON SPORTS

I feel a bit like Job this morning. Ready to look to the heavens and ask the baseball gods why they have forsaken me. Read on.

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• The Mariners never win and they respect their fans so much they raise their ticket prices and don't tell them. Nice. The Dodgers never win and they respect their fans so much they're willing to take the Red Sox's biggest problems – and contracts – off their hands trying to make the postseason. Nice. The Giants always win, though they respect me so much they always get this close to elimination every freakin' series. Nice. Only my dad's favorite team – and since he passed away, one of my favorites by proxy – has a chance to save a little joy from this heartbreak of a baseball season. If the Tigers can win the Series, it's a two-fer. I can celebrate with a martini or two raised to the heavens for Pops and I can cast my eyes downward and mumble some thanks the Giants lost. If the Series turns out the other way, I'm may just start rooting for the Yankees.

• True fact. Every Giants fan in my Southern California Catholic elementary school spent some time in their adult life behind bars. ... OK, there was only one Giant fan. The nuns made him go to confession a lot. I don't think that was because he rooted for the Giants. His fanatical following of the Raiders, maybe, but not because he wore a Giants hat.

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• Washington State: Christian Caple was in Pullman yesterday – though he'll be enjoying a Double-Double by week's end – and covered the players' press conference (coach Mike Leach was in Spokane at the Cougar luncheon). Christian put up this blog post yesterday and had his usual one this morning. He also has this story in the morning paper concerning the bye week and a look at Stanford. ... ESPN.com's Pac-12 blog looks at all this weekend's games. It also examines the national statistics. ... Will there be BCS chaos this year? (Here's hoping.) ... Just who is USC? ... Andy Katz takes a long look at the Pac-12 basketball season for ESPN's magazine.

• EWU: Nothing from the Eagles today, but a former basketball player was given the OK to play this season. ... One of Weber State's assistants has had a terrible road to travel the past few years. The win last weekend was important to him and this columnist.

• Idaho: Interim coach Jason Gesser (left) met the media yesterday and Josh Wright was there to catch every word. He also has a story in this morning's S-R.

• Chiefs: Talk about having no time to relax. Jess Brown's blog post makes it clear Chiefs' coach Don Nachbaur won't have much.

• Preps: The former GSL record holder for the longest field goal has other interests now.

• Seahawks: A war of words between Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh? I've never heard of such a thing. ... The Hawks should be getting back a defensive back soon. ... How have the Seahawks done after starting 4-3? This blog post shares some history.

• Mariners: The M's decided the hitting coach Los Angeles fired, Dave Hansen (at left when he played for the Mariners), is the right guy for them. OK. ... Art Thiel takes three disparate events and pulls them together. One of them is the M's ticket-price idiocy.

• Sounders: Brad Evans and the Sounders have a couple of matches with a lot less pressure coming up, but that doesn't mean they want to relax. ... Marcus Hahnemann might start in goal for Seattle this week. ... Another year, another attendance record.

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• Only one more day until the Fall Classic begins in the Bay Area. I bet it's about 40 degrees warmer there than Detroit. Until later ...



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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