Is it time to put some clothes in storage?
A GRIP ON SPORTS
There is that old saw about never wearing white after Labor Day. It came to mind yesterday as I sat in front of the TV set and watched Rory McIlroy hold on to win the Deutsche Bank Championship. He was wearing white pants. I wonder if he will be wearing the same ones on Sunday in next week's BMW Championship. Or is he too savvy for such a fashion faux pas? Read on.
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• The preceding paragraph was brought to you by a wandering mind, one that is a bit bored waiting for next weekend. And more football. College football, sure, but more importantly, wait for it, the return of the RedZone Channel. Not the NFL's games. Nope, the RedZone Channel. The greatest invention of all time. Well, it ranks behind fire, of course. And air conditioning. But it's definitely third. I had lost most of my interest in NFL football until that warm late-summer day when I discovered RedZone. Hallelujah. Forget watching the Browns/Ravens game. Now I sit and watch touchdown after touchdown. All in the double box. Or triple box. Or, my brain's favorite, the quadruple box. But I have a problem. My brain and I have been trying to come up with a drinking game – Diet Coke or Pepsi for me, a Heineken for my brain – to play while watching RedZone. Take a drink every time Scott Hanson makes a mistake (or is that not often enough)? Do we toast every score (or is that too much)? Every time they have to go to a triple box (might be just about right)? If you have some ideas, share.
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• Washington State: This season, Monday is the day three WSU designated football players will be forced to meet with the media, followed by a Mike Leach press conference. Yesterday, in the season's first such occurrence, quarterback Jeff Tuel, linebacker Travis Long and safety Deone Bucannon stood in front of a Crimson WSU banner and answered questions. Christian Caple was there and filed a handful of blog posts, one on Tuel's time, one on Long's interview and another on Leach and Bucannon. They all include video. Christian also had a post on the latest depth chart. Today, he had the first look at the Eastern game, his morning post and a story on Tuel wanting to be more vocal on the field and sidelines. ... Kevin Gemmell on ESPN.com has this piece on WSU's body language. Was it that obvious? ... It seems to be the day to rate the Pac-12, with ESPN.com and CBS.com putting out power polls. The Cougars are 11th and 10th, respectively. ... What's ahead this week? ... For California, anything will be better than last week's opener, according to Bob Clark. ... With Washington playing at LSU this week, Jerry Brewer points out the Pac-12 has a winning record against the kings of college football this century. It should be back to .500 after Saturday.
• EWU: With the Eagles headed down U.S. Highway 195 for the second consecutive week, Jim Allen's football responsibilities are a bit limited. However, he has this blog post this morning.
• Idaho: Nothing on the Vandals, who opened as a big underdog for their game with Bowling Green, but we did find a couple Utah State stories for a bit of a WAC flavor. ... San Jose State almost upset Stanford, which earned good grades.
• Mariners: The Boston Red Sox are so bad – how bad are they? – they are worse than the Mariners. The past couple years that would have been at least a bit of a funny joke. But no longer. The M's are improved and the Red Sox are in free fall, collapsing as the season winds down. Jason Vargas used the revamped Red Sox lineup as a way to get back on track and one big inning lifted the M's to a 4-1 win yesterday. ... A bunch of Rainiers will be joining the big club now their season is over.
• Seahawks: With all the twisting and maneuvering that is cutdown weekend over, the Hawks can start getting ready for their opener at Arizona. That is if everyone is healthy. At least they got one of their offensive linemen back.
• Polo: Yes, polo. Really. Actually, it's for a good cause and Greg Lee has the story.
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• With the final three-day weekend of the summer over, it's back to the weekly grind. At least there is the football-filled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Until later ...