Days off aren’t often off days
A GRIP ON SPORTS
It only seemed as if the Mariners were going to play for 162 consecutive days. They actually do have a few off days, though, as far as I can recall – at my age, recall isn't total anymore – they had just one in April. But they had Thursday off. All they had to do following Wednesday's game was to travel from Seattle to Toronto and get situated for a road series that starts tonight. But don't worry, they'll be home in time for Mother's Day, and that's important. Read on.
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• One of the best parts of this job is discovering little gems that I can pass along. It doesn't happen every day, but occasionally I find a piece that makes my day and I just have to share it. There is one such piece today. It comes from Seattle Times baseball writer Geoff Baker and it's a blog post on why he won't be covering the Toronto series this weekend. The reason isn't the best – his mom is having heart surgery – but the explanation includes a story about attending a hockey game with his mother. That's what makes the piece worth reading. It also got me to thinking, what with Mother's Day coming up in a bit more than a week. What is your best sports memory associated with your mother? I'm sure most of us have one. I certainly do, and I'll share mine with you on Mother's Day. It has to do with her distinctive voice. Anyhow, if you have a particularly fond sports memory about mom that just thinking of makes you smile – or cry – share it with me. It can be about her playing or about her watching you play. It can be about the time she made you forget a boneheaded play or the time she did something your friends have never let you forget. Whatever makes you think of her. You can send it to an email address I set up just for this exercise: vincegrippi55@gmail.com. I'll pour through your responses – there better be some or, in best mom fashion, I'm sending everyone to a time out – and put the best together to run in this space next Sunday along with my Mother's Day story. If you want your name used, if you want to be anonymous, if you want me to refer to you by a nickname, just let me know. But don't be shy. This could be fun.
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• Washington State: Not as much as usual today, but we did find some things. Christian Caple put up a video yesterday which features defensive coordinator Mike Breske during spring practice. And we found a couple Cougar-related items. ... The Morgan Hill Times has this story on Wade Jacobson pursuing his NFL dream. ... Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has some thoughts on a bunch of subjects.
• Gonzaga: Christian puts on his college baseball beat writer hat today and has his weekly notebook, which leads with Gonzaga's quest for a WCC title and the conference's NCAA berth, two different things this season. ... We tweeted this link yesterday morning, but there is a chance of a pretty cool doubleheader at the Arena on Dec. 7. ... WCC member BYU is going to be playing for a national title Saturday and the powers that be here at A Grip on Sports hopes they lose. Badly. The Cougars are matching up with the finest educational institution in America, UC Irvine (that's fact based; I have the evidence – two diplomas – under a pile of stuff somewhere in my basement) in the NCAA men's volleyball championship game. Go Anteaters.
• Chiefs: Yesterday was draft day in the WHL and the Chiefs took part. They also made a trade.
• Preps: There is a double dip of softball news in the paper today from Chris Derrick. There is his weekly notebook and coverage of a big GSL game. ... Greg Lee was at an important Idaho track meet yesterday. ... We also have a roundup of local playoff action in a couple of sports.
• Mariners: Though there wasn't a game yesterday – Felix takes the mound in Toronto this evening starting a two-city road trip – but there was some news. With Jeff Datz battling cancer, the M's brought up Tacoma manager Daren Brown to coach third and sent John Stearns to Triple-A to take Brown's spot. ... There are a couple of stories about pitchers, from the start (Aaron Harang) to the finish (Tom Wilhelmen) to those guys in-between (Carter Capps).
• Sounders: The Sounders still are having some injury problems.
• Sonics: Chris Hansen is going to play hard through the final buzzer.
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• I've got the feeling this will be a great weekend. Hope everyone can get out and enjoy it. Until later ...
