Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SportsLink

A lot of overlap in area sports today

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As the day wears on today, let's hope you don't wear out. It's that type of Saturday. There is so much going on I'm not sure any one person can catch it all. Read on.

••••••••••

• Say you are an Eastern Washington basketball fan. But you also are a die-hard Seahawk fan. What do you do? I don't have an answer for you, or for Idaho basketball fans or Gonzaga fans. The basketball games tonight, the ones pitting EWU and Idaho and Gonzaga hosting Santa Clara, all will be going on today while the Hawks play Carolina. Good luck watching them all live, if that's how you like to do it. Heck, there is even some overlap between all three games, so there is no way to stay in tune with all of them. At least Washington and Washington State fans don't have that worry. Their game today starts at noon, so it's relatively free of competition. Of course, the Baltimore at New England playoff game begins around 1:30, so there's that. No matter what, though, the battle for your attention will be fierce today and tonight. So good luck. And here's hoping your DVR works.

•••

• WSU: Yesterday was not the best day in Washington State history. Jacob Thorpe has coverage on the bad news, including a blog post on the Cougars' financial woes in the athletic department as well as a story on a lawsuit against the school by a former football player and another blog post on a football reserve hanging up his cleats for other endeavors. Plus there is a blog post on Mike Leach's contract status. ... Jacob does have an advance of today's basketball game at UW as well as a morning post with links. ... The WSU women couldn't get past California last night. ... Oregon will be without another offensive weapon on Monday night. ... As usual, we pass along the mailbag on ESPN.com's Pac-12 blog but we add something else today: our endorsement of Ted Miller's first answer. If I had been in Jim Mora's shoes, I would have been ticked off too.

• Gonzaga: Jim Meehan made his way back to the blog yesterday morning with another look at the win over USF. ... We also can pass along an advance of today's game. ... Former Gonzaga player Stew Morrill is retiring at the end of the season at Utah State. ... St. Mary's has put a bigger lineup on the floor recently and its helped. ... BYU has to bounce back today.

• Whitworth: No Pirate women's team has ever started the season as well as this one. Tom Clouse has the story on the team's 13th consecutive win to begin the season. ... Tom also covered the men's game, also a victory, also over Linfield.

• Preps: Friday night lights this time of year are on in the gyms around the area. We have a roundup of girls and boys action from the area as well as Greg Lee's story on Mead's win over Central Valley in GSL girls play (pictured). There is also a GSL boys roundup, leading with U-Hi's win over Shadle Park.

• Chiefs: The Portland Winterhawks finally figured out a way to defeat the Chiefs this season. Chris Derrick has the story and a blog post from last night's 5-3 decision at the Arena. ... Tri-City edged Seattle, 4-3, at home while Everett earned a 6-2 win at Moose Jaw.

• Seahawks: The preliminaries are almost done. It's time to get ready for tonight's game between Seattle and Carolina. But before we sit down to watch, let's take a moment to appreciate what's happened this season. Heck, the Hawks went the final six games of the regular season without giving up a point in the fourth quarter. That's good, isn't it? So just how good is the defense, anyway? I guess we will find out more tonight. ... Derrick Coleman is happy to have his Super Bowl ring back. ... Russell Wilson had a good year, but not good enough to be on the Pro Bowl roster. That didn't make Pete Carroll happy. ... The Hawks may be home tonight, but Carolina has nothing to lose. ... Here is the obligatory injury report. ... Dan Quinn seems to be the frontrunner for the Jets' job.

• Mariners: Robinson Cano will play a little winter baseball now that his toe is healed.

• Sounders: Seattle officially signed another homegrown player, this one a UW forward.

•••

• Enjoy your Saturday. Just don't wear out the remote. Until later ...



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

Follow Vince online:






Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.