Numbness - or is it dumbness? – starting to set in
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It's only Tuesday, right? It's still some five days and eight hours until kickoff, right? It has to be closer than that. Has to be. Read on.
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• Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like time is dragging this year. It's glacial enough to remind me of, I don't know, air slowly leaking from a football or something. By the time we get to Super Sunday, it's going to be completely flat. I'm already a couple pounds short as it is. Whatever the reason, and I would posit the Leakgate crud is a big reason behind it, this year's run-up to the Super Bowl seems even harder to take. I was going through stories today and, other than a couple poorly chosen comments – spoiler alert, they were about Richard Sherman, not from Richard Sherman – there isn't much new to pass along. The Pats are demanding the NFL apologize. The Hawks are ready to play, even down to the guy who was parking cars not long ago. Marshawn Lynch is laughing all the way to the bank, courtesy of Skittles. And, oh ya, Max Unger knows he could be in for a long day. Sunday, not today at media day. That, my friends, is about the extent of the football talk we are passing along. Some of America's finest sports journalists are in Phoenix and that's the extent of the football analysis? Well, I'm sure there is more, but it's the best I could find this morning. So we'll go with it, along with stories about Russell Wilson slow-walking the media – spoiler alert, he's a bland interview subject – and valet parkers and the like. Otherwise, it's about five days and seven hours until kickoff. Deal with it.
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• WSU: Ernie Kent answered questions yesterday and Jacob Thorpe transcribed everything he said. ... Jacob also has a morning post with links, including some news yesterday that may change the Huskies' fortunes.
• Gonzaga: It looks as if BYU's best big man may miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
• EWU: Tyler Harvey is once again the Big Sky's player of the week, though he only won half the award this week. Jim Allen has all the particulars in this blog post and story as well as more in this post on the Eagles' NCAA hopes.
• Chiefs: We can pass along a WHL notebook out of Everett for you this morning.
• Seahawks: John Blanchette has arrived in Phoenix. Now if he could just find his credential and shuttle bus stop, life would be good. ... Surprisingly, we were able to find a story that describes a softer side to Bill Belichick. Not surprisingly, it didn't come from somebody who covers him on a daily basis – or is in Phoenix this week. ... Talk about an arrow right to the heart. ... Yes, Brandon Browner meant what he said. But he shouldn't have said it. And, if the NFL is going to fine Lynch $20,000 for grabbing his crotch, then threatening bodily harm has to be worth something, doesn't it? ... Speaking of Lynch, is his act all an act, if you get my drift? He's really different than that, isn't he? ... Earl Thomas isn't 100 percent physically, but he knows if his mind is right, he'll be OK. And, as he is a blogger, we all know his mind must be working perfectly. ... Today may be "Media Day," in capital letters, but the players and coaches have been meeting the media for the past couple days. Here is what many of them had to say yesterday as well as the always sunny comments of one Pete Carroll. ... Russell Wilson is the Phoenix Cardinals' worst nightmare come to life.
• Mariners: We are saved. The World Series beckons. The M's signed Franklin Gutierrez and Endy Chavez to minor league contracts and have invited them to spring training.
• Sounders: We are doomed. There's no chance to win the MLS title now. The Seahawks don't want new turf for CenturyLink, so the Sounders will have to play on the old parking-lot-of-a-surface another season. And, oh ya, they traded a player that wasn't playing.
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• Back on the radio again with Dennis Patchin and Rick Lukens this afternoon. I'll be on 700 ESPN from 3 to 6 p.m. You can listen here. Until then ...
