A GRIP ON SPORTS • It isn't always easy being a sports fan, is it? And it isn't always easy putting together this column for area sports fans. Read on.

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• Take today, for instance. We aren't at home. With a fairly free weekend, we decided to spend the night on the town and away from the house. We left the dogs and the family and spent the evening in beautiful downtown Spokane, a stay-cation if there ever was one. We watched part of the Blackhawks win in a trio of different bars, ate a nice, lower-calorie-than-in-the-past dinner in one of our local restaurants, took a long walk through the park, which included a boxing match and a celebration of some sort, and enjoyed the Brian Wilson movie. All in all, a great Saturday night. But then Sunday morning came and getting on the inter-whatever-it's-called just wasn't as easy as it at home. In fact, it was downright a pain in the, well, you know. So out choices are fairly limited, though I was able to, finally, run down all the local news as well as the Mariners, Sounders and, thank goodness, Russell Wilson's contract negotiations. I know you don't want to miss any of the latter.

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• Golf: The U.S. Open comes to Chambers Bay this week, with the final round scheduled for a week from today. Our buddy, Jim Meehan, will be there and gets you ready for the entire experience with this column in today's paper. ... The News Tribune has an extensive preview package in today's paper. You can read all the stories here. Just give yourself an hour or two.

• Shadow: Spokane picked up a 4-3 home win over the South Sound Shock last night.

• Preps: Tom Clouse went through the paper (and electronic) trail existing after the Sean Carty saga ended at Mead High and came up with this story.

• Seahawks: Yes, we have a couple of stories relating to Wilson and his on-going negotiations with the Hawks on a contract extension. One asks how much he is really worth and another wonders if he is really an elite quarterback. (I know if you answer in the negative, there are certain people in the Northwest who will want to take you out back and put a beating on you, so we'll demure from answering that question right now.)

• Mariners: So the past couple days it hasn't paid off to miss the first inning, has it? Two days ago the Astros scored eight runs to put away the M's. Yesterday the M's returned the favor with five to put away Houston in an 8-1 victory. The rubber match is this morning. ... Rickie Weeks is no longer with the Mariners. His departure wasn't Lloyd McClendon's idea, and it didn't make him happy.

• Sounders: You'll read stories today on the Sounders' 3-0 win last night. They'll say all three second-half goals were keyed or scored by substitutes. That's true, as far as it goes. But when the subs are Brad Evans, a member of the U.S. National Team, or Obafemi Martins, one of the best scorers in the MLS, then the term "sub" is a bit misleading. ... The newest Sounder made his first home start. ... The Sounders were just happy to get the win. The Dallas coach was happy with their domination of the first half, but not the score.

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• Sorry about the short nature of today's post. But there was a good chance about an hour and half ago there would be no post at all. So there's that. We're going to get going today and then take a Jurassic adventure before we head home. No spoilers please. Until later ...

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