A GRIP ON SPORTS • Prognostications always have one built in flaw: injuries. The inability to perform at the top level due to a physical breakdown is hard to anticipate and to account for when acting as a seer. That lesson is being driven home again in the Vernon Adams saga. Read on.

••••••••••

• I have to admit it. I feel for Vernon Adams. Yes, I do believe he made a mistake leaving Eastern Washington before his final season. There are many reasons for why I feel that way, not the least of which is he left a national championship on the table. Is there anyone who doesn’t believe the Eagles could be 4-0 right now with Adams, especially after watching Jeff Lockie self-destruct against Utah? But, as that great prognosticator Shakespeare might say, there’s the rub. We are assuming Vernon Adams would have been healthy for those fours games. In the real world, he hasn’t been. And that’s where Adams lives right now: reality. Not Eugene. See, Cheney is somewhat unreal these days and we’re not talking about the red turf. The only pressure on Eastern football players is program-driven, not other-driven. That’s not usual in the high-demand nature of 21st-Century college football. The Eagles have been darn good the past few years, maybe even the best team in the FCS a couple of those. But they haven’t been back to the national title game since they won their championship. In Eugene (and almost every other college town in America), that wouldn’t be acceptable and would lead to calls for the coach’s head. It’s not acceptable in Cheney either, but Beau Baldwin is, rightfully, venerated for his and his teams’ successes. The positive is always on the front burner. And no one is boiling oil. They are trying to bake a cake. That’s the collegiate world Vernon Adams grew up in. But that’s not the way it is for Adams anymore. And that’s another reason why I felt Adams was making a mistake. He made the change, in part, to raise his profile, hoping the NFL would take notice. He bet on himself. That’s admirable. But there is one thing he couldn’t control, the one thing that is hard to take into account. He’s injured. Not hurt, but actually injured. A broken index finger on his left hand wouldn’t be that big a deal. But on his throwing hand? It’s huge. In Cheney, Baldwin would have just sat Adams down, as he did last season when Adams suffered an injury. Jordan West would have stepped in and that would be that. There would have been some discussion in the S-R, on local talk radio and TV and that’s all. Maybe some North Dakota State folks would be chatting about it over coffee in Fargo or somewhere, but it wouldn’t have earned a Sports Center crawl. And Adams would have healed. Then led the Eagles to ... well, we will never know, will we? And we will never know what a healthy Vernon Adams could have done against Michigan State or Utah either. We do know that the digit did derail him in those games, though last week it was more a coaching decision that sent him out. After a week of practice Mark Helfrich and Scott Frost felt Adams still gave them the best chance to win. If not, they would not have started him. Then just a quarter or so of the way in they changed their minds. And Adams was sitting, never to see the field again – though his face was on television a lot. If the spotlight was what Adams was after, he found it. Even when he’s not playing. And that’s too bad. I’ve heard more than one national pundit say Adams is “just a guy” or that he is not ready for the NFL. There’s a chance NFL teams have made that decision already as well. If Adams had stayed at Eastern, that question would still be in the way-too-soon-to-answer category and wouldn’t leave it until the Senior Bowl or the NFL Combine, more controlled environments where it easier to shine. My sincerest hope is Adams’ digit heals, he begins to show his true abilities and the Ducks’ defense is so porous it doesn’t matter. Sorry, but this is a good year for the fans of the team of a thousand uniforms to learn some humility, to see how easily a promising season can be flushed. Sadly, Vernon Adams and his injured hand have been caught in the whirlpool.

• Guess I have to be all in with Jerry Dipoto. If you don’t remember, here is what I wrote yesterday:

“Let’s hope Dipoto wants to build a roster that fits Safeco Field, a park with distinct advantages and disadvantages. The roster, as it currently is complied, has few athletes that actually fit the park’s dimensions. Speed is needed. Lots of it. Power is fine, especially if it can reveal itself toward right field – which is why (Nelson) Cruz and Mark Trumbo seem to be fine as right-handed hitters in a left-handed-hitting-centric park. But pitching and defense are how the M’s are going to be successful.”

And this is some of what Dipoto said in his introductory news conference later in the day:

“I think the one that we are missing right now is just a general roster depth,” Dipoto told reporters. “The lineup needs to be a little longer, the rotation needs to be a little deeper, the bullpen needs to have more layers than it presently has.” And, according to every reporter who was in attendance, he, as Larry Stone describes it, sees the importance of “tailoring a team to Safeco Field, which means, among other things, becoming more athletic.”

It seems Dipoto and I are on the same page. Which means I have to support the guy. If he turns out to be wrong, then I turn out to be wrong. And, when you have a keyboard under your fingers, you are never wrong. Right?

•••

• WSU: The Cougars were back on the practice field yesterday and Jacob Thorpe was there. He had a report on the blog last night, a video of Mike Leach’s post-practice comments and a morning post from today. He also has his Pac-12 notebook and the conference power rankings. ... Wednesdays are a good day to get both of those things from all around the West Coast, so we pass along the ones we could find. The main theme seems to be up is down and down is up, not only in the Pac-12 but college football as a whole. ... California wants to improve its kickoff returns – with WSU on the schedule this week, that might be a bit of a self-fulfilling goal. ... Better late than never, right? ... The WSU golf team and Derek Bayley won a tournament yesterday.

• Gonzaga: The Bulldogs toughest WCC basketball rival these days is looking for new scoring options.

• EWU: The Eagles have a bye week, but, as Jim Allen’s story shows, they aren’t worried about losing the momentum of consecutive wins.

• Whitworth: The smallest player on the volleyball court can sometimes stand the tallest. Such is the case for the Pirates. Jim Meehan has more in his weekly column.

• Preps: Volleyball action also leads the prep roundup today.

• Seahawks: For once the M’s dominated the Seattle papers today, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of Seahawk items. ... The Hawks have passed a lot thus far this season but Doug Baldwin sees it more a result of the scoreboard than a conscious effort. But if Marshawn Lynch is out, then it may become a necessity. ... Hey, Golden Tate is ticked about something. That’s a surprise. ... The sports books still see the Hawks as the NFC’s Super Bowl rep. ... Speaking of Lynch, he’s been in a lot of commercials lately.

• Mariners: Besides the Dipoto stuff, which includes John Blanchette’s column in today’s S-R, there was the little matter of a game last night. The M’s rallied from a couple runs down to win 6-4 and deal the Astros’ postseason hopes a bit of a blow. ... James Paxton’s season is over, done in by a faulty fingernail. His nails, and everything else, seem a bit brittle.

• Sounders: Clint Dempsey says he is now healthy. Or at least “healthier.” That will be crucial if Seattle wants to improve on a frustrating season. ... The team will have a new look in their next match.

•••

• I pay a lot of money for high-speed Internet access. A lot of money. Some days it works fine. But other days, like today, it’s just mini-Randy Moss frustrating, if you get my drift. Until later ...

---

---