“Yes dear, before we decide on a china pattern I would like you to fax me this letter of intent concerning our nuptials …”
A GRIP ON SPORTS • How would life be different if you had to sign a letter of intent for everything? To get married. To buy a car. To go to college. Oh, wait. Read on.
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• Today is a national holiday. No, that’s wrong. A regional holiday. It’s only a truly huge deal in SEC Country. We all know that. Today is the day football players sign their letters of intent and declare to the world, well, our corner of it anyway, where they will be attending college. And, most importantly, playing football. After a year of waiting, interrupted by, you know, the pesky football season, we can all look to the future. And hope it will get better. Or pray it won’t be worse. This is a big day. Better players lead to better teams. Most of the time. So as you continually hit refresh throughout the day – most of the big names have already signed and our local schools have received LOIs from a majority of their recruits – remember this: Luke Falk walked on at Washington State; only one FBS school offered Vernon Adams a chance; and Cooper Kupp flew under everyone but Eastern’s radar.
• We are going to get out of the way quickly, mainly because the blog is full of posts on football recruiting, something I’m sure of which you are aware. But we would be remiss in not linking everything else that is available ...
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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe does have his signing day post up and running, though he is still fixated on basketball some. He went over the Pac-12 at midseason in this post from last night and we continue that trend, with a column and notebook from outside the area. ... Back to football, Jon Wilner assesses past all-conference teams and their star-ratings while ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog looks back at the 2012 class.
• Gonzaga: No football signing day fever here, but there is a bit of basketball anxiety, most notably on the women’s side. The Zags have fallen on tough times, including losing both games again last week. Jim Allen has more in his weekly women’s basketball notebook. ... On the men’s side, Jim Meehan looks at Gonzaga’s situation vis-à-vis the postseason in this notebook.
• EWU: Jim Allen has a blog post on the Eagles’ signees and a feature on one of Eastern’s big gets. ... Hayley Hodgins is once again the Big Sky player of the week.
• Idaho: Sean Kramer is covering the Vandals’ football recruiting in this blog post. ... A former Vandal was given a second chance in Denver and now he's in the Super Bowl.
• Whitworth: The top-ranked Pirates are undefeated no more. They fell 87-71 at Whitman last night.
• Preps: The Central Valley girls and the Gonzaga Prep boys clinched GSL titles last night. ... A fixture among girls basketball in the area is retiring at the end of the season.
• Seahawks: The market may just price the Hawks out of the Bruce Irvin sweepstakes. ... Marshawn Lynch is moving in a different direction. ... Ten years ago we were all pretty excited, right?
• Mariners: The M’s may be reaching overseas for another first base candidate. ... Raul Ibanez has joined the Dodgers’ front office.
• Sounders: Brad Evans’ hamstring tightened up on him so the National Team sent him home. ... The Sounders open their exhibition schedule today.
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• Did you ever sign a letter of intent? Wouldn’t it be funny if your girlfriend made you ink one after you asked her to marry you? Or her dad did? Ya, hilarious. Come to think of it, I bet it’s happened in Starkville or Athens or someplace like that. Until later ...
