Dave Trimmer

Look closely, and you’ll see Lisa Bliss smiling, even in the rain. That’s not unusual. The Spokane doctor loves to run.

Patience, fans, patience. The Spokane Chiefs never seemed in danger of losing their home opener Saturday night, but they waited until the third period before wrapping up a 5-2 win over their Western Hockey League rival Tri-City Americans before a crowd of 9,504 at the Arena.

Two games into the Western Hockey League season the Spokane Chiefs rolled the dice. Spokane gave up two defensemen to pick up one of the most talented – and controversial – forwards in the league.

The Spokane Chiefs have acquired forward Kyle Beach from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for defensemen Mike Reddington and Landon Oslanski. Beach was the Chicago Blackhawks first round draft selection, 11th overall, in 2008.

When Whitworth junior Wayne Ralph was catching passes from senior quarterback Cliff Madison at an indoor-football-rate back in 1985, the magnitude of his accomplishments didn’t register. “I really didn’t think about it,” he said of his All-American season of 101 catches for 1,111 yards and seven touchdowns for the 3-6 Pirates. “I just wanted to win.”

Memory can be a good filter. Two decades ago, Lisa Dressel was the standard bearer for female distance runners in Spokane. She won almost every race there was, many in record times, and criss-crossed the country to compete in places most runners just read about.

To the players and fans it’s the Greasy Pig, but the way the University-Central Valley football game played out for a standing-room crowd at Sig T. Hansen Field on a beautiful Friday night, Roommate Rumble seems fitting. Old North Central and Eastern Washington teammates Rick Giampietri and Bill Diedrick squared off for the first time as head coaches in the Greater Spokane League with Giampietri’s Bears holding off Diedrick’s visiting Titans 28-21.

The Spokane Chiefs closed their fall camp Sunday afternoon with the Red-White scrimmage, which left a lot of people smiling. Well, at least the adults.

By the time games that count roll around three weeks from now the goals and the pressure will be a lot different for the Spokane Chiefs. They expect – and are expected – to win most of their games.

There are many reasons to believe Jason Ogata has a bright future in professional baseball. The most important one could be the .191 batting average he put up early this season with the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads.

Briann January was a starter for the first game of her rookie season in the WNBA and on the bench by the third game but the former Lewis and Clark star couldn’t be happier. “I was caught a little off guard when I saw my name on the board for the starters,” January recalled of her professional debut for Indiana on June 6. “Earlier in the day coach (Lin Dunn) came up to me and said, ‘You know you’re starting.’ I thought she was joking.”