John Blanchette

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Sports

Blanchette: Eastern deserves credit for showing talent, moxie

Sat., Sept. 3, 2016

The biggest football victory in Eastern Washington football history . . . well, don’t kid yourselves. It was six years ago when there was a national championship at stake.

Sports

Blanchette: Vandals sidestep Bobcats in season opener

Thu., Sept. 1, 2016

College football’s dating service throws in a sense of humor for no extra fee. A favorite ploy is sending a newly hired coach back to play the school which employed him the year before, for drama real and contrived.

Sports

John Blanchette: Tim Speltz was rudder that steered Chiefs to success

Tue., Aug. 16, 2016

This is not Tim Speltz’s mid-life crisis.

Sports

George Yarno, former NFL, WSU football player and Ferris graduate, dies at age 58

Mon., Aug. 8, 2016

Spokane native George Yarno, a Ferris High graduate who went on to play at Washington State and the NFL, died Monday after a lengthy battle with stomach cancer. He was 58.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Blanchette: High jumpers Martin, Pierson hope to get hot at U.S. Olympic Trials

Thu., June 30, 2016

There’s nothing quite so egalitarian as the all-comers track meet – the grinning 8-year-old charging around the curve in a relay race, oblivious to the Olympic long shot or world champion sailing over a crossbar a few feet away. But even sky-high aspirations need a humble grounding.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Blanchette: Gonzaga’s big weekend shows team’s commitment to communal cause

Fri., June 24, 2016

This is Hoopfest’s weekend, but in the event’s DNA is a willingness to share, whether it’s with other causes or the avowed one: basketball.

Sports >  Spokane Shock

John Blanchette: Empire find Sioux Falls in a league of its own

Sat., June 18, 2016

Life is hard in the Sioux Falls Football League. Hard for the teams that have been banging their helmets against the manhole cover for five years, and hard for expansion newbies like the Spokane Empire.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Ed Sharman, long-time KHQ sports director, dies at age 78

Tue., June 14, 2016

Two Spokane generations now have gone to bed without Ed Sharman delivering the sports news to them on television. And the sense of duty he brought behind the scenes to a slew of civic endeavors is never the sort of thing that is broadcast.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Blanchette: Muhammad Ali shook up world with his special gifts

Sat., June 4, 2016

While we’ll be left to explain Muhammad Ali to generations unborn, it’s remarkable how his essence is understood by millennials, and even the iGeneration.

Sports

IronWood Throws Classic brings out big talent on ‘field of dreams’

Sat., June 4, 2016

Britney Henry’s start as a hammer thrower was as modest as can be, so she appreciated just how grand both the competition and the facilities were at the second IronWood Throws Classic.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

John Blanchette: ‘Few Good Men,’ aka former Zag stars, need your vote

Sat., May 21, 2016

Dan Dickau hopscotched his way through six NBA seasons with as many teams – nine teams, really, if you count the times he was traded before he could don a uniform. But it only took one stop to grasp a simple truth.

Sports

John Blanchette: Idaho president Chuck Staben made the right call for Vandals

Thu., April 28, 2016

Here’s a guess: the next time University of Idaho president Chuck Staben joins his educrat compadres at a convention or gathering, every five minutes or so he’ll get clapped on the shoulder and steered into a corner and be told in a hushed tone:

Sports >  Seattle Mariners

John Blanchette: Howard Lincoln’s departure from Mariners worthy of a parade

Wed., April 27, 2016

Surely it can’t be a coincidence that Howard Lincoln’s leave-taking came on the day the Seattle Mariners found themselves atop the American League West standings, two glorious games over .500.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

John Blanchette: Manufactured Team Challenge Cup might be worth the product produced

Sat., April 23, 2016

The hitch in being “Skate City, USA” – other than remembering to change the address on your magazine subscriptions – is deciding if others’ enthusiasm for that identity needs to be your obligation.

Sports

Blanchette: Ashley Wagner basks in glow of world silver

Thu., April 21, 2016

Star power is a stubborn thing, attaching itself easily to the precocious and self-aggrandizing, and often fleeing at high speed from mere dues payers.

Sports

Blanchette: Erik Coleman loving uptick in WSU football

Tue., April 19, 2016

That long decade when football at Washington State football had not only reached the end of the flat earth but fallen off the edge was an affliction on the fan base, to be sure. It was reflected in empty seats and chat room rage, and even beer didn’t taste as good – on fall Saturdays, anyway.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Blanchette: There’s no justice for Hernandez

Sun., April 10, 2016

They have King’s Court in the left-field corner at Safeco Field for every Felix Hernandez start – yellow shirts and K cards for everyone. When it overflows, they add the High Court up in Section 347, without accounting for how it went from a royal metaphor to a judicial one.

Sports >  Seattle Mariners

Blanchette: Fans can’t fail to notice Mariners’ lackluster showing

Sat., April 9, 2016

Word dribbled in this weekend that former Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik has landed himself some work back in his Pittsburgh home on the radio and telly, adding his expertise to the Pirates’ pregame shows.

Sports >  Seattle Mariners

Blanchette: Winning will deflect any criticism of Scott Servais’ lack of experience

Fri., April 8, 2016

They came home with a buzz about them, not necessarily a Seattle Mariners tradition here in April.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Blanchette: Other WCC schools must make effort beyond cashing Gonzaga’s checks

Sat., April 2, 2016

It’s the spring of the Great Churn in the West Coast Conference – 40 percent of the schools turning over their basketball coaches.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Blanchette: Zags’ long, strange trip comes to abrupt end, now intrigue begins

Fri., March 25, 2016

CHICAGO – So Gonzaga’s off-season begins much as this basketball season did, in a cocoon of intrigue. Or doesn’t anyone remember all the mystery about how Mark Few was going to get Przemek Karnowski, Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer on the floor at the same time?

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Blanchette: Current Zags may be Mark Few’s best coaching job

Thu., March 24, 2016

Maybe this really is the Sweetest 16 for Mark Few or maybe it’s just the moment he’s in that makes him think so. Either way, that’s cool.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Blanchette: Don’t look now, but Zags are crazy-good defenders

Wed., March 23, 2016

Here’s what may have been overlooked in the NCAA tournament: the Zags held Seton Hall and Utah under 60 points in back-to-back games, something that had happened in Gonzaga’s NCAA history exactly never.

Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Blanchette: Zags pick right time to display resume

Mon., March 21, 2016

If college basketball is your drug of choice, maybe your favorite day of the year is Selection Sunday. Hard not to get wrapped up in the intrigue of the bracket reveal, no matter what CBS does to screw it up.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Blanchette: Nothing-to-lose Zags hit new heights after surgical demolition of Utah

Sat., March 19, 2016

There isn’t a team in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament playing better than the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the moment, and the collective will it’s taken to get them to this point is a remarkable, exhilarating thing.