John Blanchette

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Sports >  WSU football

John Blanchette: ‘Positive stubbornness’ allowed Sam Jankovich to reshape Washington State athletics

UPDATED: Wed., Oct. 30, 2019

Sam Jankovich, who died in his sleep early Wednesday morning at the age of 85, was sometimes brusque, often polarizing, combustible, fiercely loyal. Also wise counsel and enduring friend.

Sports

John Blanchette: Jason Hanson’s not the type to go just halfway

UPDATED: Mon., Oct. 28, 2019

Jason Hanson joins the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday as part of a splendid 2019 class in a ceremony at the Spokane Arena which, alas, he won’t be able to attend. But he will be at a Cougar game in a couple of weeks for induction into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

John Blanchette: The Seahawks have a big problem when Russell Wilson isn’t himself

UPDATED: Sun., Oct. 20, 2019

His previous four passes had sailed or fallen incomplete, and 20 minutes of clock time into the proceedings at CenturyLink Field, it was apparent that Russell Wilson wasn’t Russell Wilson this day. But it was his next throw that would bring clarity to just what that can mean for the Seattle Seahawks.

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks fall to Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens

UPDATED: Sun., Oct. 20, 2019

On Sunday, the Seahawks got their first up-close glimpse of Lamar Jackson, Baltimore’s dynamic second-year quarterback who stole some of Russell Wilson’s fourth-quarter magical dust – spinning and sprinting away from Seattle defenders and leading the Ravens to a 30-16 victory over the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

Sports >  WSU football

John Blanchette: With HBO cameras rolling, Washington State rolled out the red carpet for Max Borghi

UPDATED: Sat., Oct. 19, 2019

Other than Wazzu’s first step into the Pac-12 win column, the best news out of Saturday’s 41-10 drubbing of hapless Colorado was Borghi amassing a career high for touches – 21 – in a splendid evening that included a team-best nine receptions and 105 yards rushing, making him the first WSU running back since Jerome Harrison in 2005 to post three 100-yard games in a season.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

John Blanchette: Gonzaga needs Killian Tillie to be whole as desperately as Tillie needs Tillie to be whole

UPDATED: Sat., Oct. 5, 2019

On Thursday, the 6-foot-10 senior and presumptive drive train of these Bulldogs underwent surgery on his right knee, and a brief statement from the school said “his status will be evaluated weekly.”

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

John Blanchette: Russell Wilson’s rise to elite level boosts Seahawks’ fortunes

UPDATED: Thu., Oct. 3, 2019

As the sure-thing kick missed by no more than the width of the hyphen between sure and thing, there was one obvious conclusion: It’s better to be lucky than ... well, it’s just better, OK?

Sports >  WSU football

John Blanchette: Whatever you choose to call it, Washington State shows lack of electricity

UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 29, 2019

Larry Scott can’t get his league’s games on DirecTV, and now he can’t get them on Dish, either. But apparently he has enough pull to harness lightning.

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

John Blanchette: Seahawks not afraid to accept blame for blunderous effort

UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 22, 2019

Safe to say that a favorite topic around Sunday’s tailgates was Saturday’s late-night Marx Brothers movie on national TV, featuring a core melt by the Washington State Cougars – turnovers ordered in bulk, tackling slapstick, tempo stubbornness, suspect clock management and a blown 32-point lead. Then the locals had to endure the Seahawks’ various brain locks.

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks’ rally comes up short against New Orleans Saints

UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 22, 2019

The Seahawks suffered one of the more embarrassing home losses in their recent history, 33-27 against a Saints team playing without future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees.

News >  Spokane

Joe Albi Top 10: From long kicks to long shots, the stadium has seen it all

Sun., Sept. 22, 2019

With the clock ticking on the current Joe Albi Stadium, John Blanchette looks back at the 10 most memorable football moments in the stadium’s history.

Sports >  Idaho football

John Blanchette: Mason Petrino kicks up heels in Idaho’s defining win over Eastern Washington

UPDATED: Sat., Sept. 21, 2019

Faux outrage is fun reserved for winners, and surely the Vandals were that on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome – 35-27 over the school up the road, Eastern Washington, which Idaho hadn’t beaten in 20 years, though granted that amounted to just three defeats.

Sports

John Blanchette: Seahawks produce answers and questions in Week 1 escape

UPDATED: Mon., Sept. 9, 2019

Earl Thomas got himself an interception in his NFL season opener. Richard Sherman had a pick-6. And their old team, the Seattle Seahawks, surrendered 418 passing yards to Andy Dalton, the 20-teens NFL version of Dave Krieg, whom he very much tried to channel Sunday at CenturyLink Field by doing one of those bar-of-soap-in-the-shower numbers with the football.

Sports >  WSU football

John Blanchette: As WSU rises in college football’s ranks, attendance for nonconference tilts sputters

UPDATED: Sat., Sept. 7, 2019

Look, winning football is a fan magnet, but there’s still a limit for a discerning clientele.

Sports >  EWU football

John Blanchette: Eastern Washington’s biggest donor ‘ask’ in history comes with some odd optics

UPDATED: Fri., Sept. 6, 2019

Just another reminder that the old-school household economics learned as mom and dad balanced the checkbook at the kitchen table just don’t have much application in today’s world of college athletics.

Sports >  WSU football

John Blanchette: Washington State shining brighter than ever standing just outside spotlight

UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 1, 2019

All in all, it’s pretty good being Washington State these days, and not just because the scoreboard read 58-7 in the Cougars’ favor on Saturday night.

Sports >  UW football

At Washington, it’s basically a game of ‘Apples to Apples’ as the talent-rich Huskies reload following last season’s Pac-12 championship season

Thu., Aug. 29, 2019

They like a high bar on Montlake. A national championship and 14 Rose Bowls have helped set it.

Sports >  UW football

Washington Huskies season predictions: Sky is the limit for Jacob Eason and the Huskies

Thu., Aug. 29, 2019

Will it be a trip to a bowl game or an early offseason for the Huskies this year?

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks rewarded their two signature stars, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, with big off-season contracts in hopes that their big ‘Pay Day’ will arrive in January

Thu., Aug. 29, 2019

So, the good guys won. That is to say, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner won the hearts of management, and thus the locker room and now the lottery.

Sports >  Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks season predictions: Russell Wilson will lead team back to the playoffs

Thu., Aug. 29, 2019

Will it be a trip to the playoffs or an early offseason for the Seahawks this year?

Sports >  Spokane Indians

John Blanchette: Lost art of scorekeeping is ‘central to a full life experience’

UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 22, 2019

Once upon a time, baseball made a stab at interactivity long before that became a marketing buzzword.

Sports >  Spokane Indians

Devoted Spokane Indians fan Wanda Powell, 91, knows the score

Thu., Aug. 22, 2019

Among the handful of old-school, do-it-yourself scorekeepers at Avista Stadium on a given game night, Wanda Powell carries two distinctions.

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

John Blanchette: After forgoing early entry into the NBA draft, Gonzaga’s Killian Tillie must go about reinventing – and improving – his game

Sat., July 13, 2019

They are there and he is here in Spokane, but if it bothers Killian Tillie even a whit it is undetectable – even if he fully expected to be there, too.

Sports >  MLB

John Blanchette: Pat Shine coaxed into All-Star spotlight again to help Christian Yelich at Home Run Derby

Sat., July 6, 2019

Face it, you don’t want to be the caddie who hands his golfer the wrong club. Or the field-goal holder who doesn’t get the laces out.

Sports >  Area sports

They got the ball rolling: an oral history of the first Hoopfest as the 30th edition is set to begin

Sun., June 23, 2019

Hoopfest almost wasn’t Hoopfest, you know.