John Blanchette

Mother Nature brought the lightning. Tom Murphy brought the thunder. And the Spokane Indians, on the brink of putting together their longest winning streak of the season, got soaked instead.

Mother Nature brought the lightning. Tom Murphy brought the thunder. And the Spokane Indians, on the brink of putting together their longest winning streak of the season, got soaked instead.

So do all those Idaho Vandals antenna flags flap in the breeze at half-staff from now on?

There were two baseball bats, cut by hand from a poplar, or maybe a sycamore, and turned on a lathe in the barn on the family farm in Advance, Ind., varnished and rubbed and made perfect in a way that only someone who loves the game and its tools can. That’s the sports part of the story. It doesn’t end there, but baseball is the least of it, really.

There were two baseball bats, cut by hand from a poplar, or maybe a sycamore, and turned on a lathe in the barn on the family farm in Advance, Ind., varnished and rubbed and made perfect in a way that only someone who loves the game and its tools can.

As he was saying before he was so rudely interrupted The joke gets a little laugh out of Eric Uptagrafft, who understands that he hasn’t been on the radar for a good long time. That doesn’t mean he’s been under a rock or in deep space, but as a competitive shooter, unless you pull the trigger in the Olympic Games nobody hears the report of the gun.

As he was saying before he was so rudely interrupted

Tomorrow, the world. Including Spokane and the Inland Northwest.

Tomorrow, the world. Including Spokane and the Inland Northwest. Athletes from 206 nations – one competing under the flag of five interlocking rings because South Sudan has no Olympic organization – are assembled for the Games of the 30th Olympiad, the opening ceremonies officially launching the action in London on Friday.

Going on record here that the Seattle Mariners shouldn’t have traded Ichiro Suzuki. They should have made him CEO.

Draft night seems to bring Rodney Stuckey full circle every year. Aside from the Portland Trail Blazers’ instantly regrettable druthers – Greg Oden over Kevin Durant – Stuckey was possibly the most compelling hook to the 2007 NBA draft. Not a lottery pick, but just outside it – a who-dat guy from a what’s-dat school in a where’s-dat conference, going to one of the league’s model franchises, which more or less stamped him as a steal.

Draft night seems to bring Rodney Stuckey full circle every year.

It’s not a sense of adventure that sends Jeremy Pargo on his basketball odysseys.

About a year ago, Steve Gleason paid a call on his old position coach at Bill Doba’s retirement man cave on the shores of Birch Lake in Michigan. There were hugs and talk and stories and a steak dinner and more stories into the night. And the next morning, Gleason came down for breakfast and half-apologized for not being the perfect houseguest.

Five-year-olds don’t bother setting ceilings on their imaginations.

Finished watching the three-part series “Hatfields & McCoys” the other night – a monumental television event in that the History Channel found time to put some history on its channel and not just “Cajun Pawn Stars.” Some irony in that. If the two families were still feuding today, they’d be doing it on some dreadful cable reality series. Would have saved on bullets and blood, if not brain cells.

Finished watching the three-part series "Hatfields & McCoys" the other night – a monumental television event in that the History Channel found time to put some history on its channel and not just "Cajun Pawn Stars."

Everyone associated with racing would have enjoyed the shot of glam and any reflected light. Ivan Puhich already had.

Mike Chiesa has arrived at his ultimate fight, and is perhaps a little surprised to discover how many detours there were on what he presumed would be a one-way street.