John Blanchette

Ryan Gray is the leader in the clubhouse. If the clubhouse is built on quicksand and crafted from popsicle sticks and Elmer’s Glue … in a hurricane. OK, perhaps not that bad.

Ryan Gray is the leader in the clubhouse. If the clubhouse is built on quicksand and crafted from popsicle sticks and Elmer’s Glue … in a hurricane. OK, perhaps not that bad. But there is no safe haven for a rodeo cowboy, not in the eight seconds atop an ornery bronc nor after eight months atop the money list.

Just curious: If Spokane hosted another glitzy skating event and the ice-making machinery at the Arena went on the fritz in the days before, what sort of business, governmental and volunteer effort would have been mobilized to fund and/or make the repairs and save the civic face? No expense, no resource, no amount of duct tape would have been spared.

Just curious: If Spokane hosted another glitzy skating event and the ice-making machinery at the Arena went on the fritz in the days before, what sort of business, governmental and volunteer effort would have been mobilized to fund and/or make the repairs and save the civic face? No expense, no resource, no amount of duct tape would have been spared. And yet somehow, we couldn’t get a football field cleared of snow to host a couple of high school playoff games on Saturday.

“I’m so happy for the state of Washington that this Apple Cup is really going to mean something – for both schools.” – Steve Sarkisian

From our trusty news service comes the bulletin that the there is a shortage of qualified exorcists in the Catholic church, which is beginning the active training of same. Amazingly, we cannot recall this being suggested at large as a coaching strategy in the case of Gonzaga point guard Demetri Goodson, whose shortcomings seem to multiply in the public perception at the same rate as his Facebook friends.

Count it. Already Eastern Washington is 1-0 in the Football Championship Subdivision stepladder. By decree of the athletic director, at least.

MOSCOW, Idaho – Well, it looks as if the Idaho Vandals decided to call the rivalry with Boise State quits a year early. Just as well. This thing deserves – it needs – to be over for a while.

The Pac-10/12 gets jock-teased by Texas. The Big Sky gets deked by South Dakota.

SEATTLE – Not to put an indelicate spin on it, but the Seattle Seahawks are the Farmer Ted of the National Football League. Remember him? From “Sixteen Candles”? He crowned himself – and we’re cleaning it up here – king of the dipsticks.

SEATTLE – Not to put an indelicate spin on it, but the Seattle Seahawks are the Farmer Ted of the National Football League. Remember him? From “Sixteen Candles”? He crowned himself – and we’re cleaning it up here – king of the dipsticks. Well, here are the Seahawks, alone atop the lamentable NFC West, on the strength of Sunday’s bizarre 22-10 burlesque over the Arizona Cardinals, who ruled the roost the past two seasons. Beating the division champs is such a distinction that Seattle coach Pete Carroll “didn’t even mention it all week. Didn’t talk about it after the game, either. “I love being in first place, but it doesn’t mean anything right now. To me, it’s like the BCS.” Oh, sure. Flout the NCAA rulebook and then diss the clunky mechanism to decide the national champ. Pete probably thinks the term “student-athlete” is a joke, too.

SEATTLE – Olindo Mare has made his last 30 field goal attempts, dating back 13 months. Or is that 33 straight? Whatever the math, the Seattle Seahawks placekicker got plenty of practice in Sunday’s 22-10 victory over NFC West rival Arizona at Qwest Field – and his teammates, despite ascending to sole possession of first place, proved they needed more. This rightly should have been a romp of four or five touchdowns except that the red zone was a virtual minefield for the Seahawks, who stalled five times inside the Cardinals 15-yard line and settled for Mare field goals of 20, 24, 26, 31 and 51 yards. Fifty-one? Now that’s advanced algebra. Leading 13-0, the Seahawks had sputtered again after Kennard Cox had fallen on a kickoff that Arizona’s Jason Wright actually kicked back to them, trying to field the ball off his shoetops. Mare lined up to kick a routine 31-yarder and sent it through the uprights, only to have tight end Cameron Morrah flagged for holding. Mare did it again from 41 yards – and Morrah held once again. So Mare stepped back 10 more yards and nailed another kick. Up went a third flag – only this time, it was guard Mike Gibson being nailed for unnecessary roughness after the play. Mare also had to re-do his final field goal after a delay of game penalty, and got a do-over when Arizona was offsides blocking his first one. “Actually, it’s just like the way we practice – hitting one and moving back,” Mare said of the third-quarter sequence. “The good thing for us is you keep getting reps on that hash (mark), so you can kind of get in a groove.” At 4-2, you’d think the Seahawks would be approaching something of a groove, as well. But with the exception of an outstanding defensive performance – Seattle held Arizona to 227 yards and badgered rookie quarterback Max Hall into a 4-of-16 passing day – this win looked nothing like the strong effort over Chicago last weekend.

Chris Powers is not panhandling for gimmes. What he and his football teammates at Eastern Washington reap, they expect must be earned. So when do they earn a breather?

Look at it this way: If they’re happy at Washington State, it’s hard not to be happy for them. Already the Cougars are thinking up ways to spend the extra millions apportioned them Thursday by the CEOs of the soon-to-be Pacific-12 Conference, even though their lottery ticket cannot be cashed until the expected television windfall arrives in two years. Counting all those ble$$ing$ leaves little time for nitpicking any dubious regrets.