The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
39°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

John Blanchette

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

All Stories

Sports

End of a Long tenure

The blue hour approaches, true twilight. The spastic scoreboard clock at Hart Field is running out on another season of football – five, maybe six minutes remain – and Gonzaga Prep has just broken a tie against Lewis and Clark with a quarterback sneak. Now Ron Long, in his 37th and – he says – final year of coaching the Bullpups freshmen, rolls the dice. “Two-point team!” he hollers.
Sports

Inept Seahawks fit right in

SEATTLE – At least your weekends are your own again. No deluding yourselves that Sundays will salvage the football Armageddon that has become Saturday afternoon in our corner of the world. No going to work Monday hoarse and hung over – not when you can start sleeping it off midway through the second quarter.
Sports

One-play wonders

SEATTLE – Maybe it qualifies as news only to the Seattle Seahawks, but Donovan McNabb is a pretty fair quarterback. After all, they hadn’t seen him for seven years.
Sports

Willingham’s departure best for program

At least the news conferences have become more succinct. When Tyrone Willingham was fired at Notre Dame four years ago, athletic director Kevin White – trying to mitigate what many found indefensible at the time – sort of parallel-parked his way into an explanation.
Sports

Chiefs edge Armstrong, Cougars

For the Spokane Chiefs, the tension Saturday night was second only to, well, a Red-White Scrimmage. No, that’s not a joke.
Sports

Andrade on fast track to boxing stardom

Had he won the gold medal he expected at the Beijing Olympics, Demetrius Andrade knows life would be different. “I’d probably be on Oprah,” he laughed. “Or Letterman.”
Sports

Right now, there’s more fight in WSU’s execs

PULLMAN – Until Paul Wulff can put together a football team that has a ghost of a chance on a Saturday afternoon, let this be a suggestion that Washington State sell tickets to its senior staff meetings instead. The guarantee?
Sports

Some blank expressions

PULLMAN – Strike the streak. After 280 consecutive games without being shut out, Washington State finally suffered that indignity Saturday in a 69-0 humiliation at the hands of sixth-ranked USC at Martin Stadium – and there was never a doubt.
Sports

Frye doesn’t get job done, but he has plenty of company

SEATTLE – Charlie Frye? The Charlie Frye you know owns the feed store. Charlie Frye works magic with tranny rebuilds. Charlie Frye used to be the conductor on the City of New Orleans, or one of the old men in the club car, playing penny-a-point. Charlie Frye grows those big rutabagas and enters them in the fair every year.
Sports

As usual, Griz right at home in Cheney

Parking along the shoulder had already snaked around the curve that connects Washington Street to Betz Road, which is to say a mile from Woodward Stadium, a walk sure to cut into anyone’s pre-game tailgating. So the resourceful Montana fan hit on a remedy. He would hitchhike the rest of the way.
Sports

Calendar slips away on Roman

Any number of potential potholes figured to confront the Spokane Chiefs this season as they mapped out another run to the Memorial Cup. Dealing with a coaching change. Complacency. The needs and wants of the NHL. Replacing some treasured leaders. To say nothing of being the team every other team wants to beat.
Sports

Chiefs whip Tips

Sometimes you don’t need a man advantage to be on the power play. Sometimes it’s just a matter of playing downhill.
Sports

Please cage him in

Here’s a guess: The next time her husband can’t sleep, Tina Lingo’s advice will be, “Take a pill.” Instead, because of a bout of insomnia a little more than a week ago, Ty Lingo will climb inside an octagon of chain link tonight for a bout of ultimate cage fighting – punches, kicks, throws, guillotine chokes, crucifix neck cranks and other legal atrocities.
Sports

QB burned a bit in trial by fire

PULLMAN – His coach liked his poise, but the last word for Marshall Lobbestael on Saturday evening was accountability. His first start at quarterback at Washington State was far from a success – the Cougars were buried by Oregon 63-14 – and the freshman from Oak Harbor, Wash., was quick to note why.
Sports

Eagles, Landmark had to learn to fly

A hundred years of football at Eastern Washington University will be toasted Saturday – the journey, and not just the destination. “In my day, you didn’t worry about the plane trip,” said Mick Landmark. “Wait, we did fly a couple of times – and that was a scary deal.”
Sports

Cougs’ changes add up

PULLMAN – This was a week of change in the Palouse, from the weather – a driving rain soaked Martin Stadium most of the second half – to the result – Washington State earned its first win of the year, 48-9 over Portland State on Saturday. But the most significant changes probably occurred on the field, where the Cougars’ revamped lineup produced results.
Sports

Solemn moment defines game for WSU

PULLMAN – A Washington State football season awash in humiliation, outrage, desperation, belittlements, indignities – but also an earnest determination the program’s many snipers have chosen to dismiss or ignore – trespassed into the grim, the sober and the strange Saturday night. Especially the sober.