John Blanchette

Competition is fierce to get an autograph from Alex Rodriguez before Wednesday's game. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

WSU's Chris Crosby, left, makes move on Michael Johnson. Photo by Associated Press

Mike Price enjoys another moment of exultation. File/The Spokesman-Review

1. Colton's annual absence from the State B is punctuated by frustration, as Blake Wolf demonstrated during this year's Whitman County tournament. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Members of Colton's boys team didn't sit on this day until the girls scored. It was a long wait: The girls lost to Gar-Pal 68-18. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 3. Colton's girls tangle with Garfield-Palouse's Eva Hershaw before being eliminated from the Whitman County tournament. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

An anti-climax? Sure. And the Gonzaga Bulldogs will gladly settle for a reprise every year. Championships don't have to be won in dramatic fashion to be satisfying, and it's hard to imagine the Bulldogs any more content than they were Saturday night after coasting past Loyola Marymount 107-84 for their third West Coast Conference regular-season basketball title in the past five years. Technically, the Zags could have cut down the nets before the game San Diego's upset of Santa Clara on Friday night having clinched GU a share of the title.

1. Mike Price, Top coach 2. Cory Withrow, Top team (WSU FB) 3. Ryan Leaf, Top amateur male 4. Shelly Bartlett, Top amateur female 5. John Stockton, Top professional

Barber

Leon Bender thinks Michigan's offense looks similar to WSU's lowly 1994 outfit. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Two years ago, The Spokesman-Review - with a little help from our friends - picked the all-time Washington State University football team to commemorate 100 years of Cougar football. And now we've done it again. Maybe you don't think all that much has changed in the time it's taken Cougar football to age from 100 to 102, and you're right. On the other hand, if this season has shown us anything, it's that everything has changed.

1. When busy parents Mike and Kay Doyle aren't cheering at Shane's WSU football games, they're rooting for other sons who play basketball for Shadle High. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Doyle helps finish off Washington quarterback Brock Huard in the Apple Cup. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Doyle

Chaplin

Brock Huard ready to come out slinging again for Huskies. Photo by Associated Press

1. Washington State freemen, Lee Harrison (62), Cory Withrow (71), Rien Lindell (27), Todd Nelson (43) and Shawn Tims (8) have earned their keep - and scholarships - as starters for the Cougars. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Emmerson 3. After taking his first steps as a walk-on, Shawn Tims has been in high gear. File/The Spokesman-Review

1. Baltimore's Brady Anderson (9) and Mike Bordick receive a hero's welcome after scoring on Roberto Alomar's fifth-inning double off reliever Mike Spoljaric. Photo by Associated Press 2. Jamie Moyer's left elbow didn't hold up. Photo by Associated Press 3. Roberto Alomar's two-run, fifth-inning double glances off Griffey's glove. Photo by Associated Press

Dan Saleaumua faces an anxious reunion back home this week. And he could have to confront it without a big security blanket: Cortez Kennedy.

Missed field goals, botched onside kick have left Randy Jones' job in jeopardy. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Seattle wide receiver Joey Galloway (84) eludes San Diego linebacker Lew Bush as he turns upfield and heads for a touchdown that helped the Seahawks turn back the Chargers. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

1. After Benji Olson (76) missed his block at the goal line, Rashaan Shehee and the Washington Huskies came up short against Nebraska. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. UW's Cameron Cleeland hauls in touchdown pass, but the Huskies couldn't come to grips with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Brock Huard can look on the bright side despite his first-quarter injury. Photo by Associated Press 4. (Regional edition only) Washington's Joe Jarzynka, right, tries to avoid Carlos Polk while returning the kickoff that followed Nebraska's second touchdown. Photo by Associated Press

The Junior League of Spokane has taken a mulligan on its lineup for Monday's golf exhibition at the Spokane Country Club. Dan Forsman, winner of four PGA Tour titles, has agreed to stand in for Tom Weiskopf and fill out the foursome for the eighth charity event.

Karl Malone, right, will have to stop watching Michael Jordan and start playing if Utah is to get back in the series with Chicago. Photo by Associated Press

The Tacoma shuttle was back in operation Friday. Pitcher Bob Wolcott, statistically the most hittable of Seattle Mariners starters, was optioned to the club's Triple-A affiliate and replaced on the big-league roster by left-hander Mark Holzemer. Wolcott, 2-2 with a 6.32 earned run average, was victimized by a seven-run inning in his last start, after which manager Lou Piniella announced a shakeup in the rotation - Wolcott out, Scott Sanders back in. But rather than have Wolcott idle in the bullpen, the Mariners decided they wanted him to start in Tacoma. Opponents are hitting .326 against Wolcott this season - 43 hits in 31 innings pitched. "He needs to keep working," Piniella said. "He needs to be able to get out of tough innings and situations." Holzemer, 27, was signed as a minor-league free agent in the off-season after nine seasons in the Angels organization. At Tacoma, he had made 16 relief appearances and recorded five saves with a stingy 1.00 ERA just two earned runs in 18 innings. He had 18 strikeouts and just four walks. To make room for Holzemer on the 40-man roster, the M's designated right-hander Tim Harikkala for assignment. They now have 10 days to trade him, release him or have him clear waivers and remain in the organization. Marinade Russ Davis' stay on the bench was short-lived. He was back at third base Friday after Brent Gates started Wednesday and Thursday, Piniella's reaction to Davis' troubles in the field. Even with Davis out, Seattle's fielding woes continued Thursday, with Joey Cora and Alex Rodriguez making errors in the same inning in a 4-3 loss to the White Sox. Seattle has now committed an error in 16 of its last 19 games, and the M's total of 36 is the most in the AL. ... Heading into Friday's game, the M's were hitting .290 with runners in scoring position - but only .186 in the previous eight games. ... Mariners pitchers and catchers have the best caught-stealing ratio in the majors - 50 percent.

What Rex Chapman started, Matt Maloney seems determined to finish. As they were in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Seattle SuperSonics are one loss away from elimination - and as in the Phoenix series, it's a bargain-basement foil who has them there. Maloney's shooting in Houston's 110-106 overtime victory over the Sonics on Sunday was downright Chapmanesque - indeed, his eight 3-pointers left him just one shy of the NBA playoff record set by Chapman against Seattle in the opening round. The final 3 - with 36.8 seconds left in overtime - may prove to be the dagger that does in Seattle, now down 3-1 in the best-of-7. "He's having a special series," said Sonics coach George Karl. "Some of our rotations are slow, but they've executed well and done a good job of figuring it out." To Gary Payton, there's nothing to figure out. "You get wide-open shots, you should knock them down," he said. And to Maloney, there's no mystery as to why he's wide open. "If they double down on Hakeem or Clyde (Drexler) or Charles (Barkley), I'll keep getting these looks, said Maloney, who finished with 26 points and six assists. "You're talking about three of the top 50 players of all time, so I don't think (the Sonics) want to play them one on one. That's the way the team was put together. It wasn't by mistake." Maloney's emergence isn't a mistake, but it is an accident. Maloney signed a free-agent contract for the NBA minimum of $247,500 - just like Chapman. And when a more expensive free agent point guard - $18 million man Brent Price - went down with a knee injury, Maloney wound up starting all 82 regular-season games. "We were on the road and the coaching staff was compiling a list of veteran point guards who were available and the veterans came forward and said they liked this kid and thought he could handle the job," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. Veterans? "It was me," insisted Charles Barkley. "I said Maloney and Randy Livingston would do fine. " Barkley said Payton's blunt assessment "is no knock. "He (Maloney) doesn't have a lot of responsibilities because of the way our offense is structured. He gets open looks. He's not always going to shoot a great percentage, but he's been consistent all season."

David Wingate usually looks to pass, but played a key role Saturday by making 6 of 7 shots. Photo by Associated Press

Having caught the Opening Night first pitch from Jackie Robinson's daughter and inscribed the evening with a pair of home runs, Ken Griffey Jr. had some thoughts on how baseball's 50th anniversary tribute to the man could be improved in Seattle. Make it bigger, for starters. The logo for the celebration has been slapped on the Kingdome's right field fence next to the foul pole, and it is less than half the size of the Bravo Card billboard next to it. "I hope the Mariners can do better in a tribute to Jackie Robinson," said Griffey, who was behind the plate for Sharon Robinson's ceremonial pitch. "Maybe they can find a better place than that for a sign and maybe make it bigger." While she didn't issue any complaints about the sign, Sharon Robinson wondered if baseball had advanced her father's legacy all that much in the past two decades. "I think he would say the same thing he said on the 25th anniversary (of his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers," she said. "That we have plenty of people of color out there on the playing field in baseball, basketball and football, but it's disproportionate to the number we have in management positions. "I think we need to keep on looking at ourselves and making changes." Speaking of signs Best bedsheet banner of this infant season was plastered to the concrete wall in the third deck of straightaway center field Wednesday night. "Buhner 3:16," it read. The Indians factor Not satisfied with what spring training produced in the way of backup infield and pinch-hitting help, the Mariners on Wednesday signed free-agent Alvaro Espinoza and optioned Andy Sheets to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for Espinoza on the 25-man roster. Espinoza, 35, was released by the New York Mets during the last week of spring training after splitting the 1996 season between Cleveland and New York. He played all four infield positions with the Indians, then hit .306 in 48 games with the Mets. "It's great when you have a chance to go to a team with a chance to make the playoffs," said Espinoza, an 11-year major leaguer. He becomes the third member of the Cleveland Indians team that beat Seattle in the 1995 American League Championship Series to join the Mariners, following Paul Sorrento and Dennis Martinez. No-no Tacoma El Presidente will be making no visit to Tacoma. Scheduled to pitch the opener of the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate tonight, Dennis Martinez will instead work a simulated game this morning in the Kingdome in preparation for his April 8 start against his former team, the Indians. The 41-year-old right-hander has been penciled in as the Mariners' fifth starter - but only in soft pencil. He struggled during spring training, giving up 28 hits and 18 earned runs in 16 innings. Still, Martinez was miffed that he had been asked to go to Tacoma, and nearly went back home to Miami. The crowd count The M's set a two-game series attendance record against the Yankees with a total of 88,537 passing through the Kingdome turnstiles the first two nights.