John Blanchette

The Mariners have their fingers crossed after acquiring Andy Benes, left, for Ron Villone, right and Marc Newfield. Photo by Associated Press

Baseball's new speed-up rules are now in effect and - sorry, that's all the time we have for today's column. You wish.

There are several different premises for the building of a new baseball stadium here, but for the moment let's consider the mythical one: If you de-roof it, they will come.

A soccer question: who knows what level works in the art of attendance? The Shadow knows. OK, it was a stretch. Sorry. Just had to try it.

Jason Cromer graduated from Eastern Washington University this past spring in international affairs, a course of study requiring 140 credits in government, history and economics, plus a foreign language. EWU's all-time leading kicker even studied at the University of Guadalajara. But by the reckoning of the NCAA, he's persona non graduata. Geoff Goss and Matt Stanford started 108 games for Gonzaga University's fine basketball teams of recent vintage and took degrees in finance and political science, respectively, a scant few weeks after their final game.

Schmidt

How's Aaron Garcia these days? Rejuvenated. Happy. Confident. And a little paranoid.

Drew Bledsoe's driver had just betrayed him for the first - but by no means the last - time, spritzing his tee shot into coniferous jail. Not death row, but hard time.

For Brock Huard, there is no shelter from the hype and he knows it. Not even here - a morning's drive from home, holed up on a campus barren of football for more than half a century, bunking with a dormful of new buddies who were allthis and all-that themselves. He is still the one singled out, sought after, eyeballed, interrogated - and therefore teased, darted and dogged by his bunkmates. "Make sure they spell my name right, Broccoli," says one.

Our search for the elusive spirit of Hoopfest came to an abrupt halt when Carol Randall reached into her bag and pulled out the Dry Idea. "Deodorant?" she offered. To her teammates, that is. Not that a few of us spectators shouldn't have taken her up on it.

All-stars, by definition, shouldn't have much to prove. They are the most recognized, the most decorated and - in the case of the players assembled Wednesday night at Gonzaga for the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association all-star games - those most coveted and recruited by a college near you. Except, of course, for those who weren't.

There were a gazillion good reasons to build a new arena in our town. Four of them emerged within the past week. The Sharks and the Canucks. The Sonics and the Jazz. When they visit Spokane this fall exactly a month apart, it'll be like playing dress-up.

1. The parent club has changed, but the name - and the game - remain the same at Seafirst Stadium. The 1995 Spokane Indians reported for duty on Sunday. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Matt Saier makes his first appearance on the mound at Seafirst Stadium. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

The clock on the clubhouse wall - well, for most of the past hockey season, the clock didn't work. It was that kind of clubhouse. Now all the seats have been unbolted and sold off - the Spokane Coliseum's ultimate sellout. And the stopped clock on the clubhouse wall says it's time the clubhouse walls came down.

True or false, junior scientists: expansion is an increase in the size of a body without the addition of material to that body. In other words, exactly what's happening to the Big Sky Conference. Now, there is conflicting data on this matter. Perhaps you've read that the Big Sky has opened its arms to Portland State and is weighing the entreaties of that esteemed Cal State tag team, Northridge and Sacramento.

We set the softball time machine back 10 short years and asked Gena Greenside to step inside. "No," insisted Rogers High School's senior first baseman. "I couldn't play." Couldn't play?

It's all so clear now. Gary Payton and Latrell Sprewell at guard, Oliver Miller at center, Shawn Kemp and Christian Laettner the forwards. Ladies and gentlemen, your 1996 Seattle Sonics.

Washington State baseball coach Steve Farrington has his Cougars in prime position to capture the Pacific-10 North Division crown this season. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

If Shawn Kemp is the Rain Man, what does that make George Karl? The Blame Man. He's getting it, the brunt of it, and you'd have to think the CBA gig he's always dreaming out loud about is looking pretty good to him right now. Except that George Karl's teams always fizzled in the playoffs in that league, too.

Kapkory will give Bloomsday a try. File/The Spokesman-Review

We take you now to the Seattle SuperSonic School of Rationalization, George Karl, professor: "Home-court advantage isn't that important," he says.

Good thing the baseball strike was settled when it was. Another couple of days and the Seattle Mariners wouldn't have had the Detroit Tigers to kick around to start the season.

We won't mine the mental health field for humor - an old and insensitive practice - but is irony out of line? Just asking. Something Kendall Gill said Friday after practice at Seattle SuperSonics headquarters left us wondering.

It's looking almost too easy. Of course, their magic number for clinching the American League West is still 141. But while their rivals can't find first gear in this young baseball season, the Seattle Mariners already seem to be on cruise control.