John Blanchette

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.

Oh, if these empty seats could talk... "We can, you dope."

We were asking Byron Samuels about the precariousness of his new station, noting that 50-odd NCAA Division I head coaching jobs had changed hands between the last two basketball seasons. "Fifty-five," he interrupted. He would know that exactly, of course. He would know what 55 guys got which of the 55 jobs, too, if we'd bothered to quiz him on it.

OK, shoppers, let's do the math on the John Wade buyout: Seventy-five grand to not coach basketball the next two years at Eastern Washington University ... that's five zeroes ... oops, don't forget the decimal point ... with losses running at 65 percent every season ... carry the one ... that makes $1,875 for each game the Eagles won't lose with Wade stalking the sideline. By golly, that may qualify as a bargain, after all.

Dwight Stewart has been a juge factor at Arkansas. Photo by Associated Press

The Big Dance has reached its Big Moment, so get yourself a Big Mac and a Big Gulp and a good seat in front of the Big Screen. Big Country's out, Big Nasty's still in. Big Business is booming - $600 Final Four jackets at Nordstrom, $85 sweatshirts in the hotel lobbies.

1. Joining M's was natural for Bremerton native and ex-Cougar Terrel Hansen. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. John Tsoukalas plays the outfield, but has made an impression with his bat. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

So maybe the Spokane Chiefs truly are, as they imagine, the team nobody wants to play right now. Healthy and whole, on a roll, a hot goalie between the poles. A team versed - make that wedded - all season to hockey in the "playoff" style: tight-checking, lowscoring, high-stress, one-goal affairs in which the smallest of mistakes are magnified. Just like Friday night's Western Hockey League playoff opener at the Coliseum. Playoff hockey at its . . . oh, never mind.

Former Seattle Mariners infielder Lenny Randle has been a hit at spring training, hamming it up with fans and media alike. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Nope, they weren't another Cleveland State. Didn't do a Santa Clara. Couldn't pull a Siena. They were just the Gonzaga Bulldogs, and with the dancing done for now, that's enough.

Can't wait to take in some replacement baseball? Not to worry - plenty of good seats remain at Peoria Sports Complex. Photo by Associated Press

Look, a basketball tournament that makes celebrities out of John Rillie and the Gonzagas of the world can't be all bad. Nitpicking NCAA selections is, at best, a cliche. At worst, it's like complaining about the traffic you encountered en route to collecting your lottery winnings.