Vince Grippi

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There isn’t much more to say about the Seahawks draft. Or of the three-day extravaganza as a whole. It is just another example why the NFL dominates the American sports scene pretty much 365 days a year. Personally, the most fun to be had Saturday was watching the M’s run around the bases – and not always just jogging.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Happy Saturday to all who celebrate. Hopefully, your well-thought plans will come to fruition. Even if they include digging a hole and planting a fruit tree or two. Funny how working for the man five days a week doesn’t stop us from working for ourself one or two times on the weekend.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • At least once a week some piece of news hits like a pair of cement shoes. And I drown in the regret of what was lost when the Pac-12 as formally constituted dissolved into the mist. It happened again last night.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • For us retired folks, there is nothing better on a Thursday morning than sleeping in. But being that’s not an option – darn commitments – it seemed like taking a spin round the Interweb is the best choice. Join me, will you?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s raining up and down the West Coast on the late-April Wednesday, including around the Inland Northwest. Which makes it a great time to examine one aspect of the re-formed Pac-12. After all, there won’t be many baseball games played today to skew the numbers.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • After more than 40 years of work, it’s possible to testify to a couple true statements about my yard. It’s park-like in its beauty. And keeping it that way tests the physical limits of this 69-year-old body. Or exceeds it, if this morning is any indication.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • How should I start this week? Cleaning out the desk? Cleaning out the notebook? Cleaning out the bank account, skipping the country and disappearing someplace tropical? The last one would be in play if I looked decent in a swim suit. The first one seems a bit too hard, considering the mess I’m looking at. The notebook it is.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • For a while in the past couple years, there seemed to be a chance spring football would disappear from the college landscape. Another victim of unfettered free agency. But the restrictions the NCAA placed on transfer-portal activity this year seems to have tamped down the possibility. And for that, we all should be thankful.