Vince Grippi

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you are reading this instead of watching ESPN’s farewell to Lee Corso this morning, I have two questions. Why? And why can’t you do both? I’m guessing you’ll be able to keep track of six football games, the M’s latest heartbreaking road loss and the latest news from the U.S. Open tennis all at the same time at some point today. If you can’t, you have no right to call yourself a ’Merican

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Are you already feeling a little overwhelmed? College football’s opening weekend isn’t even 20% done and the unrelenting game coverage, conversation and crud threatens to crush us completely. And force us to ask one more question. What other games are on this weekend?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • In hindsight, I probably should have deferred Wednesday’s column subject to today. After all, the weekend of college football games begins on this fine Thursday. But previewing the local major schools’ chances for success yesterday allows me to examine one Pulitzer Prize-winning subject today: How can a “weekend” be five days long?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Yep, Washington State football is just around the corner. No need for a calendar or pocket schedule to let me know. There is a sure sign, and it points the way for Eastern Washington and Idaho as well. All I have to do is stick my head out the window. See the red tinge in the morning sky. Soak in the smell of smoke. The region’s fire season always corresponds with football’s.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • One of the best parts of football season is its breadth. Or the fans breath, if you will. Football, pro, college and high school, begins in the height of summer’s heat. And finishes as winter sends out icy shivers as it is about to take hold. From wearing a mask to deal with brush fire smoke to one that keeps your eyebrows from breaking off, watching your team can make every football fan catch their breath.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Let’s start this week, the one which culminates in the start of the Labor Day weekend, with a few thoughts on a variety of subjects, shall we? I’ll start. You can laugh. Or cry.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Could this be it? The final Sunday morning of 2025 in which we do not begin our day dissecting the Cougar football game and/or looking forward to how the Seahawks will do? Possibly. But that outcome would be determined by more variables than you might think.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • A few things come to mind this morning. The M’s won. The Seahawks will play rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe today, supposedly for every offensive snap. The Cougars are a week away from the start of their last football season in a two-team conference. And there is a lot associated with those nuggets.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s here, albeit in a truncated form. The 2025 college football schedule begins Saturday. Which means, between tomorrow’s 90-degree fire-danger day and all those winter the-driveway-isn’t-going-to-shovel-itself Saturdays, the sport will dominate our TV-watching decisions. At least for the first 24 hours of each weekend.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There were six hours Wednesday that might just determine the Mariners’ postseason fate in 2025. The 360 minutes or so the team spent on the plane from Philadelphia to Seattle.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Routines are important. They allow the Average Joe or Joeletta to accomplish routine tasks without thinking. To establish a comfort zone. To succeed. In life and sports.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • With college football’s Week Zero (or is it Zero Week?) on tap for Saturday, it seems as if summer is just about over, doesn’t it? Then why the heck is baseball still dominating our thoughts?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is something about those early morning minutes before the sun rises in the summer. Something about stepping outside and letting the warm air and the day’s possibilities embrace you. Something about allowing the accompanying quiet grab you and hold you safe before the inevitable hustle and bustle breaks through. It is something small. And something big.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Life-long learning is an actually thing. If one wants it to be. When it comes to sports, I’m in the want-to camp. Always have been. Always will be. But it’s not just the sports themselves I want to know better. The people who participate in them are especially worth spending time to learn about.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Last night during dinner, I was gathering my thoughts for a notes column this morning. Not wanting to forget any, I grabbed a nearby napkin and started jotting them down. Smart. Then, as I finished up my salad, I needed to wipe the blue cheese dressing off my mustache. There was this one napkin nearby and, well, yeah, I used the one with all the notes. And then threw it away. Doh. Hopefully, I can remember all the subjects.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you really want the yard to be ready for the fall, this is the weekend to get after it. Even with rain in Saturday’s Spokane forecast. Why, you may ask? This is the last weekend of 2025 without an honest-to-goodness, counts-for-everyone college football or NFL game.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Did you hear the crack in the middle of the night? No, not the one caused by the wind whipping through the trees. Though there was probably a lot of those. No, I’m referring to the one sometime after midnight. The heat wave breaking.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • How many of you have read “Ball Four?” A show of hands please. One, two, three … OK, just about everyone. Why is that important today? Simple. Seattle Pilots. Lou Piniella. Milwaukee Brewers. Mariners. World Series. The connections are so obvious. Let’s start getting ready for October.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What’s not to like about polls? Oh, no, not those polls. Gallup and the like. Political polls seem to be an outdated way to judge public interest in these days of cell phones and instant gratification. But football polls? They are still spot on. Every year. Every month. Every week. And, yes, that was an attempt to muster every bit of sarcasm I could.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Weekends, if done right, leave one sore on Monday morning. Muscle aches. Maybe a sore joint or two, depending on age and activity levels. And hands. Can’t forget the hands. Too aggressive high-fives with fellow M’s fans can lead to a swollen palm that is hard to explain to your work buddies.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • News, news and more news. That’s pretty much the formula for this Sunday morning as we count down until the launch of football season. Maybe by then Cal Raleigh will have 50 home runs and the M’s will be in first place in the American League West.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There was a tinge of red in the sky this morning as the sun rose over Idaho. Thank goodness I’ve never been a sailor. No need to take warning.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you are a fan of football games that a) can end in a tie score or 2) are remembered most for who was injured or III) hearing voices of broadcasters you’ve never experienced before, then this weekend’s sports TV slate is for you. Everyone else? You better be a big-time gambler or a baseball fan. That’s about the only folks who will be excited about the schedule.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • So it begins. No, not the zombie apocalypse, though there are many similarities. The NFL’s preseason. Exhibition games full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Except tonight’s game in Lumen Field features the prodigal grandfather returning home.