Fast Break
Sports cities
Pullman 80th, Spokane 92nd
Sporting News’ Best Sports Cities rankings are out and Pullman comes in No. 80 and Spokane 92 in the 15th annual list.
Boston, a city on a remarkable sports run, is No. 1 for the third time in five years. Detroit is No. 2 followed by Dallas, New York and Philadelphia.
This year’s list features 400 cities and towns in the United States and Canada, ranked based on a variety of factors, including each city’s number of teams and their regular-season won-lost records, playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids; championships; power ratings; competition; fan fervor; attendance; stadium/arena quality; ticket prices/availability; franchise ownership; and marquee appeal of athletes.
Other northwest cities in the list include Seattle (32), Portland (50), Eugene, Ore. (59), Boise (85), Corvallis, Ore. (99), Moscow, Idaho (139), Missoula (194), Cheney (230), Tacoma (289), Tri-Cities (375), Everett (388), Vancouver, Wash. (394), and Yakima (399).
Basketball
Zags open on ESPNU
Gonzaga University will be one of five stops as ESPNU will televise four hours of Midnight Madness coverage beginning at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17, expanding its coverage 30 minutes from last season and showcasing more schools.
The network will present extensive whip-around coverage of several Midnight Madness events, including those at Gonzaga, Davidson, Kansas, Georgetown and Indiana, which will be the five primary men’s programs highlighted.
Greg Heister, the play-by-play talent for Gonzaga’s games televised locally on KHQ-TV, will be the Gonzaga host. Stephen Bardo, who has been the analyst for the West Coast Conference Big Monday telecasts on the ESPN family of stations, will team with Heister.
Basketball
NIC player headed to UI
North Idaho College men’s player Shawn Henderson recently committed to play for the University of Idaho.
Henderson, a 6-foot-3-inch sophomore guard from Seattle, earned second-team All-Scenic West Athletic Conference honors his freshman season at NIC. He sat out last season.