Time travel can be fun

• And on Mother’s Day too. That explains the steak hot off the barbecue grill, but the “Columbo” episode takes a bit more clarification. As we were cleaning up the kitchen (my best asset in this endeavor is “moral support”), I turned on KXLY’s digital channel, which is filled with old-time TV shows. Peter Falk was wondering around in his trench coat asking Jack Cassidy and his $14.95 hairpiece a bunch of seemingly inane questions. I was hooked. How can it be, after 40 years, a TV show still stands up? Yes, Columbo was ticked for being charged $6 for a bowl of chili in a fancy restaurant, but other than those “geez-things-were-cheap-in-those-days” asides (and some stiff acting from, of all people, Mickey Spillane), the plot worked. Even if the killer drove a VW bug.

• I wanted to thank everyone who took the time yesterday to point out how much they liked our Mother’s Day idea. (And I also want to thank everyone who didn’t like it, saw me and kept their mouth shut.) Kim and I were out and about yesterday – everything from a basketball tournament to a nursery to a supermarket – and we ran into a few people who just wanted to talk. That’s cool. And appreciated. Just like all of the responses. We’ll have to do it again sometime.

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• WSU: A couple Washington State-related links turned up today from out of the blue, including a wrapup of spring football. … The Chicago Bears think they may have made the steal of the draft in a seventh-round wide receiver. … A Cougar won a Pac-12 track title in an event a WSU women hadn’t won before.

• Chiefs: The WHL season is officially over and the best team , as it’s been all season, is the Portland Winterhawks. The league’s sanctions really put a dent in their chances, huh?

• Mariners: Joe Saunders (pictured) is Sandy Koufax in Seattle. He is Joe Moeller on the road. No one, least of all ” Safeco Joe ,” can explain it . But who cares right now? Let’s just enjoy another of his great home outings in the M’s 6-1 defeat of the Oakland A’s . … The win left the Mariners just a half-game out of second place in the American League West, hence our poll this morning. … The offense was perked up, for one day at least, by a lineup tweak from Eric Wedge. He dropped Kendrys Morales and Mike Morse one spot in the order and it paid dividends immediately, with Morales hitting a three-run home run in the first inning.

• Seahawks: Now that rookie mini camp is over, we can look back . And we see a tall quarterback . … The short quarterback from last season ran the read option often in the latter half of last season.

• Sounders: The Sounders have never won a game by more than four goals, their margin of victory Saturday. … Lamar Neagle had a big part in that win.

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• As you can see, the pickings were pretty thin today. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. Until then …