Hey, this is serious

A GRIP ON SPORTS • A lot of easy jokes out there this morning, jokes I would have jumped at making just a few short years ago. Not any more. Read on …

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• You’ve heard them, haven’t you? When the NFL finally decided to release the Wells Report on the Patriots’ cheating, every deflated ball joke that’s ever been written was dusted off and thrown against the wall. On that wall was a picture of Tom Brady, who will have to go the rest of his life with the image of shrunken footballs hanging over his head. And no, that wasn’t meant to be a joke or a double entendre or anything. That’s how silly this whole mess seems, yet it’s actually serious. The NFL has rules and a procedure in place to check the inflation of footballs because it has deemed it a competitive advantage. Trying to circumvent those rules is, by definition, cheating. And if you cheat, what does that make you? A cheater, of course. Tom Brady, cheater. You read the report , you read the text messages between one guy who was not quick enough to delete them and the equipment room’s connection to Brady and that becomes clear. At least to anyone who is willing to see the truth and isn’t blinded by Brady’s aura. The quarterback was ticked when there was too much air in the balls, he expressed his displeasure, the guy who calls himself the deflator made sure it didn’t happen again and, viola, Brady is signing balls and shoes for the perp. Cheating. Breaking the rules. Whatever you want to call it. The lines are not that hard to draw. If the NFL was smart, it would suspend Brady for six games, allow it to be reduced to four on appeal and move on. When it was over, Brady’s legacy would be tarnished somewhat, the rules would have been upheld and everyone can put it in the past. All that Brady will have left is his Super Bowl rings, his millions and millions of dollars and his seemingly perfect family life. Poor guy.

• I’m also not going to take any cheap shots at the M’s this morning either. Mainly because I turned off the TV headed into the top of the ninth. My words to Kim: Even if they somehow find a way to get to Houston Street, they’ll blow it in the bottom of the inning. Talk about a defeatist attitude. And prophetic. You want to know how badly I wanted to be proven wrong? When my phone chimed later with the ESPN notice of the result, I actually got my hopes up for a minute. After all, the ninth inning took a long time and, as I was lying there reaching for my phone, I had the notion the M’s might have rallied and won. Silly. I went back to sleep.

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• WSU: Defensive tackle Toni Pole is going to get a shot at the Cincinnati Bengals’ rookie camp. Jacob Thorpe passes along the news in his morning blog post . … The Pac-12’s spring meetings in Arizona ended yesterday and Larry Scott had a few things to say . … The distribution of the Pac-12 Networks is still a bit odd . … Who are the top NFL prospects in the conference next season? … The Oregon basketball program is a favorite spot for transfers.

• Gonzaga: The women’s basketball team has agreed to play in a prestigious preseason tournament . That’s going to cost Kim a bit more.

• Chiefs: Spokane has the first pick in today’s bantam draft – and four in the top 37. As Chris Derrick’s story shows, the Chiefs hope to parlay the picks into contention down the road.

• Shock: Spokane’s start of the season has been even worse than the M’s, if you can believe that. Jim Meehan tells us, in his weekly notebook , the poor start has led to some changes around the Shock.

• Preps: It’s Thursday and Greg Lee has his weekly notebook , which includes the news North Central has hired another football coach. … The Indians are headed to the 3A soccer regionals. Jim Allen has a story on NC’s success. … Coeur d’Alene won the 5A regional baseball title Tuesday and had it taken away on Wednesday. It seems the Viks pitched one player too often. Greg has more in this story . … Greg also has this interesting track notebook on a pair of stepbrothers who shine as throwers – and students – for Mt. Spokane.

• Seahawks: Though the Hawks aren’t really involved in Deflategate – they have their own problems – we’ll pass along the news and commentary about it here. It is our NFL section after all. … Speaking of Seahawk problems, Michael Bennett’s contract situation is probably another. … The new guys in camp will be wearing these numbers .

• Mariners: The M’s are in last place in the American League West after last night’s 4-3 ninth-inning loss to the Angels. And, to quote Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that . … Hey, the bullpen should be bolstered soon. That’s a good thing . … Logan Morrison is hot. That’s another good thing.

• Sounders: It’s back to the Eastern time zone for the Sounders , who will play at Columbus on Saturday. … While they were training in the Northwest, Sigi Schmid put in a good word or a dozen about the duo of Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey.

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• I was just wondering, though. Do you think the NFL will do anything to Brady or the Pats over this? I’m not sure. Until later …