Grip on Sports: If you can’t see the ball, there is a good chance you won’t be able to catch it

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Cruddy air is nothing new for me. Not after growing up in the pre-catalytic converter days in Los Angeles. But the air the past 24 hours in Spokane has been worse than I can remember. It’s like a pea-soup fog, if that fog could burn your lungs out. Not so good for local sports, is it? Read on.

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• Outdoor high school practices? Not unless the air improves. Baseball playoff games? It’s a waiting game. A moose wrestling with a tire swing? Not recommended but you try to stop it.

Air quality monitors registering in the “hazardous” category aren’t good for anyone. Heck, according to the National Weather Services’ twitter account, which is comparing our air to that of Middle Earth, a monitoring site in Newport, Wash., recorded the worst air-quality in the nation this morning.

Oh joy.

So what does that mean to sporting events?

Unless the air improves dramatically in the next few hours – the trend does seems to be it is getting better – then outdoor activity will have to be curtailed.

It’s so bad in Pullman, the president of the university tweeted out this morning to “avoid outdoor activities.” That doesn’t sound good for football practice.

It’s understandable. I tried to get a short walk in late last night. But when the dog began coughing before we hit the end of the block, I realized it wasn’t a good idea and gave up.

I came this close to summoning an Uber.

Smoke in the air isn’t new around here. It’s a late-summer hazard. But it’s been bad this week. As bad as it’s gotten in a while. The health of athletes comes first. So my advice is to check throughout the day to make sure whatever athletic event you are interested in will actually occur.

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WSU: It’s a lucky thing Mike Leach’s press conference occurs indoors. Leach showed his football prowess yesterday, demonstrating the proper form of throwing a shovel pass, using a water bottle as a prop. Theo Lawson describes how that went as well as some other non-football topics Leach covered in his weekly press conference. … Theo also passes along Leach’s response to James Williams’ hurdle move, some roster news and takes his first look at Saturday opponent Boise State. The Broncos, who defeated Washington State 31-28 last year, are dealing with a bit of a quarterback controversy after last week’s win over Troy.

Around the Pac-12, we have one full week under our belts and the power rankings probably haven’t changed all that much. … Washington’s Jake Browning took a big hit versus Rutgers, but Chris Petersen says he is fine heading into the matchup with Montana. … The air quality in Eugene is awful as well, so Oregon will practice on the coast, where it is better. … Oregon State faces a Minnesota team with a new coaching staff. … California’s home opener against Weber State will have a shorter halftime. … Utah has two rivalry games. There is the end-of-the-year one with Colorado, which the Pac-12 mandated. And then there is the real one, which happens this week. The opponent is BYU. It’s pretty intense. … Colorado played its intrastate rival last weekend. … Just how did UCLA rally Sunday night? … USC knows it must tackle better against Stanford. … Up next for Arizona is Houston and all that names means right now.

EWU: The Eagles’ first test after the Texas Tech loss is North Dakota State, the FBS’ gold standard for the past decade or so. Jim Allen has his first look at the Bison.

Whitworth: The men’s soccer team won yesterday, part of a light day in the college soccer world.

Indians: Vancouver won the North Division’s first-half title in the Northwest League. It also had the best overall record. No matter. Spokane has a confident demeanor built upon a series of late-inning, comeback victories. Whitney Ogden has an advance of the postseason series, which opens tonight at Avista, air-willing. … The South Division’s playoffs open today as well, with Eugene hosting Hillsboro.

Mariners: The M’s bullpen may be the most solid aspect of their team right now. But that group had a bad day Sunday as Houston scored late for a 6-2 win. … The loss snapped the M’s modest three-game winning streak. … Robinson Cano is hitting well again.

Seahawks: The Hawks expect to get a lot out of recently acquired defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson. And he expects to fit right in. … The practice squad is set. It includes Trevone Boykin. … Pete Carroll is an overly emotional guy at times. But crying over this is certainly fine. … Seattle hoped to be able to re-sign Kasen Williams. … The Legion of Boom is ready to ride together again. … Before he returned to the Broncos, Brock Osweiler made a stop in Coeur d’Alene to try to fix his mechanics.

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• I walked outside to clean up a few things in the backyard. Big mistake. Now my lungs hurt, my eyes are a bit out of sorts and my mind is going. I had flashbacks to the early 1960s in LA. Riding my bike, breathing in the smog and collapsing on my bed, unable to breath. Joyful memories, those. Until later …