Grip on Sports: It’s time for another Super Bowl – and to root for the king to fall from the throne

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It is Super Bowl Sunday, all caps required. A national uprising – of sorts. It’s the closest thing our nation has these days to a revolution, a day we all come together to root for the overthrow of the tyranny of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Read on.

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• It’s always been that way, ever since the Super Bowl began back in the mid-1960s. It wasn’t called the Super Bowl then, but there was a certain segment of the society – long-haired, dope-smoking hippies, mostly – who rooted for the downfall of King Vince (Lombardi) and the Packers.

Then came the reign of the Dolphins and the Steelers and the Cowboys and the 49ers and the Giants and now the Patriots.

Every time a new prince takes the throne, we rebellious Americans rush to embrace anyone who threatens to seize the crown.

It’s in our blood.

As is the Super Bowl these days. Everyone has Super Bowl memories, whether it’s the time their Uncle Bud lost his lunch as the final play unfolded or the time granny hit her head on the ceiling fan celebrating that nice Peyton Manning’s win.

I have memories too. And here are my top five:

5. The pass. Enough said, right? It was 2014. Only a yard separated the Seahawks and back-to-back titles. Marshawn Lynch? Nope. A pass. I blame Bill Leavy.

4. The broken leg. Back in 1979, when I wore a younger man’s clothes, I rooted for the Rams with all my heart. Their first Super Bowl came against the dynasty of dynasties – at that point. The Steelers. And my favorite Ram, defensive lineman Jack Youngblood, had suffered a broken leg in the NFC title game. No matter. He still played. Too bad the Rams didn’t in the fourth quarter. I still remember Youngblood’s look as he trudged off the Rose Bowl turf after Pittsburgh’s 31-19 win. I will always blame Bill Leavy.

3. Joe Namath. The first time the counter-culture won the Super Bowl (the first time it was called that) was in 1969. Namath guaranteed victory, despite his Jets being an 18-point underdog. He was right. I rooted for the Colts and one of my heroes, Johnny Unitas, then at the end of his career. The Jets won, 16-7. To this day I blame Bill Leavy.

2. Five years ago yesterday. The laugher, 43-8 over Denver. Finally, a team I cared about won a Super Bowl. Not just won, but dominated, destroyed, de-cleated, any “d” word you want to use. The only downside? My life-long friend Kent is a Broncos fan. But he has three Super Bowl wins to celebrate (and five losses to bemoan). I hear he still blames Bill Leavy for all of them.

1. The beach. I’ve told this story before, but my favorite Super Bowl is one that lives in lore mainly because it capped the Dolphins’ perfect season and because Garo Yepremian tried to throw a pass and gave Washington its only points. More than 90,000 folks crowded into the Coliseum on Jan. 14, 1973, a warm, warm day in Southern California. With everyone at the game or watching on TV, my friend Doug and I went to the beach. His girlfriend came too. I asked Janet Reed to join us. I had a crush only a 16-year-old boy could have. Newport Beach was empty. I had a new pair of cool, floral print trunks. She had a new two-piece swim suit. It was a perfect day. Bill Leavy was nowhere to be seen.

• Boy did I ever screw up yesterday. In my rush to get out of the house, I did the worst thing ever. No, I didn’t vote for that person you hate, whoever it is. Worse than that. Worse than Yepremian’s pass. I assumed.

And I made a bunch of mistakes. Well, actually, the same mistake a bunch of times.

Luckily, a nice reader sent me an email and informed me of my transgressions. That allowed me to fix them. Thanks. And to answer that nice reader’s question, no, I wasn’t smoking anything yesterday. Now, 40 years ago, it might have been a different story, but not yesterday. I just screwed up. Sorry.

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Gonzaga: The Kennel was rocking last night and San Diego did everything it possibly could to work the Zags. But Rui Hachimura made sure that didn’t happen – on the offensive end at least. Hachimura led the way by scoring 32 points, one off his career best, in the Bulldogs’ 85-69 victory. Jim Meehan led the way for our coverage team with this game analysis and his keys to the victory. … John Blanchette’s column looked at Killian Tillie’s struggles since his return from injury. … Dan Pelle has this photo report. … The TV Take was my contribution. … The folks in the office put together a recap with highlights. … There is coverage in the San Diego paper, though I’m not sure about the tractor remark. Us hicks here in the hinterlands don’t all cruise down the highway in a John Deere. … Jenn Wirth led GU the women to an important road victory against Saint Mary’s. … Around the WCC, every other team in the conference has at least three losses after Saint Mary’s handled USF at home, 86-80. … BYU bounced back from the blowout loss to Gonzaga by hammering visiting Loyola Marymount. … Pacific rallied past visiting Pepperdine.

WSU: There was no upset in Pullman yesterday evening. A slow start for the Cougars ensured that. Theo Lawson was in the Beasley stands and has this game story  on the loss to USC as well as video interviews with a couple players and coach Ernie Kent. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, the biggest surprise this basketball season is not that Washington is undefeated halfway through, though that’s up there. The biggest surprise is that anyone is. There wasn’t supposed to be a dominant team. But the Huskies have taken over that role after controlling UCLA yesterday … Oregon is anything but, and was run out of Boulder last night. … Oregon State swept the mountain schools, handling Utah yesterday. … In football news, the Beavers are losing a cornerback. … Colorado’s Steven Montez has to get used to another play caller.

EWU: Yes, today is the Super Bowl. And one former Eagle, Samson Ebukam, will play a crucial role for the Rams. Dan Thompson has more about his journey to this point. … There have been a lot of Eagles in the NFL, so Ryan Collingwood decided to look back at some of their best games. … Freshman Kim Aiken made sure Eastern didn’t drop another Big Sky game, coming off the bench to spark the Eagles past visiting Southern Utah. Ryan has the game story. … Around the Big Sky, Montana won the battle for state supremacy, going into Bozeman and topping Montana State. … Idaho State snapped a five-game losing streak by handling Portland State at home. … Weber State bounced back from its home loss to PSU.

Idaho: It hasn’t been a good basketball season in Moscow. Peter Harriman has the story of the Vandals’ sixth consecutive loss, this one to Northern Arizona. … The Vandal women picked up another win. … UI’s longtime athletic trainer is retiring.

Whitworth: The Pirates struggled offensively and barely survived a challenge at home from Lewis & Clark. Dan Thompson was in the Fieldhouse and has this game story.

NIC: The Cardinals have won 11 consecutive times after last night’s 97-89 win at Treasure Valley.

Chiefs: Spokane kept rallying at Portland, but eventually fell 6-5 in a shootout.

Preps: It was a big Saturday in wrestling, but every Saturday until the end of the State tournament will be big now. Dave Nichols covered the 4A district tournament yesterday, won by Mead. … We can also offer a roundup of girls and boys basketball action.

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• I’m sure there is a mistake or two in this column. Agreement of subject and verb is my usual go-to screw-up. Or sentence fragments. But, if you can forgive me, I would appreciate it. I’m a little preoccupied. I have my entire retirement annuity bet on the Saints today. Until later …