Grip on Sports: If you need a nap today, there is always the Pro Bowl

A GRIP ON SPORTS • This is the weekend for exhibition football games. And for getting ready for the final basketball push. Oh, and the calm before the Super Bowl hurricane. Read on.

••••••••••

• Yesterday was the Senior Bowl in Alabama, where college players – including Washington State’s Andre Dillard and Gardner Minshew – spent a week trying to impress NFL scouts. Today is the professional version of that, the Pro Bowl.

There once was a time when the Pro Bowl meant something. It was a post-season all-star game that actually came after the season. It also paid struggling pro players an extra few bucks, which back then meant the ability to buy the wife a new couch or bedroom set. (Don’t get all huffy; it was a way different time.)

Players from all over the NFL gathered in Los Angeles – that was an “exotic” location back in the 1950s – for a week of practice and play in mid-January, long after the season had ended.

The game itself had its ups and downs, drawing as many as 72,000 folks to the Coliseum in 1958 and as few as 15,000 on a cold, rainy day in 1967.

But it meant something to the players then. Hall of Famer Alex Karras used to tell a story of going to his first Pro Bowl practice and the offensive coaches saying something to the effect of “let’s get the starters out here.” Remember, starters weren’t named before the game. But 11 guys walked out to their respective positions. As Karras relayed it through author George Plimpton in the book “Mad Ducks and Bears,” the players knew who the best of the best were. No one, he said, was going to tell Johnny Unitas he was second string.

It’s different these days. The best of the best, at quarterback at least, is playing in the Super Bowl. And the game itself? It really isn’t worth watching, unless you can’t get through a weekend without football. (I feel sorry for you, then, in a couple weeks.)

• One fun fact about the Pro Bowl. It was once played in the Kingdome. Yep, back in the 1970s, when the game was wandering around the country, it landed in Seattle. It was Jan. 17, 1977 and the two Chucks, Noll (Pittsburgh) and Knox (Los Angeles) were the coaches. Almost 65,000 folks wandered in to see the AFC win.

I like to think Chuck Knox enjoyed his trip to Seattle so much it inspired him to move there later in his career.

• As we have been telling you for a couple weeks now, the S-R is sponsoring an evening with a couple local Super Bowl legends. The event, Monday at the Big Crosby Theater, features Jerry Kramer and Mark Rypien, each of whom built some powerful NFL memories.

Dave Boling has another story today. This one chronicles Kramer’s memories of his NFL career, including his famous “Ice Bowl” block made even more so by the advent of instant replay, which just happens to be the title of Kramer’s best-selling book. Kramer and Spokane’s Mark Rypien will be in the Bing on Monday night to relate more memories of their time in the NFL.

By the way, when Jerry Kramer was at one of his three Pro Bowls, I’m sure he just wandered out to the starting guard spot at the first practice.

•••

Gonzaga: If you were looking for a rugby match yesterday, you could just have attended the women’s game at the Kennel yesterday afternoon. Santa Clara tried to make it a scrum at times. It didn’t work, as GU pulled away late for a 78-61 win. Jim Allen was there and has this game story. Dan Pelle was down by the baseline and has these photographs. … The men did not play yesterday, but Jim Meehan has a couple of stories for you, both revolving around Ira Brown, the former minor league baseball player and Gonzaga basketball player who is now a sensation in Japan. … Around the WCC, it was a night of upsets, and when it was done, Gonzaga had a two-game lead in the loss column. The biggest upset was in Malibu, where Pepperdine handed USF only its fourth loss of the season. This one could hurt come NCAA selection time. … San Diego made sure Saint Mary’s road weekend included a second loss. … Pacific picked up a win against last-place Portland. … TJ Haws is playing better for BYU.

WSU: It wasn’t snowing in Mobile – that’s for you UW fans who thought a tweet along those lines yesterday was Richard Pryor-funny – but Gardner Minshew wasn’t on target anyway. Theo Lawson was in Mobile to chronicle the day of Minshew and left tackle Andre Dillard, who played really well. The key occurrence for Minshew, however, may have been when his teammates voted him captain. … Tyler Tjomsland has photographs from the game. … Theo also has video of postgame interviews with Dillard and Minshew. … The Cougars received a commitment from a junior college offensive lineman yesterday. Theo has more in this story. … A WSU swimmer earned conference honors. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Washington is starting to get some separation on top of the basketball standings after the Huskies win at Oregon State. … Oregon will look to bounce back from another tough loss. The Cougars are on the agenda tonight. … Colorado is hurting and Stanford made the Buffs hurt a little more. … But no one is hurting like proud Arizona right now. The Wildcats were blown out by a struggling UCLA team. UA left Los Angeles with two big defeats. … California has had nothing but losses in conference play, including yesterday against Utah. … USC is playing better. The Trojans edged Arizona State on a late 3-point shot. … If you want Pac-12 football news, this is the place for you.

EWU: The road is never easy and that was sure true for Eastern yesterday. The Eagles blew a 10-point lead in the final 90 seconds but rallied to win in overtime at Sacramento State. … Around the Big Sky, the big game was in Missoula, where Montana locked down Weber State, 75-68. … Northern Colorado had little trouble against host Northern Arizona. … Montana State rolled visiting Idaho State.

Idaho: The Vandals are not doing well. They lost their fifth consecutive game, this one at Portland State on Saturday. … The Idaho women are playing well.

Whitworth: The Pirates won’t be fifth-ranked next week, not after losing to unranked Willamette 95-93 last night in Oregon. The Bearcats had won just five times heading into the contest.

Chiefs: Make it five consecutive losses for Spokane.

Preps: We can pass along roundups from girls basketball, boys basketball and wrestling.

Seahawks: The Hawks have three Pro Bowl players to watch: Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Michael Dickson.

Mariners: With Edgar Martinez Hall of Fame-bound, who is next from the Puget Sound area?

•••       

• I don’t know about you, but between the fog-induced gloom in our area and the lack of exciting sports television, I’m inclined to nap the day away. It seems like a good plan. Until later …