Grip on Sports: Daylight saving time is coming, so maybe now the snow can melt

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What are your plans for the weekend? Do they include any basketball? Or is a marvelous movie on the horizon? Read on.

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• It’s not often anymore we see a movie on its first day in the theater. But Kim played hooky from work yesterday and we had a date day. It included lunch at a downtown restaurant, “Captain Marvel,” and a somewhat-large bill for parking. No matter. It was worth every penny.

The company was that great.

The movie? It was fine. It just confused me somewhat. What happened to Billy Batson? Yes, I am showing my age – and my preference for D.C. characters. But this is supposed to be a sports column, so we’ll pivot that way.

After all, tomorrow at this time it will be an hour later – or something like that.

Daylight saving time begins overnight. We push our clocks forward an hour. It’s all designed to allow high school baseball teams an extra hour to get their games done. … Wait, you’re saying that’s not right? Well, it’s always seemed that way to me.

There’s a move afoot, probably backed by high school spring-sports coaches, to make daylight saving time permanent. It’s already been pushed through in Florida. And California voters asked for it in November. A similar push is happening in Olympia. It’s just a matter of time before Congress sees the (late-evening) light.

The idea is to get rid of the twice-yearly time change, of keeping everyone on the later schedule year-round. It’s for the kids, or something like that.

The switching back-and-forth doesn’t bother me much. And I’m not sure watching the sun come up at 8:30 in the morning in December is worth getting rid of whatever trouble it causes.

But afternoon sports sure could benefit from a little more light in late February and early March, if the snow ever melts.

That’s a bigger problem around these parts. High school baseball games were supposed to start last week. See any scores? Of course not. When there still is a couple feet of snow covering the outfield, it’s pretty tough to play a baseball or softball game.

Or play golf. Or a soccer match.

Tennis is a little less problematic. Same with track. A little elbow grease and those venues are cleared – until it snows again. But I’m not one who finds a lot of joy in whacking around a tennis ball in 28-degree weather, sun shining or not.

But after tonight, at least there’s another hour of sunlight to shovel the snow after school gets out.

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Gonzaga: You may be having withdrawal pains concerning Zag hoops, but don’t worry. They will return. And this is a great week for them, as they rest, recuperate and fine-tune everything. Jim Meehan has more on the men’s plans while Jim Allen touches upon what they women have been doing all season. … Sports editor Ralph Walter spoke with Larry Weir about the conference tournaments in the latest Press Box pod. … The baseball team picked up a prized road win at No. 20 Texas A&M. … Around the WCC, one of the better stories of the day is about Yoeli Childs, his mom, his brother and his life. The BYU star has an interesting backstory. … At the tournament, there was an upset yesterday.

WSU: The Cougars host Oregon State today. It is Senior Day, and Washington State will say goodbye to leading scorer Robert Franks. … Around the Pac-12, this is the final day of the regular season, with Washington celebrating a conference title and honoring its seniors, against Oregon. … The four byes are at stake, with Utah hoping to lock one down against UCLA. … Colorado is still in the hunt as it hosts USC. The Trojans are on the NIT bubble. … Arizona State has a bye already, but it also has the rivalry game with Arizona. … There is also football news from Oregon State.

EWU: The Eagles are in Ogden, Utah, to take on Weber State tonight. Both schools will have byes in the first round of the conference tournament. … Ryan Collingwood looks back at the 2004 Eastern team, the first to play in the NCAA Tournament. … Ryan also has a story on the Eagles’ star guard, Andie Easley. … The spring football practice schedule is out. … Around the Big Sky,

Idaho: The Vandals are at Idaho State, hoping to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Bengals.

NIC and CCS: Both of the local schools reached the semifinals of the NWAC tournament with second-round victories.

Chiefs: Spokane returned home and powered past Vancouver, 4-1, last night. Kevin Dudley has the game story.

Mariners: There are always surprises during spring training. Learning that Felix Hernandez is not going to start opening day this season isn’t one of them.

Seahawks: Hey, it’s free agency time. Are the Hawks going to dive in? They already have. … Do they really want to trade Frank Clark?

Sounders: Seattle faces Colorado today as the season really starts to pick up steam.

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• If you didn’t know, the Captain Marvel character has connections to three different comic book companies, including Marvel and D.C. It’s all very confusing, even for someone who used to read the stories as a kid. Until later …