A Grip on Sports: Live sports are back, even if it the NFL Draft isn’t really live and it isn’t really the same

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Once a year football fans in the Pacific Northwest turn off their work computer, jump into their car and race home, all to be in front of their TV in time see John Schneider trade the Seahawks’ first-round draft pick. This year will be a bit different.

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• No, Schneider is probably trading his first-round pick again. That’s a given. Has happened every year since 2011. But this year many Hawk fans won’t have to find out about it stuck in another I-90 traffic jam.

Nope. They may have to navigate Legos on the stairs, a dog asleep in the chair and two kids in the living room trying to figure out the Pythagorean Theorem on an iPad. But overall, the commute should be easier. And, in theory, one shared by Schneider and Pete Carroll.

The NFL Draft has become virtual.

Which means, thanks to COVID-19, no one will be hugging Roger Goodell. There is a silver lining in these trying times after all.

But it also means no boos from Jets fans, no pithy interaction between Mel Kiper and Todd McShay and no strange-looking baseball caps with football logos on them. OK, all of those last three things still will happen. Their presentation will just be different.

NFL Draft: 

Tonight (5-8:30 p.m.PDT)

Round 1: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio

Friday (4-8:30 p.m. PDT)

Rounds 2-3: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio

Saturday (9 a.m.-4 p.m. PDT)

Rounds 4-7: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio

And something else might happen. A glitch in the Matrix may cause some team to take the wrong player. Or maybe a microphone will stay open and we will hear a conversation we weren’t supposed to hear. Heck, maybe the whole thing will be hacked by someone named “Bomberooski” or something and Hawks will actually make a pick today. A guy can hope, can’t he?

The NFL is the Brooks Brothers of professional sports. It’s all polished looking on the outside, but we suspect there is little underneath. And it could come apart if the wrong thread is pulled.

Hopefully, one will be pulled tonight or tomorrow or Saturday. It would be fun to see what’s behind the curtain.

Actually, though, it will just be fun to see a live sporting event. Even if it is just a draft.

• Phil and Tiger are back. The two golf legends are going to play another made-for-TV match, in May, time TBD, somewhere in Florida. And they are teaming up with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

Cool. Celebrities. Makes for good ratings. But you want to know how to make it better?

Bring in two average couples that play golf together and make each team a foursome.

Add in 20-handicappers who already have marital issues and inject a bit of reality-TV meltdown to the proceedings. Instead of the pre-scripted “you’re the best” banter, let’s see Vince and Kim – to pick two names at random – try to survive him missing a crucial 2-foot putt under her piercing gaze.

Now that would be worth paying $20 to watch.

• Major League baseball did the equivalent of banging on a garbage can yesterday, trying to sneak another sign-stealing punishment past fans while their focus is elsewhere.

The Boston Red Sox got off easy. Mainly because there is no video evidence of the Sox pulling a full-on Astros and banging around on tape. Without tape of such things, the court of public opinion doesn’t really care.

A draft pick, Alex Cora banishment, a behind-the-scenes employee suspended. Not much. Certainly nothing in the Astros’ ballpark. Maybe it’s because, as baseball announced yesterday, the Sox didn’t do as much as the Astros. Or maybe it’s because Boston is a key franchise for baseball, whereas Houston isn’t.

Whatever the truth, baseball decided to dump the news in the middle of a national crisis and the day before the NFL Draft will push everything off the sports pages. Smart PR. Slimy, but smart.

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Gonzaga: Around the WCC, BYU’s hire of Mark Pope was rated the best in college hoops last season. …The Cougars are aggressively pursuing grad transfers under Pope and may attract this year’s biggest one.

WSU: This is a big weekend for Anthony Gordon. One he’s been working his whole life toward but one a year ago seemed only a remote possibility. The Washington State quarterback has invested a lot of time and, more than likely, money into sharpening his value recently for the NFL Draft. Theo Lawson details all Gordon has done in the past few months. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, if you are looking forward to football as usual in the fall, maybe you shouldn’t read these comments from Arizona’s president. … The next round of media rights deals should inject a lot of money into college athletics. … Will Oregon’s Justin Herbert be the second quarterback picked tonight? … And will Utah’s Jaylon Johnson, bum shoulder and all, be a first-round pick? … USC and UCLA should still have a few players drafted over the next three days. … In basketball news, Colorado has seemed to put two good recruiting classes back-to-back. … Arizona is changing how its schedules nonconference games. The Wildcats are dialing back the higher-profile games.

NIC: Former Cardinals basketball coach Jared Phay is back in the junior college ranks, though for the first time he won’t be coaching in Idaho. As Ryan Collingwood passes along, Phay has accepted a job in the Midwest.

Chiefs: The Bantam draft took place yesterday and, like the NFL, it was done remotely. Unlike the NFL, however, it isn’t a huge TV show. Dan Thompson has this story on the players chosen by Spokane.

Indians: Dave Nichols was Larry Weir’s guest on the latest Press Box pod, talking minor league baseball contraction.

Golf: Joel Dahmen’s name seemed to be popping up on the leaderboards more and more early in this PGA season. And then it all came to a sudden stop. Jim Meehan spoke with the Clarkston native recently and has an update on Dahmen’s time off.

Seahawks: You know what the Seahawks’ biggest needs are entering the draft? Me neither. But I know the biggest need of Hawks’ fans. For once, would Schneider trade up and actually take someone on Thursday? Throw us a bone here. … No need to draft a receiver. Percy Harvin is available. (Just kidding.) … The next three days should be fun.

Sonics: Yes, I remember Bob Rule. But I didn’t know he was the Holy Grail to some in the Seattle media.

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• As you may or may not know, I am insanely adverse to allowing the virus into our home. But even this stay home, stay healthy fan isn’t all in when it comes to a fishing ban. And I don’t even fish. But watching dozens of people walk shoulder-to-shoulder behind my home on sunny days, it’s hard for me to understand why that’s OK and standing knee deep in a mountain stream, doing something that requires quite a bit more than 6 feet of space to perform efficiently, isn’t. Why did my dad fish? Why do most people fish? To be alone. To be one with nature. To drink beer chilled by mountain streams. Let them do it. Safely, of course. Until later …