A Grip on Sports: The best fireworks to end any Olympics is a first-ever gold medal

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Let’s begin our week with some quick thoughts, shall we? Not deep thoughts, just quick ones. After all, we’re not Jack Handey.

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• The Olympics are officially over. Well, everywhere but on NBC tonight. The flame in Tokyo may be out but the flame that is TV ratings must be pursued. So the closing ceremonies will air tonight, when we’re supposed to have the time to be interested.

Personally, if I wanted to watch history on TV, I would wait until Ken Burns was ready to show it to me. Staying up after 8 doesn’t appeal to me unless I’m watching a live sporting event.

As I was last night, with the women’s basketball and volleyball, both of which ended with the U.S. winning gold. The former was expected. It was the group’s seventh consecutive Olympic title. The latter? The U.S. never had done it before. The best chance previously had been in 1980, when Arie Selinger’s squad wasn’t given the chance due to international gamesmanship. Rita Crockett, Flo Hyman, Debbie Green, et al stayed home, wasting, in one way, four years of their lives.

How do I know about them? At the time I was writing a women’s sports column for the Orange County Register – I understand the irony, but I was the only one in the office who wanted to do it – and they worked out for a while at Coto de Caza, a swanky private community in the hills with a world-class training facility.

Forty-one years later, the U.S. finally has the gold medal.

• I was wrong.

The U.S. Olympic team rallied, mainly on the strength of its female athletes, and swept the medal count once more. The overall total was never in doubt and finished with the U.S. on top with 113, 25 more than runner-up China. But the Chinese team had led the gold-medal count by as many as seven at one point, making it seems as if the U.S. team would fall short. It didn’t, coming on strong the last week to garner 39 gold medals, one more than the Chinese team.

The games may not have been a success overall, but they were for the U.S. squad.

• College football is underway at almost all of the local schools. High school football starts tomorrow in Idaho and in 10 days on the Washington side of the border. Which means before we know it, it will be snowing.

But before then, we can look forward to seasons that begin with fans wearing shorts and ends with them so bundled up as to be unrecognizable.

Welcome to fall in the Inland Northwest, even if it is more than a month away.

• The Mariners are in the middle of their usual late-season swoon. A four-game losing streak, including three consecutive losses to the Yankees, another wild-card contender, may have ended the M’s postseason hopes for another year.

Many have pointed to the trade of closer Kendall Graveman as the turning point. That is part of it, but the regression has deeper roots. The M’s were forced to rely of their bullpen too much over the first half of the season. Four of the six starters, through injuries or ineptitude, didn’t do their job consistently. The bullpen was called upon early and often. It did surprisingly well and was the main reason the team was in contention.

But like a car with too many hard miles, the bullpen is beginning to break down more often. And there is little chance for new parts the rest of the way.

The next month and a half will more than likely be disappointing once again for Seattle fans. Don’t worry, though. There is always next year.

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Olympics: The highlights of the last 24 hours, as we mentioned above, were the wins by the U.S. women’s basketball and volleyball squads. … The boxing team did well, though gold medals were elusive. … Future Olympics may be held in fewer cities. … These games will be remembered for a lot of unusual reasons.

WSU: It’s not often when a college football player transforms himself as much as Brennan Jackson has. Theo Lawson shares how the Cougar edge rusher has turned himself into a physical specimen. All it took was eating right, lifting right and listening to his mom. … Theo also has notes from the second day of practice as well as video of interviews with Jackson, Nick Rolovich, center Brian Greene and quarterback Cammon Cooper. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college sports, Dylan Morris has solidified his spot with Washington. Now he wants to be a more-than-solid Husky quarterback. … Oregon’s practice was more notable for who wasn’t in attendance. The Ducks’ depth will help. … An Oregon baseball player is making a bid to also be the starting quarterback. … Oregon State’s second day was a lot like its first. … Tight end is one position Colorado has lots of depth. … Utah has lost one of its best defensive linemen, forcing others to step up. … Both Bay Area teams have bad years to erase. … This is a big year for Jayden Daniels. … Ethan Garbers transferred to UCLA for a chance. He’s getting one. … USC has a lot of receivers wanting a shot. … Don Brown brings a different mentality to Arizona’s defense. … In basketball news, Colorado expects Tristan da Silva to have a big sophomore year.

EWU: The most fun read this morning? That would be Jim Meehan’s piece on the now-defunct men’s golf program at Eastern. The Eagles fell to the budget ax a couple years after falling in the Big Sky tournament finals by a stroke. … The football team is more than ready to participate in a “real” season. Dan Thompson has more from the Eagles’ practice. … Around the Big Sky, there is anticipation building at Montana State, with Troy Andersen on defense and with transfers throughout the program. … The spring season was a sour one at Idaho State.

Idaho: The Vandals showed energy and enthusiasm on their first day of practice. Peter Harriman tells us that made coach Paul Petrino happy.

Indians: The AquaSox finally won a game in Spokane this week, though they had to hold of a Spokane rally for the 6-5 victory. Dave Nichols was at Avista and has this game story.

Shock: Spokane’s last month has been one destroyed by injuries and, now, a three-game losing streak. Justin Reed has the details of the latest loss, 45-34 at IFL-leading Frisco on Saturday night.

Mariners: Speaking of losing streaks, this was not the time for Seattle to lose four consecutive games. Once again Yankee Stadium’s short right-field fence played a role in the 5-4 defeat. … J.P. Crawford is sick and couldn’t play.

Seahawks: Jamal Adams wants to be the highest-paid safety in the NFL. Should the Hawks agree to that deal? … With Duane Brown still waiting for an extension, the Hawks suffered a couple of injuries to offensive tackles yesterday. Uh, that’s not good. … John Ursua is playing as if his career depends on it. It does. … Seattle’s special teams are set, which is a good thing.

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• We’re going to miss the Olympics, as well always do. But not as much as usual. The presentation this year was inadequate, mainly because NBC didn’t seem to want to encourage viewers to watch events live. Today is a good case in point. The closing ceremonies are going to be highlighted this evening, some 12 hours after the games finished. That’s just a waste of time. Until later …