A Grip on Sports: What are the odds Washington State will have a successful football season? Like everything, it’s 50/50

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Everybody has a favorite Star Wars character, right? Whether it is Luke or Leia or Chewy or (hopefully not) C-3PO, one of George Lucas’ creations always stand out. Ours? We’ll let you figure that out as we look toward Washington State’s 2021 football season.

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• The S-R’s Theo Lawson has a story today concerning just that. No, not Star Wars. The Cougars’ football season. What the oddsmakers think about it. And we’re guessing a little buzzer just went off in your head.

Yep, our favorite Star Wars character is Hans Solo. The rakish one. The smuggler. And the guy who once famously said, “Never tell me the odds.”

That didn’t have anything to do with football, of course, though successfully navigating an asteroid field is little different than trying to matriculate the ball down the field against Oregon’s defense. The latter is a little easier, sure, but you also have to dart and weave, move this way and that, if you want to avoid getting hit with a big rock.

Anyhow, odds are for suckers. Everything in life is 50/50. That’s the only odds that matter. Either something happens or it doesn’t. Just because some guy with a computer in Las Vegas looks at every statistic available, figures out probabilities and likelihoods and then declares “there is a 94 percent chance this will happen” doesn’t mean a thing.

It will happen. Or it won’t.

The Cougars will win their first game. Or they won’t. Doesn’t matter how much better or worse they are than their opponent. They either will or won’t. Those are the only two choices. Anything else is just make-believe designed to suck money out of your pockets faster than a Dyson vacuum.

Oh, sure, we could cite instance after instance of times the oddsmakers screwed up, but you could cite just as many, maybe even more, when they got such things right. It’s just 50/50. Always is.

• OK, we admit it. It is a fun exercise. So is reading Theo’s story, as he summarizes all the odds and this and that.

It’s especially fun reading when it is 111 degrees outside and football seems as far away as that galaxy a long, long time ago. Is 111 degrees football weather? Baseball weather? Golf?

The correct answer is, D) none of the above, of course. When it is 111 outside, as it is predicted to be today in Spokane, playing anything outdoors seems a bit cockeyed. Even playing indoors is a chore, what with rolling blackouts planned and the possibility your Minecraft session might just shut down in the middle of building a really cool world.

We’ve played baseball and softball in above 100-degree temperatures. Well above. It wasn’t fun. It may have even been a bit dangerous, though we were too young and stupid to realize it. Heck, the only World Series game we ever attended was more than 100 degrees when it started in the Los Angeles evening. But 111? That’s too much for just about anything. 

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WSU: A lot to get to here. We mentioned Theo’s odds-based story but there is more. He also has a couple stories on yesterday’s recruiting, with the news a Washington high school running back committed, followed closely by a defensive lineman, also from the West Side of the state. … Former Seattle Times columnist Bud Withers yesterday wrote about Bill Moos and his legacy. … It’s nice to see USC is pleased with the new commissioner and is no longer threatening to take its football and go home. So kind of the Trojans. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college sports, the NCAA moved forward a bit on the NIL front yesterday. Everyone can set their own rules until the whole thing gets straightened out by Congress. … Colorado and Nebraska will meet in a basketball exhibition game. … Arizona is taking it slow on the recruiting front. … A Utah linebacker put off the NFL for a year. Meanwhile, an offensive lineman, a former starter, is transferring.

Gonzaga: Today is Tuesday. Which means we link Jim Meehan’s Monday appearance with Larry Weir on the latest Press Box podcast.

EWU: Former Eastern standout Tanner Groves is featured in this Athletic piece on Porter Moser and the Oklahoma basketball program.

Indians: Want to sit outside and watch baseball? The Indians are trying to make it easier for you, announcing an hour later starting times for this week’s series against Tri-City. Dave Nichols has more here. … The organization helped a bunch of groups in Wellpinit rebuild a local field. That’s part of a local briefs column.

Mariners: We warned you not to dawdle. Julio Rodriguez’s visit to Spokane with Everett last month was his only trip here. If you missed him in May, you’ve missed him. He’s headed to Class AA Arkansas. … Here’s someone who believes baseball needs to be checking pitchers.

Storm: Despite a recent overtime loss, Seattle leads the WNBA at the halfway point.

Hockey: The Stanley Cup finals are underway. Tampa Bay took the first game 5-1.

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• What is your favorite hot weather activity? Immersing myself in some sort of liquid, preferably water, is mine. While reading a book. It isn’t easy to pull off successfully. Until later …