A Grip on Sports: The weekend isn’t as crowded as usual except in certain spots

A GRIP ON SPORTS • How can a weekend be so wide open and yet so crowded at the same time? When the crowding happens in a short spurt.

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• The Seahawks played – badly – last night. That means Sunday around here doesn’t have that one can’t miss televised sporting event. Which makes it unusually empty for a mid-December weekend. Shopping anyone?

But there are other events of interest on the schedule this weekend, from Gonzaga basketball to Cougar hoops and football. Too bad too many of them come at about the same time.

What we are saying is simple: If you have something on your schedule for Saturday, say from 10 a.m. to about dinner time, you better hope it’s not too late to cancel it. Or you are going to miss the entire weekend’s best of the best.

The Zags tip off the weekend’s one crowded segment at 10 a.m. That’s when they tip off against fourth-ranked Alabama in the Crimson Tide’s home state (CBS). The game is a return engagement from last season, when Alabama traveled to Seattle and handed the then-third-ranked Zags a rare defeat.

Defeats haven’t been as uncommon this season – Three before Christmas? Oh, the horror – for the 15th-ranked Bulldogs. Which means any win over a highly rated foe counts a lot come March. Especially at a neutral site that isn’t entirely neutral.

After that Battle in Birmingham ends – alliteration is not as good as a rhyme – then Washington State football starts. The Cougars, what’s left of them anyway, faces Mountain West champion Fresno State in the Jimmy Kimmel – hey, Jimmy, the Cougar logo looks like one thing: A snarling Cougar – L.A. Bowl (ABC).

WSU will be playing without an offensive and defensive coordinator, inside linebackers and top two receivers. The Bulldogs? The lost a starter. Edge, Fresno.

Bowl games aren’t the draw they used to be, right? But Cougar fans will tune in, albeit with lower expectations then they had, say, after the Wisconsin game.

That is, if they aren’t also Montana State followers. The Bobcats play in the FCS semifinals for the second consecutive season. This time they travel to top-ranked South Dakota State (1 p.m., ESPN2) for a chance to play in their second-consecutive title game.

The bowl game and FCS semi aren’t alone on the schedule, by the way. If you value women’s hoop, the 23rd-ranked GU women tip at 2 p.m., not only at home against rival BYU but also on SWX.

Overlap isn’t a lot of fun, especially when the rest of the weekend isn’t all that exciting.

Oh sure, Washington State’s basketball team is going to shock everyone Sunday night (7, ESPN2) when they upset 11th-ranked Baylor. And the World Cup final from Qatar, featuring defending champion France meeting Lionel Messi-led Argentina is early Sunday morning (7, Fox). But besides that, the final weekend before Christmas is filled with who-cares bowl games, why-are-they-playing NFL matchups and let’s-skip-it college basketball contests.

• We have to admit it. We weren’t all that excited when the Seahawks put together a great stretch last month. Winning is cool on Sundays but the reality hangover always hits hard during the week.

By that we don’t mean the recent losses. Those were always in play. We mean the way wins hurt draft position, the key to rebuilding a franchise to the point where it can not only make the playoffs, but challenge for a Super Bowl title. Every upset this season made that incrementally more difficult.

We’re happy to see others are getting on board with our point of view. The playoffs were not only a mirage but a detriment to the ultimate goal.

Thank goodness Denver fell apart. And yet, looking at it this morning, we are still lamenting the Hawks’ failure to lose more.

After all, two top five draft picks are better than one.

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WSU: Talk about busy during bowl week. The S-R’s Colton Clark has been doing the work of three or four folks. Sort of like Jake Dickert without coordinators. In fact, one of Colton’s four stories today addresses Dickert’s plan to fill those spots. The other three are about players – one on Robert Ferrel and another on new starting linebacker Kyle Thornton – or players – what a week for the team. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, we linked Jon Wilner’s bowl picks yesterday but here they are in the Review. … Wilner also looks at the upcoming media rights’ deal in the Mercury News, focusing on UCLA’s final decision. … Oregon State is about ready for another Las Vegas Bowl appearance. … Oregon is still dealing with players leaving. … The blessings of a high-profile coach are still in play for Colorado. … Caleb Williams is still dealing with the blessings of winning the Heisman. … Clay Helton is lot happier these days. … Utah will be facing another experienced quarterback in the Rose Bowl. … In basketball news, Wilner has his best of the West rankings. … Oregon State dominated Seattle U in the second half to win at home. … Colorado routed North Alabama, which was expected. … Former UCLA coach Billie Moore, who led the Bruin women to a national title, died Tuesday. … Sean Miller also avoided much fallout from the NCAA probe.

Gonzaga: Not only do the Zags have to deal with Alabama tomorrow, they’ve been dealing with finals all week. Jim Meehan touches on the academic aspect of their preparation. … The women also finished finals this week. Now they host their rivals from BYU for the last time as WCC members. Jim Allen has this preview. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara just got on our naughty list as the Broncos rallied to defeat UC Irvine. … BYU picked up a much-needed win over an overmatched foe.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky Conference, Montana State’s top position group has an interesting leader. … There has been a lot of change around the conference. … In basketball news, Northern Arizona faces former conference rival Southern Utah.

Preps: Wrestling is in the midst of a big week. So big, in fact, the S-R enticed Madison McCord out to cover Mead’s wrestling win at University last night. … Dave Nichols has a roundup of the other action from hoops and wrestling.

Seahawks: We linked Dave Boling’s column above but we do it again here in case, you know, you skip my ramblings and head straight to good stuff. … The 21-13 loss came at a big price. Tyler Lockett broke a finger late and may miss the rest of the season. … Playoffs? They are for the deserving. Seattle is not. … There are always grades.

Kraken: Seattle fell 3-2 at Carolina on Thursday night. … A goal here and there is not what the Kraken expected from Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Mariners: Adam Frazier will be playing Baltimore next season. The second baseman signed yesterday.

World Cup: What did Qatar gain by hosting the tournament?

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• We enjoy Christmas shopping. To an extent. We might do some today. Maybe. Or we may wait until Dec. 24, as most old men do. We’ll see. Until later …