A Grip on Sports: Bowl season is upon us, causing WSU fans – and others – to have to gear up way too early

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If there is one thing different in the world of sports that has been hard to get used to over the past couple decades, it is the earlier arrival of bowl season. A proliferation of bowls means way too many of them have to be played before we’re ready emotionally.

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• Bowl season was, as we developed our college football awareness, the time from Christmas to the New Year. A week or a little more crammed with game after game pitting teams that never played each other. A celebration of the season that coincide with the annual celebration of the holiday season.

Ho-ho-ho – and why the heck did they punt from the 38-yard line?

Bowl season in our modern – supposedly better – times stretch from 10 days or so before Christmas until well into January, if you include the playoffs as part of the bowl extravaganza as we do.

Couple that with the regular season bleeding into early December and there is hardly any rest for the players, coaches and fans. No wonder the importance of the games seems to have waned.

(We added the word “seems” just to be nice but of course the interest has waned. Once can’t-miss, they are now more opt-out – in multiple ways – than anything else.)

Which brings us this morning to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Nothing wrong with those two sun-drenched cities as bowl destinations. Las Vegas should be filled with swag, a staple of bowls. And L.A. is home to more celebrities per square mile than anywhere besides our little corner of the South Hill, so it’s appropriate a late-night host’s name is attached to today’s bowl.

But for Pac-12 representatives Oregon State and Washington State, today’s games are a bit anticlimactic. At least for their fans.

The Beavers’ followers were hammered by a time change – the game kicks off at 11:30 this morning on ESPN instead of the late afternoon time originally scheduled – that had to cut into last night’s pre-bowl functions and destroys any chance of tailgating like usual.

And WSU’s faithful? They had to find their way down to Los Angeles in a compressed time span, adding a few more dollars to the expense of following their team. That’s probably not as problematic as watching a cohesive group of coaches and players splinter apart during the run-up, with some chasing new financial opportunities (coaches and players) and others just looking for greener pastures (hey, coaches and players in that regard too).

Come to think of it, maybe it’s a good thing for Washington State fans their bowl game is scheduled for Dec. 17. If it were 10 days later, the Cougars might not have had enough players or coaches to field a team.

• We mentioned yesterday how crowded the middle of today was for the average sports fan. Space limited how deeply we could delve into that schedule. But we wanted to point out this morning this incredible college basketball lineup today:

No. 14 Indiana at No. 8 Kansas (9 a.m., ESPN2)

No. 15 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 Alabama in Birmingham (10 a.m., CBS)

No. 5 Houston at No. 2 Virginia (11 a.m., ESPN2)

North Carolina vs. No. 23 Ohio State (noon, CBS)

No. 16 UCLA vs. No. 14 Kentucky (2:15 p.m., CBS)

Utah at BYU (3 p.m., CBS Sports)

No. 3 UConn at Butler (4 p.m., FS1)

Texas A&M vs. Memphis (4 p.m., ESPNU)

No. 6 Tennessee at No. 9 Arizona (7:30 p.m., ESPN2)

Now that’s a Saturday of college hoop befitting the holidays.

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WSU: The game itself might just be an oasis in a December of troubles. At least that’s how Jake Dickert sees it. “Through all the chaos of the last few weeks – when that ball is kicked off, it’s time to play ball,” Dickert said, a quote Colton Clark included in his preview. Come to think of it, all the change has opened opportunities for other Cougars. Will they take advantage? Colton’s pick to win doesn’t reflect that. Though his two-minute drill does. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Jon Wilner answers questions in a Mercury News mailbag. … This bowl game with this well-thought-of opponent is important to Oregon State. … Oregon has a couple of players who will play in its bowl but maybe not next season. … USC has a bunch of players trying to decide their futures as well. … Utah saw its best players opt-out of the Rose Bowl. … Deion Sanders is finishing his tenure with Jackson State. … UCLA is mum on whether its usual starting quarterback will play in the Sun Bowl. … Bill Belichick had a hand in Arizona’s revival. … In basketball news, Washington has to learn how to start faster. … Oregon State has learned some things this season. … Colorado is still learning. … Is this the time Utah wins in Provo against BYU? … After finishing finals, Stanford picked up a December victory. … UCLA and Kentucky meet in Madison Square Garden. … Arizona is looking to avenge last year’s loss to Tennessee. … Finally, a recent NLRB regional ruling has folks thinking about college athletes as employees once again.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs will get a chance to avenge last year’s loss to Alabama in Seattle. Can they? Theo Lawson has a preview that may help you decide as well as the key matchup. … Elsewhere in the WCC, BYU hosts Utah while still trying to figure out its identity.

Idaho: The Vandals rolled over visiting Northwest Indian College 125-51 Friday night. Peter Harriman was there and has this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky Conference, Montana State has a rematch with South Dakota State in the FCS semifinals. The winner gets North Dakota State in January. … In basketball news, Weber State hammered Cal Poly. … Montana has a chance to peek its head above .500.

Preps: There were quite a few basketball games last night and Dave Nichols has all the results in this roundup.

Chiefs: Portland has become the class of the WHL’s U.S. Division.

Seahawks: Our thoughts on Tyler Lockett are simple. Why rush him back? His long-term future is more important than this year’s playoff hunt. The latter is transitory, the former can be something special – especially if the Hawks are able to build a bit better roster. … Have other questions? We can pass along four answers. … We can also pass along more on how the Hawks don’t look like a playoff team. Huh.

Mariners: The M’s declined to become part of the free-agent frenzy this offseason. That decision may come at a price next season. It certainly comes with some fallout.

Sounders: The World Cup of club football will be in Morocco in February. That seems fun.

World Cup: The United States (and Canada and Mexico) will get its chance to help FIFA redeem the World Cup experience in 2026.

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• We decided to take today off from writing. The Cougars’ bowl time just conflicted with too many other items on our agenda. We’ll watch some. But not enough to write a coherent TV Take – and yes, we know that statement leads to an easy joke for you. Anyhow, we want to spend more time this holiday season with the people who matter most. And they want to spend this Saturday with us. That’s a Christmas miracle. Until later …