A Grip on Sports: The last days of 2022 and the first of 2023 usher in excitement – as long as you have a TV

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What’s ahead this weekend? That’s the wrong question. The right one is simple: What isn’t?

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• OK, there is no baseball or golf or tennis. Warm-weather sports. But as we ring in 2023, just about everything reaches its zenith. And we would be parked in front of the Zenith, if the television manufacturer still existed.

Instead we will fire up the Sony (or is it an LG?) and be ready for an exceptional 72 hours of football, basketball and more, much more, football.

• There are bowl games on all day today, starting with old ACC foes Maryland and 23rd-ranked North Carolina State facing off in the sadly named Duke’s Mayo Bowl from Charlotte, N.C. (9 a.m., ESPN). A soon-to-be former Pac-12 school, No. 18 UCLA, is up next at 11 (CBS) from El Paso and the Sun Bowl. The Bruins have a chance to get to 10 wins if they can get past Pittsburgh.

Everyone’s favorite, 19th-ranked Notre Dame, matches up with No. 20 South Carolina in the Gator Bowl (12:30 p.m., ESPN). And the day ends with probably the best game, with sixth-ranked Tennessee facing 10th-ranked Clemson in the Orange Bowl (5, ESPN).

But those games are appetizers. There are two more bowl games Saturday – one of which features just-missed-the-playoffs, fifth-ranked Alabama – to whet your appetite even more. For what, you ask? Saturday afternoon and evening’s College Football Playoff semifinals, both on ESPN. First up is No. 3 TCU vs. No. 2 Michigan (1 p.m.) followed four hours later by No. 4 Ohio State against defending national champion and top-seed Georgia (5).

If that was all, we would be happy. But Monday features all the traditional bowls, even if the matchups are not in that category. Oh, the Rose Bowl features the Pac-12 champion, seventh-ranked Utah, but just the third-best Big Ten team, No. 9 Penn State. It might just be the final time that happens, thanks to an expanded playoff looming. The game kicks at the usual 2 p.m. on ABC. The Cotton (No. 8 USC vs. 14th-ranked Tulane, 10 a.m., ESPN) and Citrus (No. 16 LSU vs. Purdue, 10 a.m., ABC) round out the big bowls on the holiday weekend’s Monday.

• But, wait, there’s more.

College hoop is in full swing, with conference races beginning. Washington State actually has a doubleheader today, with the women hosting undefeated and 11th-ranked Utah this afternoon at 4 and the men taking on 11th-ranked UCLA at 8. Both are on the Pac-12 Networks. The men also are on TV Sunday, when they host USC (Noon, Pac-12)

Gonzaga has just one West Coast Conference game on tap this weekend, hosting Pepperdine on Saturday (2 p.m., KHQ/Root).

Quite possibly the two best college hoop games of the day overlap Saturday morning, with always physical Florida State facing No. 17 Duke at Cameron (10, ESPN2) and fifth-ranked Arizona traveling to Arizona State (11, Fox 28).

• Sunday is still the NFL’s big day, even if it’s the first day of a new year. Around these parts the big game is at 1 p.m. (Fox 28), when the Seahawks try to keep their playoff hopes alive with a win over the visiting New York Jets. Of course, the best game of the day, Minnesota at Green Bay (1:25, CBS) overlaps. Thankfully, the NFL provides us with ample opportunity to flip back and forth with its overwhelming obtrusive commercial breaks.

• Are there other viewing possibilities? Oh, sure. Who doesn’t want to get up at 4:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve to watch Manchester United battle always tough Wolverhampton on USA? Actually, it might be a great way to start off a long day of revelry. Break open the first bottle of bubbly and toast the EPL, the world’s greatest soccer league.

But don’t oversleep. Second-ranked UConn visits Sean Miller and his No. 22 Xavier Musketeers at 9 a.m. (Fox 28). You won’t want to miss that.

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WSU: The Cougars’ Pac-12 opener tonight is on our list of games to watch. We also have a preview we can pass along. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Washington finished off a great turn-around year with a 27-20 victory over Texas in the Alamo Bowl. The Huskies went from 4-8 to 11-2 under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer. … Hey, the Big Ten may be looking for a new commissioner as 2023 begins. Wouldn’t that be something? … It’s not just the rosters that change this time of year. Oregon is losing an assistant coach. … Utah will be without its best secondary player in the Rose Bowl, but the group still wants to show last year’s game was a fluke. … UCLA’s Sun Bowl appearance is a chance for the Bruins to do something special. … USC’s defensive woes could be front and center in the Cotton Bowl. … Bowl games are changing thanks to NIL. … In basketball news, we watched the final minutes of Colorado’s win at Stanford. Yes, KJ Simpson took over but the Cardinal choked at the end. … Utah is 3-0 in conference after running California out of Haas Pavilion. … Can Arizona run over Arizona State in their intrastate rivalry game? … USC travels to Washington.

Gonzaga: Yes, the Bulldogs are once again favored to win the West Coast Conference title. But there is little margin of error for this GU group, as Jim Meehan covers in this conference preview. … It would help if Efton Reid III would play every night as he did against Eastern Oregon, a performance recapped by Theo Lawson in this story. … The women are on the road in Los Angeles this weekend and they started the trip quickly. A great first half helped them defeat Pepperdine 77-63. Jim Allen has the coverage. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Pacific was a perfect team for BYU to open conference play against. … Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara, the former over San Diego, the latter over USF, opened conference with wins. … Loyola Marymount pounded Portland on the road.

EWU: A road win, especially in Missoula, is an exceptional way for the Eagles to begin Big Sky play. They prevailed, 87-80, over the host Griz. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Weber State opened with a win over visiting Northern Colorado. … Idaho State had little trouble with Northern Arizona. … In football news, the Idaho State coaching staff is coming together.

Idaho: The Vandal women began conference play with a 72-55 victory over visiting Montana State. … The men weren’t as successful, losing 72-58 in Bozeman.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Thursday’s high school action as well as this story on The Fitz basketball tournament, an event that really does make a difference in Spokane.

Seahawks: What is it, just another game as Geno Smith outwardly professes, or a revenge match, as most suspect? We won’t know until after the Hawks and Jets play and probably not even then – especially if New York wins. … Boye Mafa would like to end his rookie season on a couple high notes. … Jacob Hollister is back in town.

Sounders: We were too young and immature to appreciate Pele’s greatness when he was still playing. He died yesterday at age 82, still widely acknowledged as the greatest soccer player ever. But our old friend Kevin Baxter was always aware of his talents and has this obituary. … Seattle made a trade for a striker, which might portend a couple other roster moves.

Kraken: It’s OK to take responsibility.

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• We’re not sure we will take any days off this weekend. Too much going on the world of sports and New Year’s Eve has never been a big party night for us. Even when we, you know, sort of actually partied. These days? The fireworks will just tick us off. Until later …