A Grip on Sports: Maybe this weekend’s weather gives everyone an excuse to watch hours and hours of sports

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What’s ahead for the weekend? According to my weather app, quite a bit of rain. Which means we may be stuck inside. Too bad there isn’t a ton of sporting events to lift our spirits.

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• Other than the NBA finals on Sunday, of course. After the Warriors fell apart in the fourth quarter last night, Boston is in the driver’s seat. Or the NHL semis Saturday and Sunday. What kind of world is it when the premier hockey league will be holding its finals after basketball season is over?

Then there is the French Open, the toughest tennis tournament in the world to win, unless your name is Rafael Nadal. He’s playing a semifinal as we write this, hoping to be competing for his 14th individual title at Roland Garros on Sunday. That is not enough for you? There is an American woman, Coco Gauff, in Saturday’s women’s final. You can actually wave your flag if that’s your desire.

Maybe your tastes run to more the mundane. The ordinary. Daily bread. The Mariners can fill that yearning with a series in Texas. 

Or you just enjoy college sports and are tired of telling everyone who will listen on Twitter or Instagram how good Gonzaga is going to be next season. Instead you can watch the women’s fastpitch World Series from Oklahoma City, though the tournament didn’t start very well for the Pac-12 schools.

There is also the NCAA baseball tournament, which starts for Gonzaga today in Virginia. Oh, and begins for the other 63 teams today as well.

Oops, we forgot one mundane event. The Memorial golf tournament, Jack Nicklaus’ event, is going on in Columbus, Ohio. Golf is always a great watch when it’s raining outside. A lot better to watch than playing in the rain, that’s for sure.

Heck, we didn’t even jump in with the NASCAR race from Illinois or the Detroit Grand Prix with the Indy cars.

Sure, there isn’t any football this weekend. But everything else seems to be available.

• A month ago there was some trepidation among the Gonzaga faithful about next year’s roster. Not that the Zags weren’t going to be just fine. But they didn’t seem to be on the come-to-be-expected No. 1 path. All five starters from last year’s often top-ranked team were, seemingly, out the door. There was just one replacement locked in and everyone from North Carolina to Kentucky seemed to be improving.

Today? The outlook is different. Three starters back. And the best mid-major player in the nation, Malachi Smith, headed to Spokane. The 6-foot-4 guard was the top player in the Southern Conference, led UT-Chattanooga to the NCAA tourney last season, and almost lifted them past Illinois in the opening round.

Now he’ll join a Bulldog backcourt that is packed with talent.

That No. 1 ranking? It might be next to Gonzaga’s name when the season begins. We’re sure of one thing, however. Mark Few would rather have it next to the Zags’ name when the season ends. A month ago that didn’t look possible. Today, there seems to be a chance.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and college sports, the offseason changes for Kyle Smith’s program puts them into the loser category under Jon Wilner’s rating system in the Mercury News. … Jon also has a stock report in that paper today. … How bad was the first day of the women’s college World Series? Well, Oregon State was missing its best pitcher and got smoked by Florida, 7-1. UCLA was hammered by unseeded – but hot – Texas. And Arizona gave up three late runs to lose 4-2 to Oklahoma State. … In basketball news, Arizona is still trying to attract transfers. … Chris Burgess explains his reasons for joining the Utah staff. … Tad Boyle will have a small team at Colorado next season. … In the baseball playoffs, UCLA has to find a way to win the Auburn regional. … Oregon State has the advantage of playing at home. … Arizona will not start playing until Saturday due to the weather forecast. … In football, the Oregon defense needs Justin Flowe back. … Just how many games can Washington win?

Gonzaga: We will start with baseball, as that team is actually in the key part of its season. Justin Reed has a preview of the Blacksburg regional, with the second-seeded Zags beginning this morning against Columbia. … OK, back to basketball. Theo Lawson has the story about Smith’s transfer, a story we linked above as well. … That decision was also noted around the country. … Jim Meehan took a more general look at the week that was and how it impacted the Bulldogs’ national profile. He mentions quite a few national power rankings, which we ran down this morning. We have stories from CBS, a couple from The Athletic and another from Sports Illustrated. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the best player for the BYU women’s basketball team may no longer be part of the team.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, when we linked the news yesterday an Idaho State assistant football coach was jailed due to charges from Arizona, we have to admit we never thought it would have anything to do with murder. But it does. … The heart of the Montana women’s basketball team is in the portal.

Preps: Dave Nichols takes some time to have one last look at the State small schools’ track meet last weekend in Cheney.

Indians: Spokane led by a run entering the bottom of the ninth in Vancouver on Thursday night. They lost 2-1.

Mariners: We watched quite a bit of the M’s game from Baltimore last night – hey, it was raining here – and were expecting a Diego Castillo meltdown in the ninth inning. It didn’t happen. And when the M’s scored in the top of the 10th, we were worried about Castillo holding the lead in the bottom of the inning. He did. And Seattle won another road series with a 7-6 victory over the Orioles. … Julio Rodriguez has done well in his first 50 major league games. … Taylor Trammel is showing off a reworked swing.

Seahawks: Organized team activities continued in Seattle yesterday. The quarterback battle continued. Putting in the new look defensive scheme continued. New players were vetted. A normal offseason workout in other words. … Will the Hawks find their quarterback in the next draft? … The Blazers are for sale. Are the Seahawks next?

Storm: Lewis and Clark High graduate Briann January may be far removed from her days with the Tigers but one thing remains the same. She still brings defensive intensity every possession. … The Storm’s stars know any of them could be in Brittney Griner’s situation, as its obvious Griner is part of a diplomatic showdown unrelated to her personal circumstances.

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• For once we got ahead of the curve yesterday. We did the yard work. Got it looking presentable. Trimmed up some things, planted some grass in bare spots and took care – using the Sicilian definition – of the weeds. The rain can come. We’re ready. Until later …