A Grip on Sports: The Pac-12’s tombstone and ours might have something in common, including a list of who we blame

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Your heritage defines, to some degree, who you are. In our case, being of Italian descent, we do a lot of talking with our hands. Which might explain using our fingers to communicate with you each morning. But we digress. Our most personality-defining characteristic comes from out father’s family. They immigrated to America from Sicily. Birthplace of the life-long grudge.

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• To say we Sicilians never forget would be an understatement. Every day, while picking up seed pods from our deck, deposited there by the Maple tree our father planted almost 40 years ago, it hits me. Dad wanted a dirty tree to accompany our life journey. It’s his revenge for all the crud we gave him every time he told us to mow the back lawn.

He’s getting back at me from beyond the grave. Good for him. Ethnic heritage is important.

It’s something we have honored many times in this space over the years. And will continue to demonstrate.

The Pac-12 has broken into nine pieces and we’ve been taking names. We’ll hold a grudge until, well, until the conference is put back together. Which means, we’ll hold a grudge for eternity. Expect some sort of snarky remark about USC and its president, Carol Folt, on our tombstone.

But the Trojans aren’t the only ones who deserve some blame for the demise of a conference that accompanied our sporting life. Nope. As we said, we’ve been taking names.

Every story we read – today’s example comes from the L.A. Times and cemented our disdain for the duplicity of Folt concerning expansion while courting an exit to the Big Ten – cements our anger. And makes us want to, figuratively, create cement boots for each member of the conference and the conference hierarchy.

Larry Scott? On the list. Oh, the former commissioner’s Las Vegas butler is too, just for being an enabler.

Michael Crow? The Arizona State president is there as well, mainly because he was Scott’s biggest proponent, even after it became clear mistakes were made. We came this close to scratching out his name while ASU and Arizona delayed their Big 12 exit, but they capitulated, so it stays.

ESPN and Fox? The Worldwide Leader was atop the list until we learned about its $30 million media offer from a couple years ago. If the conference CEOs had sent commissioner George Kliavkoff back to the table with a charge to negotiate in good faith, who doesn’t believe the conference would have a $32 million a year contract right now? So, ESPN gets a pass. Fox, however, doesn’t. Every action the network has taken seems to have been aimed at destroying our demo … oops, that’s Fox News. Fox followed a similar playbook as regards the Pac-12, though the sports division was a lot more subtle. With that in mind, Fox is now No. 1 on our list, with three underlines. We’re so ticked, we may miss a few Seahawks’ games this season. There is no way we’re giving our eyeballs to the network’s ratings.

There are others of course, from Washington and Oregon to UCLA to, heck, Deion Sanders, Dallas’ sleeper cell in the conference as part of Texas’ half-century-long plan to delegitimize West Coast football.

The list isn’t finished either. If Stanford and California jettison Oregon State and Washington State while somehow finagling their way into the Big Ten or, even more stupidly, into the ACC, they’ll make it as well.

As for revenge, we’ve never been one to serve it cold. It’s just not in our nature. Or our genes.

• Hey, the Mariners won again last night. Picked up a game on Toronto. Kept us on the edge of our seat all game. Heck, leading by a run with Bobby Witt Jr. at the plate and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, we were screaming at Scott Servais to give him the Barry Bonds treatment. Just walk him.

Servais didn’t listen. Imagine that. Witt grounded out.  

Big deal. Servais is still on our list.

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WSU: If it’s the final year of the Pac-12 (and it is, at least how we’ve known it for a while), then it’s going out with a bang. Jon Wilner examines the best matchups each week and includes two Cougar games in the mix: At UCLA in early October and the last Pac-12-based Apple Cup. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, we linked the L.A. Times story above. But that’s not all in the vein of stories examining the conference’s demise we can pass along. Wilner has a look at California and Stanford’s options in the Mercury News while John Canzano talked with Scott Barnes about Oregon State’s options (as did the Oregonian’s Nick Daschel). … Washington is good and it has some freak athletes. One of them, in our eyes, is G-Prep graduate Devin Culp. … Oregon is noticeably bigger as the Ducks prepare for the season in the heat. … There has been no decision on the future of Oregon and Oregon State football games. … Stanford’s offensive line is a blank slate in more than one way. … There is a quarterback battle going on in Berkeley. … The future seems bright in Colorado. … Utah has a well-stocked linebacker room. … The chemistry between Caleb Williams and his USC receivers is coming along. … Arizona State has added quite a few Arizona high school products to its roster. … Is it possible Arizona could begin the football season 4-0? All it takes is winning four consecutive games. (Just kidding.) … In basketball news, Arizona’s Middle East tour included a rout yesterday in the heat of the UAE. … Colorado released another nonconference matchup.

Gonzaga: Sadly, Kaden Perry’s bad back has derailed his GU career for good. Theo Lawson has this story on the power forward’s announcement yesterday. … As for now, the Big 12’s courtship of Gonzaga is over. The conference’s addition of the four Pac-12 schools killed it. Jim Meehan has more in this story.

EWU: The offensive coaching staff had to be rebuilt after last season. The Eagles did, with most of the new coaches having a connection to second-year offensive coordinator Jim Chapin. Dan Thompson delves into the hires this morning. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, last year’s results have motivated Montana. … One area Montana State dominated last season was the offensive trenches.

Idaho: The Vandals’ wide receiver group was good last season. And now, thanks to Terez Traynor returning from injury, there is even more depth. Colton Clark talked with Traynor about what the past year has meant.

Indians: A ninth-inning rally is a great way to string a second consecutive win in a series. That’s exactly what Spokane did Wednesday night at Avista Stadium, scoring three times to walk-off Tri-City 5-4. Dave Nichols has the coverage.

Mariners: Julio Rodriguez has been getting it done at the plate lately. He added three hits last night and the M’s figured out a way to win, 6-5, against woeful Kansas City. … Tom Murphy is injured. Brian O’Keefe is in the big leagues.

Seahawks: Noah Fant is finally healthy again. … The Hawks held their final open practice yesterday and there was quite a bit of coverage. … Whether former WSU standout Easop Winston Jr. makes the team or not, his mom will be in his corner.

Sounders: There are more owners in the group. Does this mean more money will be spent? Probably not.

World Cup: U.S. women’s coach Vlatko Andonovski resigned yesterday, setting up the beginnings of a new era for the national team. It has to happen relatively quickly, as the Olympics are next year.

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• We dodged one hot bullet, that’s for sure. Our air conditioner is off the injured list and back in the lineup, hitting cleanup. Cool. All it took was major surgery. And an investment in the Met’s realm. But you do what you have to do, right? Until later …