A Grip on Sports: Silver linings are hard to find when the clouds dominate the sky – even in the sporting world

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Having trouble discerning the joy that is supposed to be following you around during the holiday season? Wait, is that too deep a subject for a column about sports? OK, then. We’ll confide it to sports. And try to give you something to smile about, if even only wistfully.

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• Sure, the Mariners didn’t really enter the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. And, sure, it hurts to find out it will only cost the winner, the Los Angeles Dodgers, about $2 million a year to have the game’s most-feared hitter in their lineup for the next decade. But there is this to smile about: At some point, the Dodgers and Ohtani will work out a deal – it may already be done – in which the retired player takes his final $680 million in an ownership stake in the franchise.

What a silly thought. Selling part of an All-American enterprise like a Major League Baseball franchise to a Japanese concern. Oh, wait.

Let’s all smile thinking back to the days when those who ran the M’s used to think outside the box like that. When doing something new and different wasn’t considered verboten. After all, we were young once. And baseball fans.

• The remaining members of the Pac-12 – Oregon State and Washington State – are still trying to save the once-proud conference. Ensure its future – and theirs.

The two schools understand the importance of having all the Ts crossed and Is dotted before the place officially loses 10 members late next summer.

There will be liabilities hanging over the property, sort of like liens, that could make it impossible to hold on to. How those liabilities have to be sorted out before everyone goes their separate ways.

Makes sense, right? But neither the conference office nor the 10 departing schools are in a hurry to reach agreement with the Pac-2 folks about such things. Instead, George Kliavkoff wanted to send out the usual Christmas bonus. Seems like a great way to bankrupt the entity. P.R.-wise, though, it also seemed like a good idea to make the two schools play the role of Scrooge. They did.

Maybe the move will shake the Christmas tree enough to force an agreement in all areas, from current earnings to possible future liabilities. That would be a miracle to rival anything that occurred on 34th Street.

But it’s that time of year, right? For everyone to look upon their neighbor and find the good in them. Even if they are trying to take the money and run.

• Here’s something out of the irony file. And irony can make you smile, right?

Today is a big day in Oklahoma City. Voters are being asked to approve a six-year, 1% sales tax increase to fund – here’s where we get to the ironic part – about 95% of the cost of a new arena for the Thunder. And if the vote fails, the owners are threatening to move the franchise.

Yes, we understand it’s not nice to smile at the misfortune of others. Those of us in the Pacific Northwest who supported the Sonics in a myriad of ways understand better than anyone the pain of losing your team.

But there is something of a karma feel about this. Rich folks, having seen their $325 million investment in the franchise rise to about $3 billion in valuation, wanting the city that supplied most of the wherewithal for that to happen to build them a new palace.

All while using a tax that hits the poorest citizens the hardest.

Good plan. Well, for Clay Bennett and his cronies that own the franchise. For most folks in Oklahoma’s capitol city, it’s a waste of money. But it seems appropriate. It’s like someone who marries the person they had an affair with – and then are shocked when their partner has an affair.

You want sympathy? Don’t steal a franchise away in the first place.

• Not cheered up yet? Still trying to find your joy?

OK, here’s one last piece of joyful news.

The college basketball in the region is once again special. Men or women, it doesn’t matter. There are ranked teams. There are teams with glossy records. There are fun-to-watch teams. And some of them even overlap. But as we near the end of the nonconference segment of the season, no one in the Inland Northwest is non-competitive. It’s a Christmas gift to each of us.

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WSU: OK, in the good news vein, we bring you this story from Greg Woods. Myles Rice was once again named the Pac-12’s basketball freshman of the week. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, we linked above Jon Wilner’s thoughts on the Pac-12’s latest issue. And here too. … John Canzano answers questions in his Monday mailbag. … Quarterback Dylan Morris has been at Washington forever. He’s going to leave, via the portal. But he’s staying through the playoffs. He’s that respected. … Oregon State continues to bleed players and recruits as it preps for a bowl against Notre Dame. But the Beavers are trying to attract new players for next season through the portal. … Oregon is losing players to the NFL draft. Whether they’ll play in the Fiesta Bowl is not determined. … Colorado’s Travis Hunter earned first-team All-American status. … California traded portal wins and losses yesterday. … Arizona had a similar, but different, experience. … The key element of the Wildcats’ football renaissance this season was the play of freshman quarterback Noah Fifita. … UCLA’s key defensive player, Laiatu Latu, will skip the L.A. Bowl. … Who is to blame for Jayden Daniels leaving Arizona State? … In basketball news, the Oregon State men have some time off before their next game. … After a rare on-campus nonconference battle, Arizona is an almost unanimous choice at No. 1. … The Oregon women had their best weekend of the season. … Colorado has a break between games so it is working on the basics. … Utah is trying to figure out how to replace its point guard, lost for the season due to an injury.

Gonzaga: There may be worse college basketball teams than the one that visited the Kennel last night but none have a worse record. Mississippi Valley State came in winless in nine games. The Delta Devils left with their 10th – and remained last (362) in the NCAA’s NET rankings. The final score was 78-40, even though the Bulldogs struggled with their outside shooting once more. Theo Lawson has the game story. … Jim Meehan adds the difference makers and a story that focuses on the visitors, who also lost earlier this year at Connecticut, the Zags’ opponent Saturday. … Colin Mulvany was on the floor and has this photo gallery. … Before the game, Jim posted a story on the A.P. poll, in which the Bulldogs fell to the 10th spot after its road loss to Washington. … The women moved up to 21st in the A.P. poll and Yvonne Ejim earned her third consecutive West Coast Conference player of the week award. … Elsewhere in the WCC, USF’s men held off New Orleans.

Idaho: It was a bittersweet Monday in Moscow, that’s for sure. Sure, three Vandals earned All-American honors (along with one EWU player), news shared in the S-R’s latest local briefs column. But there is bitter news too. Next year’s roster will be without three players who have contributed mightily to the school’s recent success. Colton Clark tells us quarterback Gevani McCoy, tailback Anthony Woods and cornerback Marcus Harris entered the NCAA transfer portal Monday. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana and North Dakota State have a storied history. … Idaho State’s men shot well but still didn’t win Saturday.

Whitworth: Around the Northwest Conference, there is a new football coach at Willamette.

Mariners: Transparency is not a word we would assign to the M’s ownership. But Ryan Divish feels it is about time it was. Will the group change? Our guess is no.

Kraken: Losses are mounting. The offense is sputtering. Yes, they are connected.

Seahawks: Yes, there is frustration permeating the region’s NFL franchise. Heck, it’s gotten bad enough Pete Carroll called out players by name Monday. Yep, horrific. … Geno Smith may need every day available to play against the Eagles next Monday. If not, Drew Lock will be the guy . … Devon Witherspoon’s health will play a big part in the Hawks’ success this week. And in their playoff push. … The way NFL games are officiated, it makes it seem at times the third team on the field has more say in the outcome than either of the other two.

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• Anniversaries are usually pretty happy days. But not always. Sometimes, like today, they call to mind the loss of someone. It was a year ago Mike Leach died unexpectedly. On this day, Bruce Feldman, who not only covered Leach for a variety of publications but also co-wrote his autobiography, remembers his friend through the eyes of those who knew Leach the best in a football sense. The Athletic story is worth reading. Until later …