A Grip on Sports: What a great day to talk breaking records, adding members and lifelong bonds

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s Feb. 8. That means something to me. Though, so does what happened last night in Los Angeles. And what may happen soon up and down the West Coast.

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• Let’s start with LeBron James, shall we? Tuesday night, James completed a quest that began 20 – or more – years ago. He scored his 38,388 NBA point, pushing him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and atop the league’s all-time scoring list.

And even more squarely into a debate about his status among the NBA’s all-time best players. Why scoring one more basket than Abdul-Jabbar would change someone’s mind is beyond us.

The past decade or so the debate about the greatest of all time has revolved around two players, Michael Jordan and James. Fine. The arguments usually came down to Jordan’s six NBA titles in six Finals appearances and James inability to win more than four in 10 trips to the championship series.

Jordan could score in ways no else had. Defended. Famously willed his teams to victories. But so often James did the same. And was one of the best passers to play the game. The argument seemed to have no right answer.

And it rarely seemed included a third contender, despite Abdul-Jabbar holding the league’s most important record since 1984 and, the mistake we made here yesterday, winning six titles, the same as Jordan. (By the way, if titles are the bottom line for greatness, then Bill Russell and his 11 should also be part of the discussion.)

Which brings us back to last night and today.

James steps on the court in L.A., hits a jumper and all of sudden, because he’s scored more points than Abdul-Jabbar, ascends to the top of the ladder? OK, fine. But why wasn’t Kareem featured more prominently in past GOAT discussions?

Could it be his activism, on display from his UCLA days – actually, even before when he was a New York high school legend  – put him on some sort of no-fly list among many fans? Or is it because he played a position, center, that has been relegated to near-oblivion in the modern game?

We don’t know the answer. But we find last night’s turn-of-events and the response to it almost comical.

Jordan. James. Make whatever arguments you wish. Just don’t forget the guy whose record fell Tuesday. He should have always been mentioned in the same breath.

• There were reports Tuesday Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff will be visiting with SMU representatives today. And that the meetings were in preparation of the conference adding the Mustangs and San Diego State to the conference’s roster.

Good for him. The conference needs to expand. It needs to spread its footprint. To hold down the West Coast fort and invade Big 12 territory. It is crucial for survival in the dog-eat-dog world of big-time college athletics. It also may be crucial to increasing the Pac-12’s media-rights payout.

And that’s the bottom line. Weird, in college sports, the bottom line is all that matters anymore. How much money can we have flow into our coffers?

It seems, after the USC and UCLA defections, the Pac-12 has to expand or die. Kliavkoff is choosing the latter.

• Sports can build relationships. Destroy them as well. It all depends on how deep the roots go.

The longest relationship we have, even longer than to the woman we are related to by marriage, is with a buddy who turns 67 today. It’s a relationship that began the first day of high school and has lasted through the years, despite the fact he roots for USC.

Yep, we can overlook that one major character flaw. It is hard, though.

How important was sports in binding us together more than 50 years ago?

There were high school football games, in which we cheered for the Knights from the stands. There were way-too-many-to-count days on the golf course, as he patiently helped us learn the game. There were baseball games, football games, basketball games, any game really, we attended over the years, maybe not rooting for the same side but able to understand where each was coming from.

Through the decades our friendship has survived golf outings, trips to Santa Anita, college football upsets and one horrendous Super Bowl in which his life-long favorite Broncos were routed by the Northwest team we adopted after moving here 40 years ago.

Nothing broke the bonds. Not even a snarky text we shouldn’t have sent after the aforementioned Super Bowl. And all the recent Russell Wilson ones.

Happy birthday Kent.

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WSU: The Cougars should be healthier Saturday when they host Washington in Beasley Coliseum. Colton Clark has this story on the players who were sick last week and their return for the rivalry game. … Charlisse Leger-Walker is still among those being considered for the Naismith Trophy, given to college basketball’s best player. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, Jon Wilner has his conference power rankings in the Mercury News. … We can add another ranking as well. … Transfers have come from everywhere to help Colorado. … Arizona doesn’t have a set rotation after its top seven. Should it? … What does Arizona State need to do to begin winning once more? … In football news, spring football is still a ways away for Colorado.

Gonzaga: If there is any former GU player we are happy to see back in the States and in the game, it is Przemek Karnowski. The center, who left Gonzaga having played in more wins than anyone in college hoops, is one of the good guys. Now he’s sharing his knowledge of the game in Tucson, as a grad assistant under Tommy Lloyd. Jim Meehan caught up with Karnowski and has this story. … Another of the good guys, Anton Watson, is still playing in a Zag uniform. He joined Theo Lawson for a podcast this week. You can listen here. By the way, if you don’t have a podcast these days, do you really exist? … Elsewhere in the WCC, the BYU Cougars’ last league visit to the Kennel is upon us.

EWU: We’ve known Steele Venters for more than five years. And we’ve known how he can score. The redshirt sophomore from Ellensburg has a chance to top 1,000 points at Eastern this week in the rivalry game with Idaho. Dan Thompson has the details in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Northern Colorado is still basking in Monday’s big win over Weber State.

Whitworth: Despite a somewhat down year, the Pirates had every chance to still win the Northwest Conference men’s regular season basketball title. All they had to do was handle conference-leading Whitman at home last night. It didn’t happen. The Blues won, 85-67.

Preps: Before we get to all the basketball action from last night, we want to pass along Dave Nichols’ story on Deer Park and Darian Herring, who is leading the Stags into the 1A postseason. … The GSL season came to end last night and Dave was at Gonzaga Prep, where the Mead Panthers won the girls title. … He also has a roundup of the rest of the league action. … One more roundup from Dave on other games around the area.

Seahawks: You may need to spend a lot of money at quarterback to be in the Super Bowl.

Mariners: Have questions? Here are some answers.

Kraken: Seattle began the post-All-Star part of the season with a tough loss to the Islanders. … The newest Kraken has some interesting connections.

Storm: Are super teams good for the WNBA? We are about to find out.

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• Is it ethical to use a platform like this one to make up for forgetting to send someone a birthday card? Asking for a friend. Until later …