A Grip on Sports: Yes, it is finally Super Sunday and we have a feast of story links for you to dine on

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It is Super Bowl Sunday. We have a few questions. What are you eating? What is your favorite prop bet? Are you having friends over? And, of course, who you got?

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• Our answers, in order: Kansas City ribs, length of the national anthem, no, the Chiefs.

Why Kansas City? Being Sicilian, a good revenge story is always appreciated. And Andy Reid has a chance to twist the knife a bit against the franchise that ran him out of town. That appeals to our blood-feud heritage.

Actually, though, we don’t care who wins. We like a good story. And that’s what KC would be. A better story, we believe, than the Philly winning. After all, there is Patrick Mahomes and his ankle injury. The emergence of the rookies in the Chiefs’ secondary (including WSU product Jaylen Watson). And the chance for KC to win its second title in four years.

The only headline we can think of for Philadelphia? “Fans that once booed Santa Claus rewarded with another NFL title.”

Doesn’t seem right.

• You know what seemed right Saturday? The Gonzaga women’s basketball program honoring Courtney Vandersloot by raising her No. 21 to the McCarthey rafters. The ceremony, which followed by two days Dan Dickau’s jersey-raising, was part of a successful weekend for the school.

The men not only honored arguably their second-best ever point guard – John Stockton is No. 1 – they also won twice, including last night’s fist-fight over BYU. The women not only honored their best-ever player, they won once, a 63-53 decision over Portland, and moved into first-place alone in the WCC.

And brought back a memory about Vandersloot, former coach Kelly Graves and our friend Dave Trimmer.

Bear with us, it takes a while.

In 2007, we were the S-R’s prep editor. In that role, we covered the State 4A basketball tournament in Tacoma, focusing on the girls. And we saw Vandersloot playing for the first time. It was impressive. Her Kentwood High team, not nearly as talented as eventual state titlist Lewis and Clark or the Angie Bjorklund-led University team, finished third, losing to LC in the semifinals.

Vandersloot was, in our mind, the best player in the tournament.

Fast forward a couple weeks. We sat with Trimmer and Graves in the Gonzaga locker room following a practice. The Zags were preparing for their first-round NCAA Tournament game against defensive-minded Middle Tennessee. After Dave’s interview was over, the three of us were talking. And Graves was lamenting the Zags’ point guard play.

We piped up, saying something to the effect that won’t be a worry next season. Vandersloot was the best high school point guard we had ever seen.

Wrong thing to say.

Graves, and we’re paraphrasing here, expressed in no uncertain terms he didn’t give a, well, bad word about Courtney Vandersloot right then. He had to figure out a way to handle Middle Tennessee’s unrelenting pressure.

Then he realized he had gone a bit too far. He softened and said something about how, yes, it wouldn’t be a problem in the future. He smiled. She was that good.

And Vandersloot was. The best the Zags ever had. Rafter-worthy.

Middle Tennessee that season? It forced 37 Gonzaga turnovers – GU had more turnovers in the first half than shots – and routed the Zags 85-46 at Stanford. Four years later Vandersloot would lead Gonzaga to the Elite Eight.

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WSU: The Cougars did a lot of things well last night. At least on the defensive end. And that was enough to take this year’s first rivalry game with Washington, 56-51, in Pullman. Colton Clark was sitting amid the 5,647 at Beasley Coliseum and has this game story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, it sure seems as if the conference is getting closer to the finish line concerning expansion and/or its media-rights deal. … USC’s at-large NCAA hopes were dealt a severe blow Saturday as the Trojans lost 61-58 at Oregon State. … UCLA took over in the second half and ground down Oregon, winning 70-63 in Eugene. … Utah took apart visiting Colorado, clamping down for a 73-62 victory. … No. 4 Arizona was hampered by foul trouble and lost 88-79 at Stanford. … Arizona State finished off a road weekend sweep with an overtime 70-62 win over California.

Gonzaga: We start with the men, who had Saturday’s nightcap. They faced a BYU team that is headed to the Big 12 next season and seemed heck-bent on emulating that conference’s Baylor in how it played the Zags. Grab, hold, throw forearms, push, shove, whatever it took to slow down Gonzaga’s offense. It didn’t work. Jim Meehan has the game story from the 88-81 Zag win. … Theo Lawson delved into the Cougars’ final Kennel appearance as a WCC member as well as putting together the difference makers. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo gallery. … The folks in the office put together a recap with highlights. … Jim Allen handled double duty, writing about Vandersloot’s ceremony and the game that followed, a 63-53 Gonzaga win that lifted the Bulldogs a game-ahead of Portland in the standings. … Tyler also has a photo gallery from the game. … There is also a story focusing on the Portland side of things. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Pacific picked up a 99-94 win at San Diego. … Saint Mary’s stayed alone atop the men’s standings with a dominating second half, topping host Portland 81-64. … USF got past visiting Pepperdine 88-80. … Loyola Marymount wins against the big names and loses to the others, last night at Santa Clara, 71-69.

EWU and Idaho: The Vandals made it close – as Peter Harriman’s story emphasizes – but the Eagles figured out a way to win 73-66. That result, Eastern’s 15th consecutive victory, is the thrust of Dan Thompson’s column. It echoes some thoughts we had in this space not too long ago. … Dan also has this story covering the Idaho women’s 88-64 victory over visiting EWU. … Dave Cook has another story about Taiwan Jones on Super Bowl Sunday. … Christian Elliss will be playing in today’s game with Philadelphia. He is, as Colton tells us in this story, part of the family business – in a sense. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State won at Northern Arizona with a crazy last-second shot. … Montana State stayed within shouting distance of Eastern with a 58-52 road win at Idaho State. … Montana picked up another win, topping Weber State 74-69 in Ogden. … Northern Colorado pounded visiting Sacramento State 70-54.

Preps: Playoff basketball is going on, with the GSL 3A teams in action Saturday. Dave Nichols was at Mt. Spokane, where the Wildcats won twice. … He also has a roundup of the other games. … Wrestling is at the regional level, with Dave covering the local results in this roundup.  

Chiefs: Spokane lost for the ninth consecutive time, this one 2-1 at Everett.

Seahawks: Can a team win a Super Bowl paying a quarterback more than 13% of the salary cap? If Kansas City does, it will be the first team to accomplish it since 1994. … Don Coryell began his hall of fame coaching career in Seattle.

Mariners: Spring training begins this week – yes – and Ryan Divish has things fans should watch.

Kraken: Seattle’s prospects are dealing with February’s challenges.

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• We’ll be back on the S-R website this evening with our TV Take from the Super Bowl. The game? Others can worry about that. We are focusing on “whassup?” and the Bud Bowl. Those are still hot commercials, aren’t they? Heck, we heard rumors of an ad based on the Clueless movie, so we guess we are back in 1995. That was a good year. Until later …