A Grip on Sports: There is nothing that defines sports more than the questions everyone has each day
A GRIP ON SPORTS • No matter what, there are always questions. You might say life is a series of questions, from the mundane – what’s for dinner? – to the existential – is there anything after? We have one more to add: Why should sports be any different?
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• We start our questions with the Mariners, the region’s always dominant summer team. There are two questions, actually, starting with the most-asked one, can they turn a so-so season into something special?
The Seattle Times’ Larry Stone, who can tell you about games from the 1960s, examined the question this week. His definitive answer? Sure. He even explained how. But he also posed another, harder-to-answer question: Will they?
No one knows. The pieces are basically there. But basically isn’t certainly. Another bat would have helped. So would a healthy bullpen. Neither seems easy to possess right now. Adding a bat in the next month or so won’t be easy. Lots of teams are buying and many have more to offer. The bullpen issues may just straighten themselves out over time but that’s a dice roll.
Our guess on the Ides of June? The M’s can get into the playoffs but they won’t. Not this year. Lightning hardly ever strikes twice in a row.
• Our next question comes from the world of college football. Would former Washington State coach Mike Leach be pleased Texas Tech is putting him in the school’s hall of honor?
We didn’t know Leach deeply, but we talked with him enough to know he would probably snort, cough and then say something to the effect it’s all well and good but he would rather have the $2.5 million. That’s how much Leach, who died last December, felt the school owed him when they fired him, for cause, in 2009.
The cause turned out to be baloney and Leach tried to sue to get the money left on his contract. Except he couldn’t. The university is a Texas entity and the state covers its contracts under a sovereign immunity statute. Yep, Texas, where everyone talks a big game of freedom, is a place where you can’t sue the government to redress a financial wrong. Unless the state legislature gives you permission.
My guess is Leach, who was still involved in a lawsuit vs. the state when he died, would have told Tech to take its award and, well, put it someplace the eyes of Texas couldn’t be upon it. Unless, of course, the school wanted to write him a check.
• The gold standard of golf’s majors is the Masters. If you question it, you’re wrong. No one does a major event better, not for participants, on-site fans or those of us sentenced to home detention through lack of a major bank account.
The TV access and presentation each April is unparalleled. This week brings that to the fore. The USGA, which oversees golf in this country, uses its championship to fund itself. Which means it squeezes as much money from its broadcast partners as it can. They in turn squeeze anyone who wants to watch.
The early part of the tournament (Thursday and Friday morning) is on Peacock, the streaming arm of NBC. A pay service. Of course. There are a few things you can watch online for free, but if you want to see the first 3-plus hours, you have to stream them.
• Who is going to win?
That’s the ultimate question, isn’t it? Not just in this week’s U.S. Open, but throughout sports every day. Heck, if you can answer that question correctly at least 50% of the time, you can make a living placing bets at your local casino.
Which leads into our next question. When will college sports’ first huge sports betting scandal hit? There have been minor ones already, what with Alabama’s baseball coach losing his job over a pitching change. And others around the nation. But a big one, one that impacts millions of people and dollars?
It’s out there. No matter the safeguards, no matter the oversight, no matter the hope. Money finds a way. Our bet? Before the decade is out, a major championship is tainted by some sort of scheme. A scheme that won’t be discovered until well after the fact.
Book it.
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WSU: We linked Leach stories above and again here. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner delves into how the conference oversees gambling within its footprint in this Mercury News story. … A young Arizona State football assistant is ready to show what he has. … It’s Arizona’s turn in the recruiting spotlight. … An Oregon State basketball assistant moves on, citing how the Beavers are handicapped by their use of NIL. … Colorado’s Tad Boyle has connections to all of his U19 national basketball team staff. … Arizona’s roster changes included a key player from Europe. … In baseball, there will be a lot of turn over for Oregon State’s roster. … There is also, as always, a lot of discussion about pitch counts.
Gonzaga: Jerry Krause didn’t spend his entire basketball career at GU, but he did spend a visible stretch with the program after his years as Eastern Washington’s head coach ended. And Gonzaga felt it was important to honor his memory, which it did Wednesday night. Dave Boling was there, talked with just a few of the folks Krause touched before his recent death at age 87 and put together a touching column. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s fired its baseball coach.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana has revamped the donation costs for seating at major sporting events.
Indians: The bullpen’s inability to hold a lead led to a 11-7 loss to visiting Eugene last night at Avista. And also led to a one-game deficit in the first-half title race. Dave Nichols has the coverage.
Golf: Joel Dahmen and his caddie Geno Bonnalie may be the game’s most interesting duo. … Yes, the Open is underway. But the PGA/LIV merger was the main topic until the first tee was stuck in the ground.
NBA: The question of if the Sonics will return seems as relevant as it ever has.
Mariners: The M’s chance of sweeping the Marlins was swept away by great pitching and a grand-slam-robbing 9th-inning catch. … We mentioned Larry Stone’s column above, and linked it. There is also a column in the Times today from Matt Calkins covering much the same ground. … Teoscar Hernandez may have turned his season around.
Seahawks: The Hawks let rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba go all out at the end of minicamp. How did he look?
Storm: Next up is Las Vegas, the WNBA’s ultimate measuring stick.
Kraken: The tickets for this year’s Winter Classic, in Seattle, are already on sale. … The Florida Panthers didn’t win the Stanley Cup. But they had a great run.
Sounders: This is one of the more interesting stories of the day and a good one to end on. Mainly because it brings up a lot of questions. The Sounders may not release two of their stars for international duty for a variety of reasons, including injury and the unsettled nature of the national team.
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• We couldn’t attend the Jerry Krause memorial last night, not because we didn’t want to but because we were doing something Krause encouraged us to do: teaching the game. We think he would say our priorities were in order. Until later …