A Grip on Sports: Another night of winners and losers – and more of the same ahead

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We’re to Wednesday already? Wow. The time flies thing is right. Though last night wasn’t all that fun. Unless you’re a high school sports fan in North Idaho.

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• Winning and losing is something sports aficionados are well versed in. Everything is a horse race – including horse races. Elections? Well, they do come down to who wins and who loses. In Tuesday’s case, the fans in the Lakeland and Coeur d’Alene school districts were part of the winning teams.

The levies that supply about a quarter of the districts’ budgets passed muster with the voters, after both districts saw them fail in March. If they hadn’t passed? No high school sports next year, at least as far as Coeur d’Alene was concerned. The district made that clear before re-running the levy and it probably wasn’t a scare tactic. If you lost 25% of your income overnight, do you think going to a WSU football game or a GU basketball game would be high on your agenda? More than likely you would save your dollars for, you know, food and rent and gas. The essentials.

Thankfully for the kids playing football at Lake City or hoops at Lakeland, more than 50% percent of the voters in the districts decided not to shave the budget – and the teams.

• If you are asking yourself this morning what the heck is going on with Luis Castillo, you probably have one other person in your camp. The Mariner righthander himself.

His last five starts haven’t been very good. Not up to Castillo standards at least. He gave up three home runs to the Red Sox last night in five innings, doubling his season total. And though Castillo wasn’t helped much by the M’s defense – Kolton Wong and Julio Rodriguez each failed to make plays that would have limited the Boston rally, with Wong’s error and Rodriguez’s poor tracking of a line drive – this is on him.

Seattle has a great starting rotation. There are explosive young arms. A crafty lefthanded veteran. And a horse. Right now, though, Castillo is pitching like an old plow horse, not the thoroughbred he is. It’s time to get back on track.

• You may have missed it, because it’s happened incrementally. But if you look at the picture of the area around the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena as the new football/soccer stadium takes shape, you’ll notice something. There is a sports complex feel to the north bank area.

You know, a mini-version of areas you find in metropolises. Maybe even in Metropolis, though the Superman comics didn’t really cover sports much, other than that time the Krypton fireballer no-hit the Yankees.

Anyhow, the Arena has become the centerpiece of a three-facility complex. Directly east is the Podium, the indoor facility that can host track and basketball and wrestling and the like. In the fall the new stadium will open, giving the city a place to highlight high school football and soccer and a home for any pro soccer team that wants to represent Spokane.

Another level of the women’s game is coming next year, with franchises spread throughout the nation, including Spokane.

We’re not going to gloss over the problems our community has, including issues with the central core, but moving forward with a complex that can revitalize and expand downtown offerings can’t be a bad thing. At least it shouldn’t be.

When King Cole and his supporters supplied the impetus to rebuild the riverbank by hosting a world’s fair some 50 years ago, Spokane changed. For the better. Another change occurred when the Arena replaced the Coliseum, albeit on a smaller scale. Adding the Podium and stadium within a few years of each other gives the city one more boost.

We may not be Metropolis, or even a metropolis, but as mid-sized American cities go, there are times we punch well above our weight class.

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WSU: There is a hierarchy in college athletics. Always has been. But the new era with easy transfers and NIL money has really extenuated it. Another example occurred Tuesday, when Idaho basketball star Beyonce Bea announced she’s going to finish her college career in the Palouse. Across the state line in Pullman, actually. Washington State plays in one of the top two or three best women’s conferences in the nation. Idaho plays in the Big Sky, a one-bid league. On the hierarchy scale, it’s a big move up. Colton Clark has more in this story. … Elsewhere around the Pac-12 and the nation, remember when NIL was just a bill in the California legislature? Before it became, according to many, an existential threat to college athletics? We do. And that’s why we’re not downplaying the subject of Jon Wilner’s Mercury News column. Another California law could change the landscape again. … Oregon State’s basketball roster is still in flux. … Of course, so is Colorado’s football roster. … Receiver to defensive end? Not a normal move. But it’s happened at Utah. … Believe it or not, there are still two-sport athletes in college, including UCLA. … Good news for Arizona. Pelle Larsson is coming back and Tommy Lloyd can still recruit Europe.

Gonzaga: You want to know who is really near the top of college basketball’s hierarchy? Ya, you know already. More proof came Tuesday when CBS’ Jon Rothstein shared the news defending national champion – and the school that ended GU’s 2022-23 season – and the Zags will meet in a couple neutral-site games the next two years. Theo Lawson has more in this story. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Portland’s baseball team hammered 10th-ranked Oregon State in a midweek game.

Preps: Idaho finished up its State golf tournaments yesterday with Bonner Ferry’s girls winning another title. That’s part of this roundup. … The rest of Tuesday’s action is contained within this one.

Indians: Though Spokane is in Everett, Dave Nichols has this story on their 10-3 loss.

USL: We mentioned this above, but Jim Allen has a story on the newest franchise that will play in the downtown stadium. Spokane will be in a league that includes teams from around the nation, including Tucson.

Mariners: We also mentioned the M’s 9-4 loss in Boston. It wasn’t a lot of fun to watch and was that way from the bottom of the first on, excluding Seattle’s four-run fourth inning. … Yes, the first quarter of the season has passed. Now what? … This is the best story we will pass along, baseball-wise, all day. The Athletic’s Jayson Stark looks at the rule changes and their impact after a quarter of the season.

Kraken: The season is over. How did Seattle do answering the preseason’s questions? And what’s next? There are a couple more steps for the Kraken to take in the early years of the franchise’s existence.

Seahawks: Seattle signed a Sea Dragon player to help fill the hole in the middle of the defensive line. … Zach Charbonnet is going to be fun to watch in the Hawks’ backfield.

Storm: There is a roster issue that has to be worked out soon.

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• Want to know a great exercise for people of our advanced years? Wrestling the green recycling bin from the backyard to the street in the spring. Two cuts of the grass last week left the thing overflowing and, well, way too heavy. But we got it through the wet grass, down the ramp to the driveway and up the driveway to the street. It took awhile. And left us sore this morning. Luckily, writing only takes two fingers to get done. Everything else is pretty much out of commission. Until later …