A Grip on Sports: There seems to be a lot of questions these days, questions that need answers I guess

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There are a few questions that need to be answered. But there is no Wiki page or AI mastermind available for the ones bothering me this morning. An old-fashioned approach will have to be employed. Yep, it’s time to guess.

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• Guess what? Well, how about when the weather will turn nice? After all, did you know the Spokane Indians open their season Friday night? I did, though only as a back-of-my-mind thought every time I read a Spokane Chiefs story.

After all, the latter is a winter sport, even if they are smack dab in the middle of their opening Western Hockey League playoff series. The latter? Baseball is the summer game and this ain’t summer.

That truth hit me in the face, and every other part of my body, Wednesday afternoon as I tried to walk the dog down by the Spokane River. What once was a sun-filled stroll turned into a let’s-get-back-to-the-car-quickly-buddy type of jog.

It’s April, after all, and spring’s unsettled nature makes it tough to count on much in the way of warm days and dry evenings.

Thankfully, one of the improvements made to the Indians’ longtime home, Avista Stadium, is an improved drainage system. That should help make any April shower rain delays shorter.

• Hey, speaking of downpours, think any of our local college basketball teams will have a roster left come the end of the month?

There’s been a flood of players entering the transfer portal from WSU, Eastern, Idaho and even Gonzaga, though the Bulldogs’ news thus far has been more of a sprinkle than a gully-washer.

Ever wonder how a player can enter the portal one day and announce his new school before the sun sets on the next? There’s an easy answer.

There are no rules, really. Most players already have received offers long before they enter the portal. How long?

Back in November, while chatting with a source well-connected to a former local high school player, it shocked me a little to hear another team, playing in the same tournament, had reached out with an unofficial NIL offer for next season. In the hall of the team hotel.

That had to be an aberration, right? Turns out it is the norm. No one wants to be the school that made the 17th offer. It might be too late.

• Is it too late to put the everyone-is-a-free-agent genie back in the bottle?

Unless the NCAA and every institute of higher athletic learning is willing to acknowledge the inevitable – their players are now employees and need to be treated as such – probably not. Congress has way more important things to deal with. The courts have sided with the players-can-go-anywhere-and-earn-unlimited-amounts crowd. Heck, even next week’s expected House settlement, which schools hope will add some clarity, has big enough loopholes – outside NIL will not disappear – to drive a cattle car of new players through for every sport.

This year’s Final Four features power teams that have figured out the best how to deal with this year’s system.

Next year? Who knows? The system will be different. That’s been the norm recently. Maybe Michigan State, Indiana, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State will be the schools that deal with the one-year reality the best.

• Eight games into the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers have yet to lose. How fun. At least for Dodger fans, a subset of baseball aficionados I once populated. For everyone else?

OK, it’s early. Things can change. But some of us can still remember the 1984 Detroit Tigers. A team that started 35-5. It seemed inevitable even before then the Tigers would win the World Series. They did.

But a certain generation counters with the 2001 Mariners, right? After all, 116 regular-season wins didn’t even translate into a World Series berth.

Good argument. Though anyone with a modicum of honesty knew the M’s that year lacked dominant starting pitching – in an era when that held more importance. And it bit them in the playoffs.

The Dodgers? They have that. And a bullpen. And a lineup of stars from 1-to-9. And guys that can make defensive plays. And a minor league system with trade bait. And a budget that can fill any hole.

There’s no question they are baseball’s best. They are also the defending champions. Another October celebration just seems inevitable.

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WSU: Another inevitability? The transfer portal. Heck ya we have folks-are-leaving-WSU-news. At least Greg Woods does, starting with basketball wing LeJuan Watts, who entered the portal yesterday. … Football’s entrant? Running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker’s name is also in the database. Greg has that story as well. … But Greg has a non-portal story to pass along. Ethan Price, who has no basketball eligibility remaining (unless the NCAA makes another rule change), will play in the NABC’s all-star game on Friday in San Antonio. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we linked this Jon Wilner column about the Pac-12’s football schedule yesterday when it was in the Mercury News. It is on the S-R site today. … John Canzano has an expansion column today too. … Oregon State lost another player to the portal. … So did Oregon, though not a starter. … Arizona State’s star freshman didn’t play in the school’s Crown Basketball Classic loss and now he may never play for the Sun Devils again. He suffered a torn ACL and may enter the portal. … Boise State’s CBC salary push continued on with a win over Butler. Mt. Spokane High grad Tyson Degenhart led the way and scored his 2,000th career point. … Colorado will have to rely on a new foundation next season. … A Utah player may have changed his mind about leaving. … Another Arizona player, this time a reserve, has entered the portal. … San Diego State dipped into the database and found a point guard. … Around the women’s game, don’t ever discount how an outstanding radio voice can help a program grow. Ask UCLA. … In football news, Colorado has to rebuild its linebacker corps. … Same with Arizona State. … Utah lost a quarterback to the portal. He decided to come back. The Utes welcomed him. … Arizona’s defensive backs are learning the same lessons with a different emphasis. … USC’s offensive line needs all the positive energy it can muster.

Gonzaga: Dusty Stromer didn’t let any dust land on his portal entry, picking Grand Canyon two days after entering the magic transfer doorway. Theo Lawson has this story.

Idaho: Mike Iupati will lead a star-studded group of five former coaches and athletes that will be inducted into the North Idaho Hall of Fame on April 12. That news leads off the S-R’s latest local briefs column. … Elsewhere the Big Sky, the comings and goings continue in the conference, with Montana football picking up a USC transfer and Montana State women’s basketball losing one of its better players to the portal.

Preps: Dave Nichols is back in town and has this roundup of Wednesday’s action.

Chiefs: Maybe Spokane will ask Dave to take another vacation. After all, he missed the first two games of the Chiefs’ playoff series and they won both. He, and they, were in the Arena last night and Vancouver picked up a 3-2 victory. The two teams play again tonight.

Indians: With Dave busy downtown, Garrett Cabeza covered Spokane’s annual Fan Fest in preparation for Friday’s opener. … That wasn’t the only Indians story in this morning’s newspaper. Howie Stalwick put together this list of “the 20 (or so) greatest major league achievements of former Spokane minor league players and managers.”

Velocity: Spokane fell 2-1 to the host Tacoma Defiance in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday. John Allison has that coverage and more in this notebook.

Mariners: We called it yesterday. The M’s did what they do, picking themselves off the floor after two losses to the Tigers and winning the series’ third game 3-2, beating the reigning A.L. Cy Young winner in the process. … It was an important win for the team after its slow start. …Some key arms are returning to the bullpen.

Seahawks: What’s up with the franchise’s at-some-point-it-will-happen sale?

Kraken: No NHL playoffs for Seattle. And, after Wednesday’s win over the Canucks, maybe no NHL playoffs for Vancouver either.

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• It always amazes me this time of year how the day can dawn without a cloud in view. And by the time I’m done working, the sun has disappeared. No, I don’t take it personally. Not every day. Until later …