A Grip on Sports: It’s Sunday, a day for a kid to dream of World Series wins and undefeated football seasons and of distant chores

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Could this be it? The final Sunday morning of 2025 in which we do not begin our day dissecting the Cougar football game and/or looking forward to how the Seahawks will do? Possibly. But that outcome would be determined by more variables than you might think.

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• Hypotheticals are fun, right? Let’s try this one: 

It is two months from now. The second day of November. Halloween is over, it’s time to celebrate the saints. Or, at least, teams playing heavenly.

The Seahawks, behind the punishing force of their offensive line, are streamrolling the NFL. Seven games, seven wins. Coming off a bye, the Hawks are in the nation’s capital for a Sunday-night matchup with the only other undefeated team in the league, the Commanders.

The Cougars are also on a roll. An Apple Cup win in Pullman is followed three weeks later with an upset of then-No. 5 Ole Miss in Oxford. Unbeaten and ranked in the top 10 for the first time since Mike Leach was teaming up with Gardner Minshew, the Cougs go into Corvallis and struggle with fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State. They survive, but only because of Zevi Eckhaus’ saint-like last-second 22-yard touchdown scramble through the entire Beaver defense.

Pretty big stuff. One would have to be the Sunday morning focus, right?

But what if those events correspond with one more?

At 8:21 p.m. PST the night before, Cal Raleigh had crushed a Shohei Ohtani fastball into Dodger Stadium’s right-field seats with two outs in the top of the ninth. Raleigh’s three-run blast gave the Mariners a 6-5 lead in Game Seven of their first World Series appearance. Usually a starter, George Kirby emerges from the bullpen in the bottom of the inning and, with the base loaded and two outs, strikes out Ohtani, sparking a Northwest celebration unlike any other.

Yes, in that dream – literally, as such things have popped up in our mind many times over the past 40 years – scenario, there is only one event worthy of the column’s first paragraphs. And, no, it is not Eastern Washington’s upset of undefeated Sacramento State – though if that happens we will be tempted.

Other than those dreamy outcomes, yeah, the next few Sundays will be filled with Cougar post-mortems and Seahawk previews.

• Though there will be a large gap. The largest gap, actually, in the lengthy history of A Grip On Sports. Consider this your first heads-up.

We’re leaving the United States. Not permanently, but heading overseas for the first time in our life. And will not be taking our computer. At least for work.

Yes, the guy who has rarely taken a day off in the past 13 years, who wrote columns the day after a couple different surgeries, who found ways to post in every time zone starting with E to P, will be gone from this site for most of September.

Instead of pounding on a keyboard, hoping not to fail in my daily quest of entertaining you, we will be pounding up and down the steps of some ancient city, hoping not to trip and fall.

But don’t get too comfortable not having to deal with our blathering every morning. We promise to return. In time to comment on the Seahawks’ game with the Buccaneers, the Cougars trip to Oxford and the Mariners’ missing the postseason by one measly game.

Well, we may be a little late on that last one.

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WSU: The dreams of an undefeated season is alive and well for many college football teams, the Cougars included. To get there, they will have to build a foundation of bricks, not, say Legos. Why would we type that? Read Greg Woods’ story today on Raam Stevenson and you will understand. … Scott Hanson has another Cougar-based story in today’s Seattle Times, this one on a starting cornerback. … The Athletic sees WSU finishing with five wins. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, not everyone has the undefeated dream alive, though. In those schools connected in some way with the Pac-12, the two that played in Week Zero both saw them end. The worst loss – not by score but by disappointment – happened in Hawaii, where a late field goal (and some awful clock management by the visitors) lifted the Warriors over Stanford 23-20. … The blowout came in the Midwest, as Kansas and quarterback Jalen Daniels ran all over Fresno State, ruining the Bulldogs’ first game under coach Matt Entz. … John Canzano has his thoughts on his website about the games Saturday. … When play begins for all this week, finding where your favorite team is available for home viewing won’t be easy. Especially, as Jon Wilner tells us in the Mercury News, for Big 12 fans. … Money is at the root of all eventualities in college football these days. Evil and good. … Even off the field money matters. Oregon State is favored in its opener this week with California. … Trying to determine Oregon’s offensive depth chart is highlighted by one question: Who will start at quarterback? … There are a lot of questions swirling around Colorado’s football season, which starts with Georgia Tech. … Kyle Whittingham is back. But is Utah? … Is USC’s dedication to football success, school-wide, really what it once was? Some say yes. We’re not sure. … Hey, we remember Todd Marinovich. From high school. … There was a time when UCLA could put an exciting offense on the Rose Bowl turf. … Even though the Big 12 seems to be balanced once again, Arizona State may end up being the best of the lot. … Arizona has to do better this season for Brett Brennan to relieve some pressure. … Hey, former UA and Washington State quarterback Jayden de Laura led Las Vegas to the IFL title Saturday. He was the MVP. Wonder if he planted the Knight Hawks’ flag at midfield after? … For Utah State to make strides this season, the defensive line will have to play up to its capabilities. … Boise State opens its season against USF this week. The one in Florida. That plays football. … San Diego State starts Thursday against Stony Brook. 

EWU: We’ve been reading stories for years about the football career of Central Valley High grad Brandon Thomas, a career unlike just about any other one. Thomas has dealt with cancer, the loss of much of his right leg and all the pain and terror that goes with those events. And yet, he’s still playing football. Dave Boling checked in with Brandon and his family recently and that resulted in this column on what may be Brandon’s final season with the Eagles. … That’s not all we have to pass along in the FCS world either. Dan Thompson spent some time delving into the changes technology is bringing to college football, even in the Big Sky. His story is another interesting Sunday read. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, two conference schools played yesterday and one’s dream of an undefeated season is still alive. That would be UC Davis, who traveled across the country to put their No. 8 ranking on the line against 11th-ranked Mercer in Alabama. All for naught, actually. The game was interrupted by a torrential storm, one that wouldn’t quit and made those in charge of the contest cry uncle late in the evening. With about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. And Davis leading 23-17. It was declared a no contest, with all stats vacated. The no contest? We understand that. The stats not counting? Why the heck not? It’s not as if the players didn’t try as hard as they could or that the lack of a winner/loser makes a 7-yard run in the second quarter mean less. This needs to be fixed. … The other game? Portland State probably had no illusions facing 10th-ranked Tarleton State, even if the Vikings were at home. PSU was smoked – hey, old folks, see what we did there? – 42-0. … Idaho State had a chance to post a huge opening-game upset last night against UNLV. But the Rebels rallied for a 38-31 win in Dan Mullen’s Las Vegas debut. … Northern Colorado is ready to get its season rolling. … So is Weber State.

Indians: A two-game winning streak? Yep. Spokane held on for a 4-3 road win over Everett on Saturday. Dave Nichols has the coverage. … The Rockies have been eliminated from the postseason. What’s next for the franchise? Probably more of the same.

Zephyr: Spokane opened its season on the road against the Dallas Trinity. And led by a goal at halftime. The Trinity rallied, though, and earned a 2-1 victory.

Mariners: Yesterday, between trying to fix an out-of-service snow blower – don’t ask, it’s really stupid – and watching Little League on TV, we thought about spending time this last semi-free Sunday extolling Dylan Moore’s Seattle career. Then thought better of it and just free-versed our way through a fantasy. Partly because we’re pretty sure in about five years we’ll have forgotten Moore’s accomplishments. Well, maybe not the Gold Glove he won last season. But most everything else. We are actually surprised by the move the DFA him when activating Victor Robles. And then, after reading why it happened in this Ryan Divish story, understood it perfectly. And realized there was much more of a butterfly effect from Robles’ winged bat than we realized. … Oh, ya. The M’s couldn’t hit last night, Robles – playing as he appeals his suspension – in the lineup or not. They fell to the Athletics 2-1 in 10 innings. And fell three games back of the Astros again. … Hey, there are still a lot of prospects in the minor leagues. And Emerson Hancock is learning how to relieve, which is an intriguing prospect in itself.

Seahawks: Our worries about Jalen Milroe excelling in Green Bay on Saturday and planting the seeds of a quarterback argument later in the season were unfounded. The guy can’t even hold on to the ball. Just kidding. Sort of. But it didn’t help the rookie quarterback he was operating with a group of second stringers early on, going up against many of the Packers’ starters. Seattle lost 20-7 to finish the three exhibition games with a 1-1-1 record. Perfect. … There were way-too-many injury scares yesterday, including one to fan favorite Jake Bobo. Though it seems they were nothing more than scares. … There are still a lot of roster decisions to be made.

Storm: Seattle is not exactly flying into the postseason. More like lurching toward them like a 1956 Chevy with a bad clutch. Is that putting coach Noelle Quinn in the hot seat?

Reign: Seattle has a teenager who may just set an age-level scoring record this season.

Sounders: Danny Musoviski, one of Seattle’s top scoring threats, will not be available for the rest of the Leagues Cup matches. Too many yellow cards.

Tennis: The U.S. Open has begun. Expect a Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner men’s final. And world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win the women’s title. The former is a seeming lock. The latter? The women’s draw is so even at the top, Sabalenka has yet to win a Grand Slam title this year.

Golf: We’ll try to watch as much of today’s FedEx Championship tournament’s final round as we can. Though watching co-leader Patrick Cantlay stand over a ball is enough to make us switch to baseball, watch a couple pitches and then return, hoping he’s taken a swing. We wonder what it will be like for playing partner Tommy Fleetwood.  

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• Traveling outside the United States is nothing new to us. Heck, we’ve won money playing softball in Canada and lost money just walking around that Mexican metropolis of Tijuana. But passing over an ocean and actually having our passport stamped? That will be a new one. Until later …