A Grip on Sports: Griping is enshrined in the Constitution, or at least in the sports fans’ version of it, but not all gripes are the same

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is one truth in sports. Everyone always has a gripe. Doesn’t matter who, what or where the conversation leads. There will always be gripes. It’s a matter of determining if they have merit. Most don’t.

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• The College Football Playoff field is fertilized with a season’s worth of manure and grows bushels and bushels of export-grade gripes. A couple years ago, undefeated Florida State had the bumper harvest. This year? Notre Dame.

Not just because the Irish were left out of the field. They should have been included instead of Alabama, but, in hindsight, that was a no-go from the moment the Tide stepped on the field in Atlanta on Saturday. Win or lose, just showing up earned them a spot. Even if their offense was even more inept than the one Ryan Grubb coordinated in Seattle last season.

What was worse, at least in the eyes of those in South Bend, was the selection committee’s feckless inclusion of the Irish throughout the process. For weeks it seemed as if the group was taken with their resume, one that never faltered. Only got better over time. A resume that was good enough to be included in week eight, nine and 10, but bad enough to exclude them eight days after their season ended.

Let’s be clear. The committee seems to do things backward. Every year. Figure out the outcome, then come up with reasons to justify their decisions. Alabama over Notre Dame is just 2025’s version. Merit for this gripe? Yes.

• The Irish decided not to play in a bowl game. Not to make a trip to Orlando during Christmas break. Not to watch as a Pop Tart is sacrificed to the college football gods.  

How dare they. Merit for the social-media gripes that Notre Dame is spitting on tradition? No.

• When the Irish and USC can’t come up with a way to keep their traditional rivalry series going? Is it OK to gripe about that? Yes. We will allow any and all.

• The flaw with the playoffs? The FCS figured it out years ago. Expand them enough the gripes flow about team 25 and 26, not team 13 or 14.

There are 129 Football Championship Subdivision schools. They battle for 24 playoff spots. Sixteen teams play the first round. On campus. The eight winners face the top eight seeds on the higher seed’s campus. The playoffs continue on campus until the finals.

The stakes are lower, sure, but so is the number of gripes.

The FBS has 136 schools. And 12 playoff teams. If the FCS has 24 participants, why not 24 of the more-invested schools? Sure, North Texas’ fans would have been upset when their beloved Mean Green was excluded for James Madison yesterday, but those gripes would have resonated through the Dallas area for about 17 minutes and dissipated into the Texas wind.

Everyone would be fixated on the Longhorns’ first-round game against Tulane. Or Houston’s trip to BYU.

Of course to expand, the conference title games would have to disappear. And the 24 schools might not actually reflect yesterday’s committee rankings, as every conference champion would have to be included. Another positive? The bowls may disappear, unless the top six would be able to entice the CFP into letting them continue to host the quarterfinals and semis. And some others could stick around to host mid-week holiday contests among the some 50 schools who didn’t make the playoff field.

Griping about this idea? Not allowed. Hey, it’s my column. I make the rules.

• Reason No. 1,730 for never gambling? Gonzaga’s margin of victory over North Florida last night.

The Zags came into the game as, according to everything I could find, a 47.5-point favorite over visiting North Florida. That seems like a lot.

But get this. Say you had someone you were related to on the Gonzaga campus. A son. Daughter. Third cousin, once removed. And they told you Sunday morning at Mass they heard the Zags’ leading scorer, Graham Ike, was going to sit out. Resting a bum ankle. Would it be far-fetched to think such inside info might be worth a point or 10? Might as well log on to your offshore gambling account and wager a quid or two on the Osprey covering.

My guess is when the Zags’ lead hit 50 late in the second half Sunday, you had a gripe or two. Merit? Nope. No gambling losses – Mark Few’s 750th career win came with a 109-58 final score – ever come with gripes that have merit.

• Wait, how about if you were sitting on the Ravens plus 4.5 Sunday. And there were two key calls overturned by replay, both of which seemed iffy at best?

Aaron Rodgers never had possession of the pass. And the Ravens’ Isaiah Lively certainly looked to take three steps with the ball in his hands.

Both replay reviews went the other way. The Steelers won 27-22. And you would have lost. Too bad. Meritless gripes.

After all, your third cousin, once removed, who attends Gonzaga? She had the Steelers. And has no gripes whatsoever.

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WSU: Who will be the Cougars’ next football coach? Dave Boling has some thoughts on former quarterback Luke Falk throwing his helmet in the ring. And John Canzano delved into that a little more on Sunday. And Greg Woods sat through a briefing from interim athletic director Jon Haarlow after the men’s basketball game, a briefing he covered in this story. It would be quite ironic if the interim AD picked the interim head coach – Jesse Bobbit – to serve as the school’s 36th head football coach. … Bobbit will coach Washington State in its bowl game. The Cougars will travel to Boise to face future Pac-12 opponent Utah State in the Famous Potato Bowl two weeks from today. … Greg also covered the basketball game, as David Riley’s Cougs hosted Steve Alford’s Nevada Wolf Pack. The visitors won 78-64. … Colton Clark has his weekly NFL locals column, once again starting off with Cam Ward and his best day of the season. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner not only has his final conference football rankings (Boise State finishes atop his list, something that we had wrong earlier) in the S-R today but he also hands out a few awards. … He also has his CFP winners and losers in the Mercury News. … Canzano also has his thoughts. … Speaking of the CFP drama, there is more than enough – yes, I’m griping – coverage of the decisions. There are thoughts on the committee’s work. Thoughts on Notre Dame being left out. Thoughts on Miami, BYU, the Group of 5, the byes, whatever. The playoffs’ future? Sure. Frustration? You bet. Everything you could want. And more. … Oregon is the fifth seed. The Ducks will host James Madison, a school WSU came within a hair of upsetting in Virginia. If UO wins, it will have to travel to Florida to face fourth-seed Texas Tech in the quarterfinals. … The AP poll was also released Sunday. The voters punished conference title game losers a lot more than the CFP committee did. … Now to the bowl games. Washington will be playing in the L.A. Bowl, facing Boise State on Saturday at SoFi Stadium. … Colorado made a great hire for its new offensive coordinator. … Utah will face Nebraska in Las Vegas. It may be Kyle Whittingham’s final game as the Utes’ coach. … What’s the story behind UCLA picking James Madison’s Bob Chesney as its new coach? … Arizona State meets Duke in the Sun Bowl, though quarterback Sam Leavitt seems to have cut ties with the team. … Arizona is headed to the Holiday Bowl, where it will face SMU. … USC will travel to Texas to face TCU in the Alamo Bowl. … Fresno State will face defending champion Miami (Ohio) in Snoop Dogg’s Arizona Bowl. … San Diego State has lost its defensive coordinator to Nebraska. That won’t help when facing North Texas in the New Mexico Bowl. … A standout Oregon State receiver hints at returning. 

• In basketball news, the Washington women, ranked 21st, came close but ultimately fell at No. 16 USC in both schools’ Big Ten opener. … Undefeated and fourth-ranked UCLA routed previously undefeated Oregon at Pauley Pavilion. … Oregon State struggled a bit but pulled away late against Division II Alaska Anchorage. … Colorado shut down Wyoming to earn another win. … Arizona lost its second consecutive game. … The Colorado men have hit a lull in their schedule. … Arizona State is set to host Northern Arizona. … Utah State bounced back from its first loss with a win Sunday.

Gonzaga: The 11th-ranked Zags – anyone else think that is a bit low and will jump some when the new poll is released today? – started a bit slowly but a 20-0 run put an end to any drama. Theo Lawson has the game analysis from the Kennel, along with a story about Ike’s rest day and how long he may be out. Spoiler alert: He will play Saturday against UCLA. … Jim Meehan was also at McCarthey and has a story on the Zags’ outside shooting as well as three takeaways. … Jesse Tinsley has the photo report. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the Saint Mary’s and USF men both won.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State has had its scare. And its viral moment. … Montana is headed to the quarterfinals as well. … As is UC Davis after topping visiting Rhode Island. … In basketball news, the Weber State men had no answers for St. Thomas. … A Utah Tech player was caught on video throwing a punch against Santa Clara. … Montana State blew a 20-point lead in a loss to Oral Roberts.

Chiefs: Spokane traveled to Seattle yesterday and rode an improved power play to a 4-1 win over the host Thunderbirds. Dave Nichols has this coverage of Seattle’s fifth consecutive loss.

Seahawks: The first half? Hopefully, that was the floor. The second? The ceiling? Maybe. To both. Dave Boling examines the bad and good coming from the Hawks’ 37-9 blowout of the host Falcons. … We can also pass along the game story from the Times’ Bob Condotta in the S-R. … There are always grades. And takeaways. … The defense was really good again. No touchdowns. It was almost as if they knew what was coming. … Jarran Reed was back as well. That helps. … They are third favorite to win the Super Bowl – behind the Rams and Patriots – in this playoff predictor. … Sam Darnold will have to cut down on his turnovers. … The big play? A 100-yard kickoff return to start the second half, one that Macdonald had an inkling was coming. … Could the Hawks have the best rookie defender in the NFL?

Kraken: Somehow I forgot to link the Times’ story from Seattle’s loss Saturday night to Detroit. Sorry.

Mariners: The second-chance committee elected one player to the Hall of Fame on Sunday. Well-traveled second baseman Jeff Kent. No Dale Murphy. No Don Mattingly. No Fernando. And no steroid dudes. … Trading Harry Ford made sense to the Mariners.

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• This time of year I am always griping about one thing or another. Today? How dark it was. Almost missed a step at 5:15 as I headed down to get a cup of caffeine. I miss June. Or spending December in Australia. Not sure which. Until later …