A Grip on Sports: Winter weather encourages being a home body but there is a game today that will entice us to leave the house

A GRIP ON SPORTS • I’m sort of on a TV kick. It’s easy to understand. Why would anyone want to leave the house after dark when the weather is as cold as it is? And is forecasted to be. Besides, lots of good stuff on the box. And some good news too.

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• The good stuff is obvious. Sports. And an occasional TV show, though I fell into a trap this week I hate. Started a series on Hulu, “Paradise.” Heard of it? It’s by the guy who gave us “This Is Us,” the over-the-air, primetime soap opera that tugged at my heartstrings for a year or two – though it ran for a few more after that. Ya, I got bored. And tired of the flashbacks that flipped us through the family’s history like a hornet in a trap. But Dan Fogelman knows how to make a series.

His new one? Wait. Before you read on, the next sentence or two might contain spoilers, and not about who is going to win tomorrow’s game. OK, you’ve been warned. It’s an apocalyptic drama – all the rage these days – about a large number of people living in a self-contained community in the after days. Ya, it reminds me slightly of “Silo” on Apple or “Fallout” on Amazon.

Anyway, the point is, I’m more of a binge watcher these days. Wait until the series is done for the season, then watch them all. In one or two days. It’s a retirement perk. And a boon during winter.

For some reason I didn’t check the particulars when I hit the play button the other day. Didn’t realize the series is still being parceled out. Four episodes are available. The final four are not.

Dang it.

Same thing happened with “The Old Man” recently. And “The Agency.” I need to be a little more diligent before starting the next one. Even if it means being out of the know for a while. It’s a good excuse to avoid social media.

• In a related note, what’s with ending a two-season series on a cliffhanger, when a negative decision about the third year has already been made. OK, so the folks making “The Old Man” didn’t know when they filmed it, but it was announced before the finale aired. Maybe just cut off the final five minutes or something? Air a Bud Light commercial retrospective or something. Or make sure there’s a movie in the works that explains who the heck Lou Barlow is.

• Speaking of Bud Light commercials, there is nothing more rabbit-hole-defining than a Super Bowl commercial rabbit hole. Over the years I’ve spent countless hours watching them and even a couple times writing S-R columns about them.

I’m no expert – who is really? – but I know what I like. Which is why, when I found this story today, I had to stop and check out a few slated to run tomorrow.

And laughing. Or shrugging my shoulders, like that emoji we all use occasionally.

Super Bowl commercials have been a thing for a couple decades now. Maybe more. But this idea of leaking them early is a more modern thing. Does it build buzz or kill it? Not sure.

The cynic in me sees it as way for the guy who runs the ad agency to hang the creator out to dry. If the online presence is met with derision, they wash their hands of it before Super Sunday. If the critics love it, a two-arm embrace of the person who put it together.

• Back to the beginning before I call it a morning. Leaving the house this time of year. Yesterday was one of those mid-winter Spokane days the Chamber of Commerce should bottle and sell. Cold, sure. Snow everywhere. Clean, white snow that reflected the unending sunshine.

Not a cloud to be seen. A perfect, something-from-a-Norman-Rockwell-painting day. It was nice enough to grab our eldest son and head out to lunch.

Of course, it didn’t last. Snow fell overnight. Just enough to make the roads slick. Roads I’ll be using today to get to the basketball game I’ll be writing about, the Washington State women facing off with their Gonzaga counterparts.

A showdown between two of the West Coast Conference’s top three teams. It will be worth braving the Saturday slickness.

• OK, one last thought. It’s Feb. 8. An important day for the most-dedicated USC basketball fan I know. OK, so Kent is the only USC basketball fan I know. But that says more about my families’ history – two of my sisters attended UCLA and one actually graduated from there – than it does about Kent.

See, I wouldn’t care if Kent was a Hades U. – for those of you in the Spokane area, read UW or Saint Mary’s – basketball follower. He would still be my great friend. A near-lifelong one. With a great heart. And, decades ago, a decent jumper, even in hard-soled shoes.

It’s his birthday. I didn’t get a card off in time this year. This will have to do. It’s a small token of my appreciation of more than 50 years of friendship. The only non-family touchtone from those days still a companion, even with 1,200 miles between us.

And even though he roots for the Trojans, for goodness sakes.

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WSU: We mentioned the game today in the Kennel. Washington State coming up from Pullman to face the red-hot Zags. How big is the game? Check the Gonzaga section below. (That’s called a tease in the business.) For the game preview, we turn to Greg Lee, who covers all the collegiate women’s hoop in the region. He has a preview with thoughts from Cougar head coach Kamie Ethridge. … The Washington State regents hired a new president this week. I’m not versed enough in Elizabeth Cantwell’s bona fides to have a coherent opinion yet (ya, I heard that smart-aleck in the back and their snide comment about “when have you ever had a coherent opinion?”). But I’m pretty good at ferreting out them. Found one today from John Canzano. It’s well worth your time. Though John doesn’t delve into the recent issues with the Utah State football program. They occurred before Cantwell became president but she has been forced to deal with the fallout. … Jon Wilner’s weekly mailbag in the S-R deals with Pac-12 expansion among the multiple subjects. … The weekly recruiting notebook Wilner passes along in the Mercury News contains a lot of WSU mentions today. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, this news from Corvallis makes me a little sad. I’ll always think of Robb Akey as a Cougar, even though he hasn’t worked in Pullman in a couple decades – and was Idaho’s head coach for a while. Still, he’s back in the Northwest, which is great for him and his family. But working for a Pac-12 rival? That has to be tough on the old-line Cougar faithful. … Is there a future for the football series between Oregon State and Oregon these days? … The Title IX lawsuit against Oregon will go on. … There is a big unknown hanging over Division I college programs right now. It concerns years of eligibility. … Marshall Faulk may just be what Deion Sanders and Colorado needs next season. … Two USC defensive assistants have a shared history that dates back years. … Is Arizona State the team to beat in the Big 12 next season? … Arizona is trying to build for the future while becoming successful at the same time. … In basketball news, former UW star Nate Robinson has undergone a kidney transplant. … Here’s a present for my friend Kent. A story about USC basketball. … Bobby Hurley is under the microscope at Arizona State. … Arizona has a chance to avenge its lone Big 12 loss today at Texas Tech. … Boise State had to keep plugging away until it topped stubborn San Jose State. … San Diego State hopes February success will lead to more March magic. The Aztecs travel to Colorado State today with at least third place in the MWC on the line. … Utah State stayed in second with a tight road win over Fresno State. … The Washington women host Maryland in a game that means a lot for the Husky head caoch.

Gonzaga: OK, I teased this story. So I have to pass it along. The S-R’s Garrett Cabeza and photographer Dan Pelle visited the first-ever GU tent city for a women’s game. It started Wednesday, National Girls & Women in Sports Day, with the assignment of tent spots, which sprouted Friday. … The men are in California for the annual trip to Pacific. The Tigers have just three WCC wins, with two of them coming against Washington State. That has Mark Few’s attention, as Jim Meehan’s preview shows. … Jim also has the key matchup. … I am not sure how a fine system would work, especially one that dings a player $5,000 for a technical. Theo Lawson has a story about the new one Few says he has instituted.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, former Montana head football coach Bob Stitt has returned to Colorado School of Mines. … Northern Colorado stayed ultra-local for its latest recruit. … In basketball news, a former Weber State men’s player was killed in an auto accident this week. … Northern Arizona’s Thursday win over Montana State came down to the final 20 seconds.

Whitworth: The Pirate men (18-2 overall, 9-2 in conference play) held on for a 74-71 win at Lewis & Clark, keeping them two games clear of the main group of Northwest League teams in the standings. There are six schools bunched among Whitman’s 7-4 mark and the 5-6 record held by Puget Sound and Pacific.

Preps: The Central Valley girls did what was expected, winning the 4A/3A Greater Spokane League basketball title. The race came down to the final game, with the host Bears topping second-place Ridgeline 56-40 on Friday night. Dave Nichols was there and has this game coverage. … Dave also has a roundup of other games on the league’s final night.

Chiefs: Dave also had the duty of documenting Spokane’s 9-1 rout of Seattle in Kent. Berkly Catton had his first career four-goal game.

Seahawks: Yep, the Super Bowl is tomorrow. Sort of ready. You? Here’s a Travis Kelce story that doesn’t name Taylor Swift. Hard to believe, I know. But welcome. … Why the heck didn’t Mike Holmgren earn a Hall of Fame nod? Lots of his former colleagues would like to know.

Kraken: Seattle has a new backup goalie who is just living his dream. A dream that took a while to become reality.

Storm: Can Seattle compete without the superstars that led their last dynastic title run?

Mariners: I thought long and hard about spending my Saturday morning column space on the changes in the M’s broadcast booth. Some make me happy. Some sad. All came about due to Dave Sims heading back to his home, New York, to finish his career broadcasting Yankee games. That allows Aaron Goldsmith to move to TV full time and letting Rick Rizz handle more of the radio play-by-play load. The Times’ Adam Jude has this story that explains the changes. …There are still questions looming over the M’s as spring training gets ever closer. … The opening-day roster is pretty well set.

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• Talked with Ethridge on the phone yesterday. As I told her, it was nice to chat with someone coaching collegiate women who remember playing with the larger basketball. And before the NCAA became involved. Not as if that was a golden age or anything – it wasn’t – but talking with someone who shares the history of when women’s sports were actively disdained and the afterthought of afterthoughts among college administrators is rare. Until later …