A Grip on Sports: The Big Game is here, with one team hoping to fly to victory and the other America’s favorite villain, 2025 verson

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Today is Super, isn’t it? Going to eat a Bowl of popcorn at 3:30 this afternoon to get it kicked off. As long as some Fox doesn’t gnaw through your cable box. It’s The day of National interest in Football, no matter what League your favorite team participates in. A Championship day.

•••••••

• In a world in which there wasn’t a First Amendment, I might have to use such subterfuge to avoid a term I really hate: The Big Game. It’s all the rage this time of year in advertisements and whatnot.

Then again, if that were the case, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be allowed to share such stupid dad jokes on something as ubiquitous as the Interweb. Heck, I would probably be working for the Ministry of Information, covering the latest happenings on the soccer pitch.

Thank goodness none of that is true. Well, the Super Bowl’s kickoff time is at 3:30 on Fox. And it is the NFL’s championship. It is also the chance for Kansas City to do something no franchise has done, win three of these darn NFL/AFL Championship Games.

Of course, if the two leagues had merged earlier, say 1961, Green Bay would have. And five in six years. But that’s OK. That’s more than five minutes ago. No one cares anymore. As long as you don’t use a trademarked term.

• Will the Chiefs win? Other than the Tush Push, I’m not sure Philadelphia does much of anything better than KC. The game being played indoors also limits, a little, the chances for an extraordinary number of turnovers in which luck could play a major role. There is also the long history of the NFL favoring one team over the other, so that the league’s TV rating stay as high as possible.

That last one isn’t true, but being a species that is enamored by conspiracy theories, and lost bets, it is hard to convince anyone otherwise. Heck, I’m pretty sure the league wanted Jerome Bettis, one of the country’s favorite players, to go out with a championship and that’s why every call went the Eagles’ way in Super Bowl XL in 2006. And why it took the Hawks another eight years to win their first.

The Eagles are out for their second today, trying to add one to the 2018 title America loved. Why? It denied Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots another ring. And that sentiment should be in play today, what with the Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the Swifties on the other side.

• So who do you think will win? Ya, me too.

•••

WSU: The Cougars played two exciting basketball games Saturday. Won one, at home. Lost one, at Gonzaga. Let’s start there, because I was in the Kennel. The game was important in the West Coast Conference standings, sure, but it seemed a good time to also explore its importance as a harbinger of the future. That’s what I did in this column. … Greg Lee had to put up with me talking to him throughout the action, of which there was little early on. He powered through my interruptions and has this game story. … OK, to the men. Greg Woods was in Beasley, where it looked for all the world, and most of the contest, the Cougars would go down to their sixth consecutive loss. Instead, they rallied behind LeJuan Watts’ offense and Ethan Price’s game-clinching blocked shot to win 87-86. As an aside, the women played in front of a larger crowd (6,000) than the men (3,957). Don’t know if it means anything but it probably hasn’t happened all that much over the years. … There is a football story. A Super (Bowl) one at that. It’s from Greg and it covers the dynamic duo of former WSU defensive backs – Jaden Hicks and Jaylen Watson – that help make the Chiefs’ secondary thrive. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner examines in the Mercury News how another expansion of the NFL schedule could really hurt the CFP in many ways. … In basketball news, Washington had a 14-point lead at home to another Big Ten also-ran, Northwestern. The Wildcats were without their head coach, Chris Collins, ejected with two first-half technicals. And yet, with only a few minutes left, the Huskies found themselves down by four. Another loss in the offing? Nope. They rallied and won, 76-71, for their third conference victory in a dozen tries. … Saint Mary’s bullied its way past Oregon State in Corvallis. It is what the Gaels can do. … Arizona avenged its only Big 12 loss by overcoming Texas Tech in Tucson. … Oregon came from ahead to lose again, this time allowing Michigan State’s Tom Izzo to tie the all-time Big Ten wins record. … San Diego State went cold in the second half and host Colorado State was able to pull away and win. … The Oregon State women have become great at winning. And winning close games. … There certainly has been a lot of great games among the Big Ten women. Seventh-ranked USC won another one yesterday against No. 8 Ohio State. … Finally, one year in high school we practiced baseball on our football field. It was awful. But we did not play games there. But Stanford’s softball team is as its stadium is rebuilt. Shades of the L.A. Dodgers after they moved from Brooklyn back in the day.

Gonzaga: Yes, the Zag men are still in third place in the WCC standings, trailing Saint Mary’s (11-1) and USF (10-3). But the 9-3 Bulldogs are starting to click, especially on the defensive end. For the sixth consecutive time, GU held its opponent – this time the Pacific Tigers – to under 65 points and won 78-61 Saturday. Jim Meehan has the game story and teamed with the folks in the office for the recap with highlights. … Theo Lawson focused on Ryan Nembhard, who shattered his single-season assist record, with eight more in this box score. Theo also talked with the father of Nembhard’s biggest fan, Stockton, Calif. division. And he put together the buzzer beater notebook. … Tyler Tjomsland took to the floor and filled up his camera’s memory card with this photo gallery. … Elsewhere in the WCC, we just found this story on the Portland women and a local high school star, Maisie Burnham.

EWU: In a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball race filled in the middle with teams that seemed destined for inconsistency, the Eagles look ready to rise above the crowd. Powered by Tyler Powell’s career-high 17 points, Dan Monson’s team won for the third consecutive time, topping Portland State 72-67 in Cheney. Dan Thompson was there and has this game story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, as we shared yesterday, former Montana head football coach Bob Stitt has returned to Colorado School of Mines. Why? He has a reason. … In basketball news, the Montana men may be the hottest team in the conference. They topped Northern Arizona on the road. … Northern Colorado held off Montana State in Greeley. … On the women’s side, Montana State has won 15 consecutive games after defeating visiting Northern Colorado. … Montana could not get it done against Northern Arizona in Missoula. … In the Interstate 15 rivalry games, the Idaho State men over Weber State and the Wildcat women won. Both were on the road. 

Idaho: The Vandal men’s game at home against Sacramento State came down to the final few seconds. UI made the plays it needed and found a way to win 78-76 over the Hornets. Peter Harriman has the coverage.

Whitworth: The Pirate men won for the seventh consecutive time, topping host Willamette, 81-63 after trailing at halftime.

Preps: It’s time for the postseason in winter sports. The playoffs have already started. Wrestling took centerstage Saturday, with Madison McCord sharing a story and a photo gallery on the District 6 3A tournament from Hermiston, Ore. … Dave Nichols shares the schedule for the upcoming District 6 4A and 3A basketball. … Dave also found the time to put together a roundup of basketball action. … Greg Lee returns with a story on former Coeur d’Alene High star Colson Yankoff, who, after a bit of a vagabond college career, has made his way to the NFL. And helped Washington exceed expectations this season.

Chiefs: Dave headed over to the Arena last night and watched Spokane fall behind to the Victoria Royals. He also saw the Chiefs rally, send the game to overtime and, ultimately, lose 5-4 on a power play following an iffy penalty.

Seahawks: No, the Hawks aren’t playing today. And it may take another Super Bowl performance to wipe out the memory of their last one. Yes, it’s been a decade, but as Dave Boling shares this morning, the nightmare loss in Arizona still haunts Seahawk fans. But not as much as it does the franchise and those involved with the ugly ending. … John Canzano has a Super Bowl column today that starts with memories of a long-ago trip to China. Seems about right.

Kraken: Seattle rallied from a two-goal deficit to overcome Calgary.

Mariners: For the M’s to be successful, the outfield, rebuilt late last season, has to shine in a T-Mobile Park that skews results more than we may have thought. 

•••       

• For some reason I was exhausted last night. But couldn’t sleep. Didn’t really start snoring – yes, I snore, loudly – until after midnight. You know what that means, right? I slept too late. At least an hour later than I usually do. That’s why this column includes fewer thoughts than normal. We were able, however, to gather our usual number of story links. Until later …