A Grip on Sports: There are a few things to watch on TV this weekend but it’s always better to watch Hoopfest in person

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Most Fridays I have one goal with this column. Prepare you for the weekend of sports on TV. A good goal. A worthy one? That’s up to you. Think about it. But not right now. This Friday the main viewing event isn’t a made-for-TV one. It’s a made-for-wandering-around-the-streets-of-downtown-Spokane one. Hoopfest. Another one of those audience-participation experience in which the city shines.

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• Luckily, for us anyway, this weekend’s TV schedule is bereft of high-profile events. If soccer isn’t your thing, anyway.

Oh, sure, it’s late June. The last weekend of the month, actually. And baseball is in full swing. But that doesn’t mean the regional MLB franchise is. In full swing, I mean. Half swing is more like it. Pound the horsehide out of the ball for a few games, spend the next couple looking like an over-inebriated slowpitch team.

Consistency, thy name is not the M’s offense.

But it is Hoopfest’s middle one.

Since 1990 (other than the pandemic years, of course), the 3-on-3 tournament has taken over the downtown streets, starting with a slew of volunteers laying down court tape and putting up baskets on Friday night to another group spending late Sunday afternoon stripping it off.

In between thousands and thousands of basketball players of all ages (and abilities) use those courts to play world’s second-most popular sport.

And thousands and thousands more come downtown to watch.

It’s more than just a basketball tournament. It’s a happening. A celebration. A gathering of the most diverse group of participants on Spokane’s civic calendar.

If you can, spend some time soaking it in this weekend. The weather is expected to be mild – for late June – with Saturday’s high in the 70s and Sunday’s in the mid-80s. The perfect combination for the older players, who need the second-day heat to ensure their muscles can fire efficiently.

Either that, or some magic elixir a teammate brought back from his Peace Corps stint in equatorial Africa. But that’s a story for another time.

• It’s not as if Hoopfest doesn’t have a TV presence. You can still watch if you don’t want to venture downtown. SWX has coverage planned all day today – there is a FIBA professional event running on center court – as well as Saturday and Sunday. The FIBA event’s finals start at 3 p.m. Saturday. The coverage of Hoopfest’s Elite division finals tips off at 5 p.m., but the network has the games building up to those title games as well.

• The Mariners are in Texas and the first question is simple. Will the power be on? Not the electrical power, although there are always questions about that. No, the M’s power. Cal Raleigh? As reliable as Grand Coulee. The rest of the lineup? Every once in a while the transformers short out, as happened in the wet confines of Minneapolis on Thursday. If watching to see what will happen is on your agenda, tune in Root tonight (5:05), FS1 or Root on Saturday (1:05) and Root on Sunday (11:35 a.m.).

• Soccer’s Gold Cup, with the USMNT still involved, enters the knockout rounds this weekend. The U.S. men play Costa Rica in a quarterfinal Sunday (4 p.m., Fox). The Club World Cup rolls on as well, with Paris Saint-Germain facing Lionel Messi and the lone MLS team left, Miami, the same day (9 a.m., TNT). Locally, the Spokane Velocity is at Las Vegas in Saturday’s USL Cup play (7:30 p.m., ESPN+). That’s the same time the Sounders, winless in their three Club World Cup matches, return to MLS action on Apple+.

• OK, it’s that “another time.” Time for our Hoopfest story. From the early days. Well, the early days of this century. The late call. After a practice injury, a friend’s team needed a fourth. Help me Obi-Wan. You are our last hope. Like the Jedi master, I answered the call – as long as it was in a small supporting role.

That was the plan. Until the first game, a loss, and player No. 3 went down like Tyrese Haliburton. Torn Achilles. The remaining two players were great. Me? I set screens and played a one-man zone. Still, by game three or so, my legs were shot. So was my shot but that’s not because of fatigue. Anyhow, I noticed the former Notre Dame football player on the squad, a Peace Corps veteran, has a little vial of some liquid he rubbed on his body before games.

What’s that? A tree bark extract from old friends in Africa. Want to try it? Sure. What could go wrong? He rubbed a little into my barking calves. Wow. They were rejuvenated. I could move, slightly, again. We won. And won again and again. One last game for the title. The magic elixir still worked. I was a madman. Flew around. Dominated a one- or two-foot square of the key. And we … lost.

Of course. I didn’t get out of bed for a week.

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WSU: If you are wondering why I didn’t write about the Pac-12 extending its coveted eighth football-playing invitation to Texas State, will answer with a question for you. Are you surprised? Didn’t you know for the past 10 days or so this was going to happen? It’s news, sure, but not breaking. The invite leaked a long time ago and it’s still not been formally announced. It will be. And it will be accepted. By July 1. And then was can start speculating if the conference is finished adding football members or if it will ask Saint Mary’s to move in as well. Jon Wilner covers the news in the Mercury News. … We can pass along other thoughts on the move as well. … We linked this story on draft winners and losers yesterday when it was on The Athletic’s site. It is on the S-R’s today. It includes Cedric Coward. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Wilner also has a few thoughts on the Utah vs. BYU rivalry and how the new world order will impact it. … Christian Caple takes a look at Washington’s NIL collective. … Arizona State’s athletic director Graham Rossini has been in place for a year. He talked about his tenure with the Phoenix-area media yesterday. … ESPN is headed to Boise and not just for BSU football. … San Diego State and Colorado State are pretty happy with their football recruiting. … Same for Utah State. … In basketball news, Colorado has always mined Southern California for talent. That tradition continues with Isaiah Johnson. … Stanford’s Maxine Raynaud was picked on the NBA draft’s second day. … Arizona’s Caleb Love went undrafted. And saw a teammate become a lottery pick.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs’ streak of having players drafted ended at four. The one player who seemed to have a decent shot, Ryan Nembhard, went unchosen. Theo Lawson has that news and more, covering what happened after the draft ended for Nembhard and Ben Gregg and others.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Sacramento State’s quest to move to the FBS has been met by roadblocks. Now those obstacles have caught the attention of the national media, in the form of two stories on The Athletic site. … How improved will the Hornets’ football team be? … The conference’s expansion is still resonating among its members. … Montana State athletic director Leon Costello will be joining a key NCAA committee. … The Bobcats’ football recruiting hasn’t stopped. Never does.

Indians: Three straight? Yep, Spokane has won all three games this week in Hillsboro. The latest? A 12-2 shellacking of the Hops on Thursday night. That makes it 5-1 in the second half, best in the Northwest League.

Mariners: We sort of mentioned above the latest loss, 10-1 to the Twins. … Mitch Garver was knocked from Thursday’s loss by a foul ball off his catcher’s mask. Raleigh had to replace him. Harry Ford has been summoned to Texas just in case Garver has to go on the injured list. … Cole Young is getting acclimated to the big leagues. … Raleigh’s accomplishments this season seem neither weird or wild to me. But I also understand how it could to those who haven’t paid complete attention until this season.

Sonics: We linked Jerry Brewer’s Cooper Flagg column in the Washington Post. Now it is available in the S-R.

Seahawks: There are also a couple of Times’ stories we linked earlier as well that are on the S-R site. One is about the roster, the other Matt Calkins’ column about Russell Wilson and his mega-contract demands.

Kraken: Seattle has the eighth pick in the NHL draft tonight. Who will it select?

Sounders: Jordan Morris has been struggling with injuries. He has missed a lot of matches. Missed training. Missed contributing. It bothers him.

Storm: Skylar Diggins has been a great addition to Seattle’s roster. In fact, she is playing as well as any point guard in the WNBA.

UFC: Shadle Park High graduate and UFC lightweight Terrance McKinney is back in the cage this weekend. Charlotte McKinley previews his bout against Russia’s Viacheslav Borshchev.  

Track and field: Chase Jackson is a two-time world champion in the shot put. But that doesn’t mean she has experienced unending success. Ups and downs are part of the sport and she’s not alone in dealing with the down part. John Blanchette has her story as part of his preview of this Saturday’s 10th Iron Wood Classic at the club’s North Idaho facility. … Faith Kipyegon’s quest to become the first women to run a sub-4-minute mile ended about seven seconds longer than her goal.

Hoopfest: The Elite championships will feature a lot of returning winners, from old teams to individuals on new teams. Justin Reed delves into the matchups in this preview. … The nuts and bolts about the event itself? Bonny Matejowsky has that covered with this story.

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• I have a list of errands and chores about Nile River length today. So many, I’ve had to make a note instead on relying on my Swiss cheese memory. Funny thing though. What if something I have to get down today slipped my mind before I began the list? What then? Until later …