A Grip on Sports: It may not seem all that important, but covering prep sports is one of the many things newspapers do that stand the test of time

A GRIP ON SPORTS • At one-point late Friday afternoon, there were three high school basketball games on screens in our house. State semifinal games for 4A, 3A and 2B. And why not? Each had local interest.

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• Years ago – right after the turn of the century – it was my job to keep up with Spokane’s prep sports scene intimately. I oversaw the S-R’s coverage. And often kept the main events for myself.

Back then, the newspaper had a much larger prep staff. Three full-time folks in Spokane, one in North Idaho and a handful of well-seasoned part-timers on call. A big part of my job was to supervise the staff and to make sure the right people were at the right events. And to make sure everything that appeared in the paper (and online) was right as well. OK, that last one wasn’t always possible but, hey, we all tried.

Sometimes it wasn’t easy.

It’s why it is easy to sympathize with the S-R’s Dave Nichols this morning.

While our NFHS feed showed us Gonzaga Prep’s win over Glacier Peak in 4A boys action at the same time as Central Valley’s streak-ending win over Garfield in 3A girls, poor Dave – at the Tacoma Dome trying to cover both events – had no such option. He had to sit somewhere, I’m sure, where he could peek around the curtain and catch pieces of both.

And then try to interview the important combatants after.

It’s why, back then, when the Spokane area had favorites in, say, boys and girls play, two staffers were assigned to the event.

It would have been hard enough to cover the Prep boys’ win, get all the crucial postgame work done – nothing puts readers in the moment better than the comments of 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds – and then write. While watching the next game, which just so happened to be the Mt. Spokane boys’ loss to Edmonds-Woodway in the 3A semis.

The other pressure-filled aspect of covering such events? The historical. Oh, sure, one can say nothing happening on high school basketball courts around the nation rivals, say, what’s going on in the other Washington. And one would be right. Except, it always drove me – and pretty much everyone who ever covered prep sports – was the fact what you were furiously typing on paper – when I began – or on a computer was going to live in those participants’ minds forever. And other places.

Walk into your local high school gym. Oftentimes you’ll see a framed copy of the championship newspaper from back in the day – no matter how long ago “back in the day” is. And back when prep sports were my assignment, I was told more than once from people I trusted, the story from the key contest in their playoff run made an appearance at their 20- or 50-year reunion.

Washington Post publisher Phil Graham once called newspapers “the first rough draft of history.” Other than the redundancy – rough or first by themselves would have sufficed – he was right. And in the case of high school sports, often the only draft of history. The only draft that matters anyway.

That thought was going through my mind one Saturday night at the Spokane Arena more than a decade ago. The St. George’s boys, trying for a second consecutive title 2B title, were facing Morton-White Pass. The game came down to the final shot. It failed. Hopefully, the story I wrote about it didn’t do the same.

It’s a hope – and prayer – ever prep writer mumbles under their breath while covering what is usually a seminal moment in the lives of the young athletes.

Honesty is key. So is compassion. A 16-year-old missing a key shot – or, sometimes more importantly, making it – can be life-changing. It’s something of which I was always cognizant. And always respected. There is no other way.

Every reporter I ever worked with feels the same. It’s an honor, actually. Even these days, when more and more is heaped on the reporter’s shoulders and fewer and fewer folks actually keep a paper copy.

Sure, the finished work may only end up as a screenshot or a link in the cloud, but it doesn’t make it any less important. Or make it any less likely some 67-year-old will pull out his phone at the class reunion and read a sentence or two from the story to his old teammates.

Finally, after all these years, I can say I’ve seen it. And am glad I respected the possibility. Back in the day.

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WSU: The Cougars found out their first-ever West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament opponent late last night. It will be the Loyola Marymount Lions. The tip is at 8:30 tonight in Las Vegas. Greg Woods gets you ready with this preview. … Though Greg is in Vegas, that doesn’t mean the S-R doesn’t have a story on the Pro Day in Pullman yesterday for the Cougars and a couple Eastern Washington players. The Lewiston Tribune’s Sam Taylor has this story. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner answers questions about the conference in his Mercury News Friday mailbag. … Have concerns about the Pac-12’s expansion plans? John Canzano’s column from Las Vegas may alleviate some. … No one bats 1.000 in their preseason prognostications. … Managing travel concerns is a bigger deal than ever in college sports. … Oregon State’s men will play its first WCC tournament game tonight against a suddenly hot Pepperdine team. … Oregon finished eighth in the Big Ten. … Former Cougar Andrej Jakimovski will celebrate Senior Night in Boulder after three years in Pullman. … Arizona needs to win at Kansas today. It is important for the Wildcats’ momentum entering the buzz-saw that is the Big 12 tournament. … Colorado State went into Boise and rode the stellar play of Nique Clifford to upset the previously hot Broncos. … Homegrown players are always popular. … Utah State is finally back on the court today. … The Cal women fell in the ACC tournament to top-seed Notre Dame but still expect to earn an NCAA bid. … Colorado feels the same way after its Big 12 loss. … Oregon State knows what it has to do to earn a bid. Win the WCC tourney. … UCLA and USC continued their march to the Big Ten tournament title game with quarterfinal wins Friday. … Arizona State fired their coach today. Not Bobby Hurley. Women’s coach Natasha Adair. … No one can predict who will steal bids in either the men’s or women’s NCAA. … In football news, as we always say, recruiting never stops. Wilner passes along recruiting news in the Mercury News. … The oddsmakers have thoughts on Big Ten win totals next season. So does Christian Caple. … The Big 12 announced its Friday night games in the fall. Colorado is popular, with two games that night of the week. … Arizona and Arizona State will also play each other on a Friday. … Utah has a Friday game as well. … The American Athletic Conference has set a minimum buy-in of $10 million for its schools’ revenue sharing.

Gonzaga: If WSU’s men get past Loyola tonight, they will face USF on Sunday. The winner will meet the Zags in the semifinals Monday. No matter who they play, the Dons may be without star guard Marcus Williams. The school announced Friday it was holding Williams out of competition while it investigates a possible NCAA violation. Theo Lawson has the particulars in this story.

EWU and Idaho: As the Big Sky tournament begins today, all four local schools enter as no more than hopefuls for the automatic NCAA berths. Dan Thompson has this coverage of the men’s tournament and this preview of the women’s. Both stories include lists of the conference’s award winners. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the men’s MVP and Newcomer of the Year happened to be the same Central Valley High graduate, Dylan Darling of Idaho State, who started his college career at WSU. … There are other local products on the all-conference teams, including CV’s Peyton Howard (EWU) and Ferris’ Kacey Spink (Idaho State) among the women. … We have more award stories, including from Missoula and Bozeman. … Weber State too. … We can pass along another look at the tournament.

Whitworth: The Pirates were denied an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III men’s basketball bracket despite a deserving resume. One that included a road win over Cal Lutheran, who was given a bid. The Kingsmen didn’t get a win, though, losing to Hardin-Simmons 70-65 in last night’s first round. The same Hardin-Simmons that lost to Whitworth in Spokane this season. The NCAA’s idiocy never ceases to amaze me. … The team that defeated Whitworth in the NWC tournament, Lewis & Clark, lost as well.

Preps: Yes, we have Dave’s stories from Tacoma. There is his coverage of Prep’s overtime win, CV’s hold-on win over Garfield and Mt. Spokane’s offensive issues in its loss. … We also have a story from Deer Park’s 2A girls 58-50 semifinal loss to Ellensburg in Yakima. … The Bs? Dan Thompson has coverage of the girls 2B semifinal won by Northwest Christian and the boys 2B semi win for Freeman over Reardan. … Cheryl Nichols has a summary of the rest of the B games for the girls and boys.

Chiefs: Dave may have been busy in Tacoma but he still was able to put together this story on Spokane’s 9-2 win in Victoria.

Seahawks: If you are wondering why I didn’t spend my time this morning writing about Geno Smith being traded to Pete Carroll’s Raiders, me too. But I couldn’t figure out what to say, once I got past the news. Not sure of many things, including who is at fault here. And what the Seahawks’ plan will be at the most important position in the game. Or if Sam Darnold is going to be throwing his interceptions in a Hawk uniform next year. Whether DK Metcalf might stay now. And why a quarterback change could change that. Too many unknowns for today. And, to be honesty, too many news items to process in relation to the Seattle pro sports scene (see Mariners and Kraken below). … The NFL’s annual quarterback shuffle is on.

Mariners: George Kirby is probably furious. I mean, even more so than usual. He’s been shut down for a while so his shoulder can rest. The season will begin with Kirby on the injured list. … The Dodgers held off the M’s last night. … The middle of the Seattle infield includes a rarity these days.

Kraken: Another day, another trade for draft picks. Thank goodness the trade deadline has passed. Free agent to-be Brandon Tanev was Friday’s exile. … What does the roster look like?

Sounders: Seattle hosts LAFC tonight, looking for its first MLS win. The Sounders, however, have a winner-take-all match Tuesday night in Mexico.

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• There is no printed paper on Saturdays for the S-R anymore. So all the prep coverage linked here is never going to end up in a trophy case anywhere. Unless someone decides to buy a printout of the e-edition. Until later …