A Grip on Sports: A major horse race without its major participant highlights a weekend of minor flaws in most every TV event
A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you did not know, this weekend holds a special place on the calendar. It is the last before the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day weekend. In other words, it’s the last time to travel without the roads being clogged. And gas prices being artificial inflated.
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• It’s also a weekend that holds two major events, a rarity in sports. OK, so they are major events in somewhat minor sports. Who is keeping score? Well, me. Sort of.
Fifty-two times a year our focus on Friday is what’s ahead for the weekend. Mainly on TV. And this weekend, the last of spring – unofficially, of course – there is plenty to watch.
Though, due to a few omissions, not as much “must-see TV” as there could be.
The first omission hits late Saturday afternoon. The 150th-running of The Preakness, the last at the old Pimlico venue, will thunder down the opening stretch at 4:01 on NBC. Without Kentucky Derby champion Sovereignty. And that, my friends, is a problem the sport has to address. And fix. Now.
In its decades-long slog toward irrelevance, horse racing has tried to adjust to the times. And failed. There is one element, however, that still can make the nation cast its eyes toward the sport for three Saturdays a year: The promise of a Triple Crown winner. A promise that will stay unfulfilled if those who are charged with training the horses (and keeping them healthy) are kept to an outdated schedule.
Modern-day thoroughbreds are not served by the two weeks between the first two Triple Crown races. Or even by the three weeks before the third, the Belmont. It’s time to change.
Keep the Kentucky Derby the same date, the first Saturday in May. Move the Preakness back a week, to Memorial Day weekend. Then hold off running the Belmont until July 4, when the stiffest TV competition is a hot-dog-eating contest. Make it happen. As soon as next year, if need be. This year?
There are more than enough events vying for attention Saturday.
A golf major, albeit the least of them, the PGA Championship (7 a.m., ESPN, 10 a.m., CBS), is being played this year at a mud bog. The WNBA tip-off weekend, with Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever – Lexie Hull’s team as well – matching up with Courtney Vandersloot and the Chicago Sky (noon, ABC). Indianapolis 500 qualifying (8 a.m. FS1, 1 p.m. Fox).
No wonder the NBA won’t play the deciding game of the Oklahoma City/Denver series until Sunday (12:30 p.m., ABC). No, it was not a conspiracy to cool off Julian Strawther. It is about finding the best TV window. Though if Sunday’s leader board in Charlotte features, say, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, then there will be some rating slippage.
But don’t fret. There is an NBA game on today, though no matchup of former Gonzaga players, as Thursday night’s Nugget win – Strawther (a key 15 points for Denver) and OKC’s Chet Holmgren (19 points and 11 rebounds) – had. Still, anytime the defending champion Celtics, missing star Jayson Tatum, play the Knicks in New York with the series in the balance, it’s worth watching.
• Wait, we almost forgot the Mariners. The Vedder Cup – though not many MLB players these days know, or care, who Eddie Vedder is – against the Padres. The first game of the three-game series isn’t on Root. AppleTV+ picked it up. It starts at 6:40 p.m. At least if Logan Evans gets battered around and the offense continues its impotent week, you won’t have to go far to watch the latest episode of Andor. Saturday (5:40 p.m.) and Sunday (1:10 p.m.) the games return to Root.
• The ESPN family of networks will be crowded this weekend. It’s the opening week of the NCAA softball tournament and all the games are either on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or the soon-to-be-revamped streaming service ESPN+. The schedule is non-stop today, from 9 a.m. to sometime after 9 p.m. There will be similar coverage, based on the importance of the matchups, Saturday and Sunday. My one prediction? There will be a lot of games featuring SEC teams on the flagship.
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WSU: If there is a day that proves our dictum that recruiting never ends, today is one of them. Greg Woods has a story on football recruiting (a member of the 2026 high school class) and another on basketball (a member of the 2025 high school class). … He also has a story on the athletic department being recruited. By Playfly Sports, a relatively new player in the media-rights industry. The Cougars will move their internal rights from Learfield, which replaced IMG years ago, over to Playfly at the end of the school’s fiscal year. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner’s weekly mailbag is on the S-R site this morning. … John Canzano has an uplifting follow-up column after his depressing youth sports one the other day. … Recruiting never does stop. Ask Colorado. … Utah has a player it calls “Mr. Versatile.” Or someone did. Once. … USC pays Lincoln Riley a boatload of money. And by that we mean after tariffs are added in. Like $11.5 million a year overall. … An Arizona tight end is looking forward to one last season. … Boise State has been criticized for something that seems not one bit important. … Colorado State added another Power 4 transfer. … In basketball news, we linked a story on Mike Montgomery yesterday. Why? He was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame last night. … Don’t expect Miles Byrd to return to San Diego State. … Finally, as we said, the NCAA softball playoffs begin today. Among the Pac-12 legacy schools, Washington is tied for the nation’s longest streak of playing in the tournament (31 years), Oregon, UCLA and Arizona are hosting, while Arizona State, Cal and Stanford also earned berths. …Oh, wait, Oregon is hosting the Big Ten track championships this weekend. The Ducks could sweep. Meanwhile, Oregon is playing baseball at Iowa and a couple more wins mean the Ducks win the conference title in that sport as well. This Big Ten thing seems to be working out for the school.
Gonzaga: We mentioned (and linked the story on) Strawther’s performance above. But we don’t want to forget to mention Jim Meehan’s story on another good day for Ryan Nembhard at the NBA’s draft combine. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara will play its first-ever NCAA softball tournament game today.
EWU and Idaho: Men’s golf is coming back to the Big Sky Conference. Jim tells us the conference, which did not sponsor the sport this year due to dropping below the NCAA number of schools needed to earn an automatic playoff berth, will be back in 2026. Why? Eastern Washington is reinstating the sport. Which means Idaho can come back from the Big West, where it played as an affiliate member this season. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana added a football transfer and heard something good from a high school recruit. … The Montana State women made a title change on their basketball staff. … Idaho State has finished rebuilding its roster. … Northern Colorado is happy the conference is back in the men’s golf business.
Whitworth: Former men’s basketball assistant coach Elijah Gurash, who also was head boys coach at Shadle Park High prior to joining the Pirate staff, was named head coach at Linfield yesterday. Gurash was at Buena Vista University in Iowa last season.
Preps: Greg Lee has a story this morning on Freeman High high jumper Trenton Sandborn, a junior who is just beginning to find his form in the event. … Cheryl Nichols has a roundup of Thursday’s competitions in three sports: baseball, softball and boys’ soccer. That means there is a lot to read.
Indians: Three games in Eugene. Three wins for Spokane. Five consecutive overall. The Indians earned the fifth one by a 7-3 score Thursday night. Dave Nichols has this story.
Chiefs: Spokane plays a win-or-the-season-is-over game tonight in the Arena. The Chiefs trail Medicine Hat 3-1 in the WHL finals. Dave has more, a lot more, in this preview of the game.
Mariners: Julio Rodriguez will heat up. When the weather does. … How come when a team is going through a run of bad luck, people don’t say they are lucky? Does that only apply when the luck is good?
Seahawks: Which games are can’t miss? Which are wait and see?
Reign: Seattle must bounce back on the road against Louisville.
Storm: The team has a new duo to lead it this season.
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• Mud on the ball? Doesn’t anybody play “winter rules” in May anymore? Or was that always just me? Until later …