A Grip on Sports: Hate watching is a thing, one some of us try to avoid, though right now whenever the M’s come on, it’s hard not to hate what’s happening

A GRIP ON SPORTS • To paraphrase one of America’s most-overrated public figures: Old coaches never fade away. They just lose on national TV. And endure barbs on social media.

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• To be completely straightforward, I had no intention of watching Bill Belichick’s University of North Carolina coaching debut. Not a second. It combined three things I don’t much like: Belichick, the Tar Heels and ESPN’s media machine.

Not watching would be a point of pride.

Do I still have my pride today? Yes. With a small, maybe 30-second caveat. I stopped the clicker during dinner, kept it on ESPN long enough to see UNC was getting boat-raced – in the first half – and then switched to the Big Bang Theory or something. But not before I heard Kim mutter, “Good. I wanted North Carolina to lose.”

How was I supposed to know my wife of 46 years was such a TCU fan?

But it got me to thinking. How often do college football fans “hate watch,” for lack of a better term?

Will Cougar Nation inadvertently boost Wake Forest’s ratings this season as the tune hoping to see the Demon Deacons and first-year head coach Jake Dickert, face-plant against Western Carolina or someone? Maybe that number is going to be less than the quantity of Cougs watching Oklahoma in the hope offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle finds out his schemes don’t work in the SEC.

How about Alabama’s no-need-for-a-boost numbers, what with the Husky faithful heck-bent on laughing at Kalen DeBoer’s every misstep in Tuscaloosa? Or Tennessee devotees staying up late just to see if former Vol quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who left Knoxville while still under contract, throws a pick or two for UCLA?

It’s why USC’s we-should-still-be-winning-national-titles congregation always check out UCLA games. They hope to see exactly what they saw Saturday night, courtesy of Utah. Is that number greater than the Trojans only watching their games this season to see Lincoln Riley implode so the school can replace him with, say, Lane Kiffin. Or Steve Sarkisian. Or maybe even DeBoer. Hey, be careful what you wish for. You’ll get it. And be no happier.

There really is no future in such emotional displays. No, really. In a few years, after we all become used to NIL contracts and transfers and trades and coaching tenures of three or four weeks, there will be too many targets. Too many devils in every detailed viewing game plan. And not enough time, or stomach bile, to devote to such things on a Saturday.

• If you are of a certain age, you can recall a Looney Tunes cartoon or two in which the protagonist, say Bugs Bunny, is trying to make a decision. And is getting helped by a tiny angel hovering over his shoulder, whispering in one ear, a corresponding devil doing the same in the other. It was a trope masterfully satirized in “Animal House” and other entertainment vehicles over the past decades.

It is also not hard to image those two entities whispering in Luis Castillo’s ears these days. And Castillo is listening to the one dressed all in red way too often.

Bad Luis showed up in Florida last night, gave up five runs by the end of the third inning and the M’s were well on their way to a 10-2 road loss to Tampa Bay. Oh, and en route to dropping three games behind the American league West-leading Astros. Even worse, maybe, is they are also only 1.5 games up on Texas for the final wild-card spot.

A lot of that rests on Castillo’s shoulders. Literally, not in a cartoonish way. Are those shoulders, at least the right one, strong enough? Remember, a year ago at this time the Mariners had to shut him down.

This is the key paragraph in Ryan Divish’s game story today:

“The Mariners are 1-3 in Castillo’s last four starts, none of which lasted more than five innings. Over that span, he’s pitched a combined 17 innings, allowing 19 runs on 30 hits with seven walks and 18 strikeouts. That’s a 10.06 ERA. Opponents are batting .390 against Castillo over those games with 30 hits in 77 at-bats.”

Not good. Then again, the entire team is struggling, at least on the road. Seattle has lost 14 of its last 20 road games, a run that needs to stop if the Mariners expect to be playing in October.

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WSU: At least Homecoming week will feature the ability to wear shorts as 40-something Washington State grads try to negotiate the hills they breezed up 20 years ago. And will feature a team from California, albeit San Diego State, not Cal or UCLA. Greg Woods has his first look at the Aztecs. … Greg also attended Jimmy Rogers weekly media availability and has a story based off what the first-year Cougar coach had to say. … One advantage San Diego State has is it played Thursday last week. That gave the Aztecs a head-start on fixing issues that cropped up. … Hey, we have a baseball story. Former WSU star Kyle Manzardo has been on a tear with the Guardians lately. Just ask the Mariners. Anyhow, a big part of that for the Lake City High grad has to do with his mom, who is recovering well from her heart transplant. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we may not have watched Belichick’s college debut, but that doesn’t mean you skipped it. And have an interest in what was said about it nationally. … Jon Wilner has his Big Ten power rankings in the Mercury News. … This is really the key weekend for the conference, though. … We can pass along The Athletic’s ranking of all the FBS schools. WSU popped up a spot after their win over visiting Idaho. … John Canzano has his Monday mailbag on his site. It features quite a few Pac-12-related questions and answers. … Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, listed chronologically. All are on Saturday, unless noted. The schedule also includes any game in which mining news about turned out to be nearly impossible.

– Eastern Washington at No. 25 Boise State (Friday, 6 p.m., FS1): Pity the poor Eagles. They are walking into a blue-tinged hornets’ nest. BSU coach Spencer Danielson called out his team’s effort last week. That’s not good for the visitors.

– Utah State at No. 19 Texas A&M (9:45 a.m., SEC Network): The Aggies from Texas have a lot more talent than their Utah counterparts, but Utah State thinks it has a plan for that. … USU has passed one test. This one will be sterner.

– Oklahoma State at No. 7 Oregon (12:30 p.m., CBS): The Cowboys have quite a few transfers as they try to put an awful 2024 behind them. … Outspoken OSU coach Mike Gundy – “I’m a man. I’m 40!” – shared quite a few thoughts about Oregon’s financial depth. Dan Lanning expressed a few thoughts in rebuttal. … The Ducks are getting healthier.  

– Fresno State at Oregon State (12:30, The CW Network): The Beavers expect a physical battle in Corvallis. It’s almost already a must-win game for Trent Bray and OSU.

– Delaware at Colorado (12:30, Fox): One positive? The Buff offensive line is on the right track. … CU has a lot to work on though.

– Texas State at UTSA (12:30, ESPN+): The Bobcats’ new quarterback did well in the opener.

– Texas Southern at California (3, ACC Network):

– Cal Poly at Utah (3, ESPN+): Though the Utes rolled over UCLA, the offense could still need a tweak or two.

– Northern Colorado at Colorado State (4): Are there more worries about the head coaches in Ft. Collins or Boulder? … A new year, new things to look for at the home stadium.

– No. 11 Arizona State at Mississippi State (4:30, ESPN2): The Sun Devils expect, and are preparing for, chaos in Starkville.

– Georgia Southern at USC (4:30, FS1): Clay Helton returns to face his old team but Georgia Southern is limping in after being walloped in Fresno last week. … The Trojans did the walloping in their opener, but does it mean anything going forward?

– UCLA at UNLV (5, CBS Sports Network): Did you know the Bruins were close? Me neither. But that’s what DeShaun Foster said Monday.

– Weber State at Arizona (7 ESPN+): This would be a good week for the Wildcats to make improvements in their passing game.

– Stanford at BYU (7:15, ESPN): BYU’s starting quarterback was on The Farm last season. … This is the Cougars’ second game but the first against a team with close-to-similar talent.

– UC Davis at Washington (8, Big Ten Network): Jedd Fisch had a lot to say Monday, including about the O-line, a half-dozen freshmen and the FCS Aggies, ranked eighth in the division.

Idaho: The Vandals will wear an interesting helmet this week against visiting St. Thomas. It’s black with gold script. The script? It reads “Fightin’ Taters’.” … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, Montana opens at home Saturday with Division II Central Washington in town. … The best FCS game of the weekend? That would be third-ranked Montana State hosting No. 2 South Dakota State.  

Indians: Georgetown University in Dave Nichols’ hometown of Washington D.C. is famous for graduating famous folks, even in sports. Though, as Dave tells us in this story, Spokane pitcher Everett Catlett, who attended the school, is trying to do something few Hoya baseball players have done.

Mariners: We linked (and quoted) the game story above. We do it again here. … The M’s brought up Harry Ford as part of the Sept. 1 roster expansion. And cut Donovan Solano, which means once again their inexpensive offseason moves were not worth spit.

Seahawks: Mondays are for updates. At least when your local NFL franchise has its game scheduled for Sunday, as the Hawks do this week. They open by hosting the NFC West favorites, the 49ers. … Can the Hawks break through the glass ceiling that seems to trap so many NFL teams? … To do so, they may need to emulate the Legion of Boom group. Not many have. … As always, the NFL has changes in store for this season. So does Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. … The Hawks are fairly healthy headed in to the week.

Storm: Dearica Hamby led a late L.A. rally and the Storm lost another home game. … Sue Bird is a Storm legend, sure, but she has vivid memories of her high school and college days.

Sounders: We linked Matt Calkins’ column on what Sunday’s trophy grab means for the Sounders and the Seattle soccer community. It is on the S-R site this morning so we link it again. … What did Sunday’s postgame mean to Miami? It certainly helped cement Inter’s status as the MLS’ most-villainous franchise. What the fallout will be from the Miami-instigated postgame brawl is still not clear.

Golf: The European Ryder Cup team was announced Monday. Looking through it – it features 11 of the 12 players who won in Italy last time – it is obvious the U.S. team is not as good. There is more quality depth across the pond. The only way the U.S. wins is the Europeans struggle with the New York crowd.

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• There is a countdown of sorts on us. A long-awaited trip to the ancestral lands looms. Our last column for a while will appear here next Monday. Will I leave town with the Cougars still undefeated? The Mariners still holding a wild-card berth? The Eagles and Vandals with wins? The Seahawks atop the NFC West? Inquiring minds can’t wait to find out. And then forget about it all for the rest of the month. Until later …