A Grip on Sports: Your only worry about the weekend? There won’t be enough on TV to avoid chores – or the grousing about the NCAA’s hoop tournament expansion

A GRIP ON SPORTS • One positive about the upcoming weekend? You will only need access to one of your neighbor’s streaming options to watch the Mariners play in Chicago. The negative? It’s the Mariners’ network, so there is a good chance they may not have it. Or it is part of their cable package.

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• Yep, all three games in Chicago, against the better-than-they-were White Sox, are on the M’s chunk of MLBs new baseball broadcast extravaganza. Or, in the language of us old Comcast-subscribing fuddy-duddies, channel 1261. No Apple, Netflix or Bill the Cable Guy’s network.

One-stop shopping, even if all three start at different times (4:40 tonight, 4:10 Saturday and 11:10 a.m. Sunday).

That’s about it for the positive news, unless you are a fan of watching the Lakers lose by 20 at home against Oklahoma City. Your next chance to wonder if the new NCAA opening round games – more on that in a second – will be as big a mismatch as the NBA playoff’s second round comes at 5:30 on Saturday night (NBC).

Otherwise, what else is on? If you have a Northwest emphasis on your sports TV watching, not much. The Sounders have to carry the banner, with their Saturday MLS matchup with visiting San Diego on Apple TV (7:30).

The NHL playoffs continue, with Carolina and Colorado looking darn impressive and the Ducks less than they did earlier in the week.

• OK, now to the outrageous news of the week. The NCAA is at it again. Ruining everything. Expanding its crown jewels, the Division I basketball tournaments, to 76 teams. And it happens in the spring.

Everywhere you go on the Interweb, to paraphrase one of America’s 30 greatest living songwriters, there is slander, libel, words I never heard in the Bible. All because the NCAA is adding eight teams to its early week tournament play-in system.

Why the fuss? Those games aren’t part of the nation’s consciousness anyway. Collective yawn, sure, but the “real” tournament doesn’t start until Thursday anyway. The one in which I transfer some hard-earned money over to others all in the name of high school memories. And then watch my bracket explode whenever Houston loses.

The additions will bring much needed money to the smaller conferences, as their reps will have a chance to win more games. And maybe, just maybe, Spokane might have a role after expansion. If all that means some middling Power Four teams are also added, big deal. They’ll be out by Saturday anyway. If they are not, then they earned it.

Your brackets aren’t changing. The winner is even less likely to change. There might even be a couple more major upsets as someone rides the momentum of an early week win past a well-rested – read, rusty – opponent.

Besides, change happens. And it doesn’t matter if you think it shouldn’t.

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WSU: The Times’ Mike Vorel talked with athletic director Jon Haarlow recently for this column. Haarlow opens up about the Cougs’ challenges. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we linked the NCAA tourney expansion news above. Joe Lunardi has already factored it in. And still no Washington State in his equation. Hardly any Pac-12 schools actually. … Others have their projections as well. … We do have some Cougar baseball news, courtesy of this S-R preview story of their last Mountain West regular season series. Washington State is trying to hold on to a spot in the conference’s postseason tourney. … Back to hoop, Randy Bennett is finally healthy enough to hold his introductory press conference for Arizona State. … Colorado announced the signing of a transfer. … Utah State hasn’t played BYU in a while. The Aggies finally get another shot. … In football news, Jon Wilner explains in the Mercury News the genius idea behind the Big 12’s private equity foray. … Wilner also handicaps the Big Ten race for a second time. He’s revamped his rankings. … John Canzano’s column from Thursday delves into the main folks behind Oregon State’s $48 million fundraising initiative. … Washington’s roster, like every schools’, will have to deal with change if the NCAA goes ahead with its 5-in-5 eligibility rule. … We have to pass along a sad story about a former UW player. … Recruiting never stops for Oregon. … Neither does defense at Utah. … Don’t worry about CBS’ early bowl projections. There will be more Pac-12 schools playing.  

Gonzaga: The Zags have more common news. They will be back it in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, though the format (and broadcaster) will change. Theo Lawson covers all of the news about the Thanksgiving-week tournament in this story. And, rest assured, there are more changes in store what with ESPN taking over the broadcast reins. … Colton Clark has a preview of the baseball team’s key weekend series. The first-place Bulldogs travel to second-place USF for three games. Win the series and Gonzaga clinches the regular-season title.

EWU: We’ve been saying this for a while. Dan Monson’s squad needs some help from the portal but not nearly as much as other teams. Dan Thompson explains why in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the conference commissioner has some thoughts on NCAA Tournament expansion. … The conference’s softball tournament concluded Thursday, with Idaho State topping Sacramento State 16-8 to earn its first NCAA tourney berth. … Portland State football will hold its spring game Saturday. … Weber State is introducing its new athletic staff additions. … Montana State gives its fans part of the credit for its long WNIT run.

Preps: It should come as no surprise we have a roundup of Thursday’s action to pass along. What might be a bit surprising is it has two names attached. Dave and Cheryl Nichols.

Indians: Dave returns by himself with coverage of Spokane’s 2-1 home loss against Tri-City.

Chiefs: On the second day of the Western Hockey League’s prospect draft, Spokane added five names to its roster of potential players. Dave has that story as well.

Mariners: Greatness isn’t needed to win the American League West this year. Just a little bit better than the M’s have been playing. … Bryce Miller is about ready to rejoin the rotation. Which starter moves to the bullpen? Or do the M’s expand to six of them and put even more pressure on an injury-addled bullpen that has just two reliable options currently? … Do you know T-Mobile has an organ? … When will Brendan Donovan be back?

Seahawks: The franchise is on the market. Names of prominent billionaires have been thrown around. And some real candidates, who may have a billion or two lying around. That eliminates you, me and about 99.9% of Washington residents.

Storm: The 30th WNBA season begins tonight. Seattle’s 27th tips at 7 (ION) vs. the Valkyries at Climate Pledge Arena. We have a few stories to pass along, including one about a practice-ending dunk.

Sounders: It sure looks as if Northwest rival Vancouver could end up becoming West Coast rival Las Vegas. Money may talk but it also can make franchises walk. And Sonics fan can tell you that.

Bloomsday: The winner of the T-shirt design competition for the 50th race has a family history with the race that dates back to the beginning. Mathew Callaghan has Lauren Miller’s story.

Horse Racing: One of our favorite sportwriters re-emerged after being part of the Washington Post’s bloodletting. And Chuck Culpepper landed at a place not behind a paywall, ESPN. His first story? He covered the healing powers of one Kentucky Derby fan whose goal of attending his 80 consecutive race seemed out of the question a month ago.  

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• Did you know the NCAA Tournament once had just a couple Simpson hands worth of teams? And did not expand to 64 until the mid-1980s? Oh, the horror. Those of us who felt only the top 16 best teams should ever get a shot at the crown were aghast as far back as 1975. Until later …