A Grip on Sports: From NBA blowouts (a possibility) to a struggling sport (lots of evidence) to an M’s injury (oh no), every big event on TV this weekend has some unpredictability

A GRIP ON SPORTS • An NBA playoff doubleheader tonight. One NHL game and a horse race with a faded pedigree Saturday. The finale of a Grand Slam golf event Sunday. Which would you label the must-see sporting event of the weekend? Checking none of the above is also an alternative, especially if you are a Mariners fan. Or an Eddie Vedder one.

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• Ya, the Vedder Cup is on tap this weekend. A fancy way of saying the M’s are playing the Padres. If you didn’t know, Pearl Jam’s Vedder has connections to both cities, loves baseball and was jokingly attached to the interleague matchups between the two teams unofficially years ago.

Now it’s something of a real thing. A real marketing thing if nothing else.

Too bad Cal Raleigh, more of a country/western guy, is missing it. Not because it could help expand his musical horizons, but mainly because Seattle really needs their leader in the lineup. Then again, a healthy Cal has to be better than what we’ve been seeing the first couple months of the season. Maybe his first-career stint on the injured list – Raleigh was placed on the 10-day list Thursday after aggravating his right oblique Wednesday – will lead to that.

The West Coast “rivals” meet tonight at T-Mobile (6:40, KSKN and the Mariners Network). The weekend schedule? Saturday’s game (a 4:15 p.m. start) is on Fox and the M’s Network, Sunday’s (4:20 p.m.) is only available on the M’s Network.

• By the way, if you want to watch the Cavs and Spurs try to close out Detroit and Minnesota, respectively, tonight, you’ll have to have access to Prime Video. The Eastern Conference matchup begins at 4, the West at 6:30. If either (or both) of the teams trailing 3-2 wins tonight, there will be a deciding game Sunday.

• Want to know how badly horse racing has fallen in America? The Triple Crown has always been the sport’s crowning jewel. And no one in the industry, seemingly, wants to wear it anymore. For the second consecutive year the Kentucky Derby winner is skipping its chance to earn immortality by not running the Preakness.

Who can blame the owners of Golden Throne or Golden Telephone or, ya, now I remember, Golden Tempo, for skipping another race two weeks after the Derby. After all, it’s a load management thing. And the Preakness is so immaterial, only about 5,000 fans will be watching in person.

OK, that latter statistic is true but with caveats. The home of the race, Pimlico Race Course, is being remodeled. This year’s event is at Laurel Park, which due to age and lack-of-repair, is limited to the small number of in-person attendees.

The whole day, which begins at 1 p.m. on NBC with post time at 4:01, seems a metaphor for the state of the sport.

• Need a nap sometime this weekend? Then there is golf, which, since the 1960s, has allowed men and women to pretend they are watching a sporting event while actually napping.

Then again, that’s a weekly thing. Four times a year, during the major events, napping usually isn’t on the schedule. There are way too many great players playing great on great courses. Sometimes, like this week, on great old-fashioned courses. Aronimink Golf Club in one day showed a million miles of fairways and huge water hazards and desert-like traps aren’t needed to challenge the best.

Sloping fairways. Huge but challenging greens. Long par-3s. A little wind, rain and sun. That’s enough, if prepped right. By Sunday afternoon (the final round is on CBS) the contenders may look more like Rocky at the beginning of Rocky II than he did romancing Adrian in the original movie. If the earlier rounds are your thing, ESPN has coverage of the second all day today and splits Saturday’s and Sunday’s (7 a.m. start for ESPN, 10 for CBS).

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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, if you crave reading quotes for college administrators that use all the most-cliché-ridden buzzwords in the industry, have we got something for you. Jon Wilner’s Mercury News column on Cal’s new marketing entity. What a bunch of malarkey. Though the goal is worthwhile, why do folks have to rely on such gobbledygook to explain it? … The CFP may just expand to 24 teams. How would that have impacted such schools as Washington? … Utah has turned out a lot of NFL draftees recently. Will that continue next year? … Getting a degree can take years. More than 30 for one former Arizona player. … In basketball news, the Oregon State women added two international players. … Tobe Awaka did not start for the Arizona men. He may still be drafted by the NBA. … Randy Bennett added a Serbian prospect to Arizona State’s roster. … Finally, the NCAA softball tournament begins today, which we actually typed yesterday. Er, that was incorrect. Who will win? And how will former Pac-12 members like Stanford, Oregon and Arizona do?

Gonzaga: With most of the players returning, the Zag women’s basketball team needs a nuanced approach to roster addition this offseason. Earlier this week, point guard Emmy Roach announced she’s headed to Spokane for next season. Greg Lee explains how the Rider University transfer will fit in and how she helps fill a need.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, an Idaho State decathlete won the Big Sky title for the second consecutive year.

Whitworth: The Pirates’ baseball team is in New Jersey for its latest foray into the NCAA Division III playoffs. Colton Clark has a preview of their matchup with host, and second seed, Montclair State, a game that starts at 11:30 a.m.

Preps: Baseball playoffs are always more unpredictable than most high school sports. For example, U-High won the GSL title this season, losing just twice in the regular season. But Thursday, in a District 6 3A loser-out game, district rival Central Valley eliminated the Titans 7-4. U-Hi’s 20-4 season ends, the Bears’ 8-16 one continues. That games leads off a roundup of the day’s action. … Dave Nichols sat down with former Gonzaga Prep football coach Dave McKenna prior to his induction into the Washington State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday night in Renton. There is also another local honoree, Colfax’s Mike Morgan, whose game-day duties for many years including leading the Bulldogs’ band.  

Indians: Dave also has a story on Spokane’s second consecutive 6-2 loss to the host Hillsboro Hops.

Mariners: Yes, Raleigh is out. Mitch Garver, you’re up. At the plate and behind it. His first game as the No. 1 catcher? Garver slugged a two-run home run and the M’s won 8-3 to finish out their road trip with a winning record. … Raleigh’s injury made Ken Rosenthal’s column in The Athletic. … Can Seattle survive without him in the lineup?

Reign: Seattle is in the midst of a scoring drought. The Reign hopes to break through in their match with Gotham FC. Maybe they should play it in Spokane.

Seahawks: The schedule is out! The schedule is out! And the two teams the Hawks have played most recently in the Super Bowl, are both on it. They open on Wednesday, Sept. 9 by hosting New England, last year’s victim. And also play at Denver on Oct. 15, a Thursday that follows a visit by the 49ers the Sunday before. The 17-game slate is quite a gauntlet, including meeting the Rams twice in the three games (the first on Christmas), trips to Philadelphia (six days before the Christmas game), Washington and Carolina, and back-to-back home games vs. Kansas City and the Bears. Plus, the Hawks have six prime-time appearances.

Sounders: The World Cup ticket prices for the Seattle matches have dropped some. Not sure about hotel prices.

Golf: For the first time in his career, Scottie Scheffler led a major after the first round. His 3-under 67 tied him with six other players. (He’s no longer tied for the top after a bunch of bogies to start his second round Friday morning.) … The LIV players, in limbo these days, didn’t do all that well, lowlighted by Bryson DeChambeau’s 6-over 76. … Forget the fight with LIV. The next pro golf battle is going to be over limiting how far the pro’s ball can travel.

Storm: Seattle signed a player to a developmental contract.

UFC: There are quite a few fighters from the Spokane area and many of them share a common bond. Rick Little. He coached and mentored Michael Chiesa years ago and now has even more in his camp. Joe McHale has his story. … Terrance McKinney, who, like Chiesa, attended Shadle Park High, is reaching his UFC goals as well.

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• I coached my first youth team when I was 16. As a favor to my favorite nun, Sister Patrice, I coached the sixth-grade flag team at St. Rita’s. Between then and now I’ve coached Legion baseball teams in two states, and other assorted softball, baseball and, since my retirement, travel basketball teams. So when I read John Canzano’s Thursday column about private equity funds getting their claws into youth sports, it made me wince. And explained a lot. Prices for everything connected to youth sports has risen considerably recently. … That is an appropriate lead-in to another piece of news. I will not be here tomorrow. Back Sunday. I promise. Until later …