A Grip on Sports: One nice thing about the Pac-12’s rebuild? The conference now has some schedule certainty long before the first kickoff
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s sort of ironic. We are passing along a lot of reading material for you this morning. On football. Baseball. TV schedules. But we had to pass on reading much due to a doctor’s appointment. Our yearly eye exam. Guess it isn’t sort of ironic. It’s full on.
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• Getting in to see the eye doctor isn’t easy. At least not for us. That’s why our appointment is early today. And that means an early alarm – known by most of the world as an open window and as the rising sun – and short shrift to the stories we are passing along.
After all, it’s the subjects that matter, right?
The Mariners sweeping a three-game series in West Sacramento and crawling over the Athletics into first place in the American League West standings.
The real power in college football, the television networks, setting schedules for the first few games of the fall season (in the weeks still covered by summer).
Washington State and the two Oregon baseball powers prepping for the Northwest Invitational in Eugene starting Friday. Who the heck invited Yale? Oh, right. It isn’t a nonconference tournament. It is an NCAA regional. Four teams enter, one team move on.
One other thought for this Thursday, trash day at the homestead thanks to the Monday holiday. For about the millionth consecutive year (or 33rd if you want specificity), it looks as if a team from Canada won’t be winning the Stanley Cup again.
Ironically, the Canadians from Montreal, where French is the language with which the fans yell their cuss words, are the last hope. And that hope faded badly Wednesday night with a bunch of “mon Dieu” and “pas encore” and other epithets aimed at their team during its 4-0 loss to Carolina. The Hurricanes lead the series 3-1 and one more win sets up a Stanley Cup final between Carolina and Las Vegas. Talk about places where ice is only used to cool drinks.
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WSU: The big news contained within the reveal of nonconference games times and networks? The season-opening Apple Cup will be played on the Sunday, not Saturday, of Labor Day weekend. A 1 p.m. kickoff at Husky Stadium. On NBC. With no other games on that day. Greg Woods has more in this story. … Looking at the Cougs’ schedule, three things stand out: Only one home 7:30 p.m. start (Nov. 14 vs. Colorado State), only one other start later than 6 p.m. (Oct. 3 in Pullman vs. Fresno State at 6:30) and all but one game, the flex one Nov. 28, has a time attached. After listening to 20-plus years of fans complaining they had no certainty for planning, the rebuilt Pac-12 has certainly supplied that. … WSU distance runner Evans Kurui finished third in the West Regional’s 10,000 meter and qualified for the NCAA meet in June. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, there are stories about the nonconference football schedule times for just about every school we ever mention. But first, Jon Wilner has a column in the Mercury News that delves deep into the entire Pac-12 schedule. … He also has another that explains why Fox and ESPN don’t agree on the CFP expansion number. And he uses this year’s nonconference game slate to illustrate it. … OK, let’s cover the schools’ responses. We’ll start with stories on Oregon State, move on to Oregon and also add a couple from Washington. … From the Big 12 schools, we can pass along a story from Colorado, a couple from Arizona State (including the game in London), another from Utah and one from Arizona. … The new Pac-12 schools seem thrilled at the coverage. And the breadth of it. We pass along a couple stories about Utah State, one each from Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State. … Some of the kickoff times set by ESPN around the nation ticked off folks. Most notably Arkansas’ athletic director concerning a game at Utah and its SEC opener the next week. … Recruiting never stops. Not for Washington anyway. … There is another bill aimed at college athletics’ chaos. Washington senator Maria Cantwell is a co-sponsor. … The state’s auditor is not a big fan of Utah’s private equity plan. … The NCAA women’s golf tournament came down to two schools. Stanford and USC. Stanford won, it’s fifth team title overall and third in five years. … In baseball news, John Canzano delved into the Civil War aspect of the Eugene regional with columns Wednesday featuring Oregon and Oregon State. … There are other stories as well, from an Oregon State and Oregon perspective. … Arizona State feels disrespected. … In basketball news, Arizona’s Koa Peat is staying in the NBA draft. … Anyone who ever admired UCLA’s long run of basketball success might want to check out this fanciful Hall of Fame ballot covering all of the school’s sports. … A former WSU track coach is now helping Arizona have success.
Idaho: The Vandals have two games scheduled for broadcast on ESPN. The season opener (Aug. 28 at Cal Poly) and the Oct. 2 visit from defending FCS champion Montana State. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, football schedules are a big deal here as well. Montana has multiple games on national TV and Southern Utah filled in the final hole in its fall schedule by hosting Chicago State. … Weber State’s new coach is making his presence felt. … Montana State is still recruiting transfers. … Northern Arizona’s women added a basketball transfer as well.
Preps: The State track and field championships start today and run through Saturday, with the three largest classifications at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma and the smaller schools at Zaepfel Stadium in Yakima. Greg Lee has a look at both meets in today’s S-R. … Greg also has a story on the State title quest of Central Valley High triple and long jumper Joseph Hilton. … Madison McCord follows up on Freeman High’s 2B fastpitch title from last weekend.
Indians: Spokane bounced back from a series-opening defeat in a big way Wednesday night, topping Tri-City 7-3 in Pasco. Dave Nichols has this story.
Mariners: We linked Adam Jude’s game story from the 9-1 day-game victory above. And do so again here. … Victor Robles made two diving catches that helped preserve the lead. His presence in the lineup since returning from injury has had a positive effect. … Even with two of the four infield starters right now young home-grown players, the M’s still have a trio of top prospects in the minors. Three of The Athletics’ top 17, actually. Only the Dodgers have more in the top 20. … The “piggyback” plan? All the interested parties met yesterday.
Seahawks: Have $10 billion hanging around, burning a hole in your pocket? Have we got the gift for you. That’s just about what it seems will be the cost to purchase the Hawks from Paul Allen’s estate. … Bryon Murphy III has an improvement plan. … The Hawks made a trade yesterday to bolster their special teams.
Storm: The WNBA plays a lot of back-to-back games against the same opponents. Seattle hammered the Mystics the other day. Got hammered by them last night.
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• Sorry for the truncated report. We’ll be back tomorrow and Saturday but will be taking Sunday off. Adjust your mornings accordingly. Until later …