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Stories tagged: john blanchette
UPDATED: Sat., Oct. 5, 2019, 11:17 p.m.
John Blanchette: Gonzaga needs Killian Tillie to be whole as desperately as Tillie needs Tillie to be whole
On Thursday, the 6-foot-10 senior and presumptive drive train of these Bulldogs underwent surgery on his right knee, and a brief statement from the school said “his status will be …
UPDATED: Thu., Oct. 3, 2019, 11:12 p.m.
John Blanchette: Russell Wilson’s rise to elite level boosts Seahawks’ fortunes
As the sure-thing kick missed by no more than the width of the hyphen between sure and thing, there was one obvious conclusion: It’s better to be lucky than …
UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 29, 2019, 12:02 a.m.
John Blanchette: Whatever you choose to call it, Washington State shows lack of electricity
Larry Scott can’t get his league’s games on DirecTV, and now he can’t get them on Dish, either. But apparently he has enough pull to harness lightning.
UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 22, 2019, 11:12 p.m.
John Blanchette: Seahawks not afraid to accept blame for blunderous effort
Safe to say that a favorite topic around Sunday’s tailgates was Saturday’s late-night Marx Brothers movie on national TV, featuring a core melt by the Washington State Cougars – turnovers …
UPDATED: Sat., Sept. 21, 2019, 8:25 p.m.
John Blanchette: Mason Petrino kicks up heels in Idaho’s defining win over Eastern Washington
Faux outrage is fun reserved for winners, and surely the Vandals were that on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome – 35-27 over the school up the road, Eastern Washington, which …
UPDATED: Mon., Sept. 9, 2019, 12:15 a.m.
John Blanchette: Seahawks produce answers and questions in Week 1 escape
Earl Thomas got himself an interception in his NFL season opener. Richard Sherman had a pick-6. And their old team, the Seattle Seahawks, surrendered 418 passing yards to Andy Dalton, …
UPDATED: Sat., Sept. 7, 2019, 9:26 p.m.
John Blanchette: As WSU rises in college football’s ranks, attendance for nonconference tilts sputters
Look, winning football is a fan magnet, but there’s still a limit for a discerning clientele.
UPDATED: Fri., Sept. 6, 2019, 11:37 p.m.
John Blanchette: Eastern Washington’s biggest donor ‘ask’ in history comes with some odd optics
Just another reminder that the old-school household economics learned as mom and dad balanced the checkbook at the kitchen table just don’t have much application in today’s world of college …
UPDATED: Sun., Sept. 1, 2019, 12:12 a.m.
John Blanchette: Washington State shining brighter than ever standing just outside spotlight
All in all, it’s pretty good being Washington State these days, and not just because the scoreboard read 58-7 in the Cougars’ favor on Saturday night.
Thu., Aug. 29, 2019, 5 a.m.
Washington Huskies season predictions: Sky is the limit for Jacob Eason and the Huskies
Will it be a trip to a bowl game or an early offseason for the Huskies this year?
Thu., Aug. 29, 2019, 5 a.m.
Seattle Seahawks season predictions: Russell Wilson will lead team back to the playoffs
Will it be a trip to the playoffs or an early offseason for the Seahawks this year?
UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 22, 2019, 10:13 p.m.
John Blanchette: Lost art of scorekeeping is ‘central to a full life experience’
Once upon a time, baseball made a stab at interactivity long before that became a marketing buzzword.
Sat., July 13, 2019, 9:47 p.m.
John Blanchette: After forgoing early entry into the NBA draft, Gonzaga’s Killian Tillie must go about reinventing – and improving – his game
They are there and he is here in Spokane, but if it bothers Killian Tillie even a whit it is undetectable – even if he fully expected to be there, …
Sat., July 6, 2019, 5 a.m.
John Blanchette: Pat Shine coaxed into All-Star spotlight again to help Christian Yelich at Home Run Derby
Face it, you don’t want to be the caddie who hands his golfer the wrong club. Or the field-goal holder who doesn’t get the laces out.
Sun., June 23, 2019, 5 a.m.
They got the ball rolling: an oral history of the first Hoopfest as the 30th edition is set to begin
Hoopfest almost wasn’t Hoopfest, you know.
UPDATED: Thu., June 20, 2019, 11:05 p.m.
John Blanchette: Despite their collegiate accomplishments, the toughest challenges still await this bunch of Bulldogs
Both players, Hachimura in particular, will have to endure the modern blather that suggests that any first-rounder who falls short of All-Pro status is somehow a bust.
Fri., June 14, 2019, 10:38 p.m.
John Blanchette: Firing Don Verlin puts Idaho in contention as college basketball’s No. 1 laughing stock
This may be Idaho doing the most Idaho thing ever. So far.
Tue., May 21, 2019, 10:58 p.m.
John Blanchette: Heart-and-soul Spokanite Randy Burkhart truly whistled while he worked
During summers at Priest Lake, Randy Burkhart was known to drag his son Jackson down to the boat before breakfast, motor offshore of Kalispell Island, bring a megaphone to his …
Sun., May 5, 2019, 5 a.m.
John Blanchette: Michael Jordan made The Shot, but Craig Ehlo made it necessary
It was the summer that Austin Ehlo – then a fifth-grader – was a camper at Michael Jordan’s Flight School in Santa Barbara, which should have been irony enough given …
Sun., April 28, 2019, 5 a.m.
John Blanchette: For 43 years, Bloomsday’s Don Kardong has been Spokane’s Running Man
Don Kardong found his calling when he founded something Spokane could call its own – Bloomsday.
UPDATED: Tue., April 16, 2019, 9:09 a.m.
John Blanchette: There’s no debating Rui Hachimura’s legacy at Gonzaga
And now begins the debate over what Rui Hachimura might become.
Thu., April 11, 2019, 10:16 p.m.
John Blanchette: Even before Title IX, women’s sports had true pioneers such as Nancy Monroe
Having never been on an airplane or out of the state of California before her 17th birthday, Nancy Monroe can only explain away her decision to enroll at the University …
Tue., April 9, 2019, 10:54 p.m.
John Blanchette: Spokane Chiefs’ depth makes powerful statement in postseason
The consensus is that for drama, hockey’s playoffs have it all over basketball – the big-league, best-of-7 kind, anyway – despite all those tension-filled advanced-the-ball timeouts in the NBA’s DNA.
UPDATED: Sat., April 6, 2019, 10:35 p.m.
John Blanchette: View of future appears cloudy through Gonzaga’s window
They’ll settle college basketball’s national championship on Monday night in Minneapolis, and it’s entirely possible the winner will score more than 60 points.
UPDATED: Sat., March 30, 2019, 10:33 p.m.
John Blanchette: Every Gonzaga season has ended in hurt, but none match the pain felt right now
For all the ways Gonzaga basketball has changed the very face of Spokane in these past two decades, every Bulldogs season has still ended in hurt.
UPDATED: Fri., March 29, 2019, 10:38 p.m.
John Blanchette: Gonzaga, Texas Tech building hearty appetites as spot at Final Four table is up for grabs
There aren’t six words more sodden with anticipation and angst in sports. Forty minutes from the Final Four.
UPDATED: Thu., March 28, 2019, 11:11 p.m.
John Blanchette: Gonzaga’s grit on full display in hard-fought Sweet 16 win over Florida State
If you couldn’t get one of Gonzaga’s players to admit before Thursday’s game that this hangover of shame was prominent in their thinking, you simply had to go to the …
UPDATED: Wed., March 27, 2019, 9:52 p.m.
John Blanchette: Zach Norvell Jr.’s transformation into complete player has been key to Gonzaga’s success
As a freshman experiencing his very first NCAA Tournament game, Zach Norvell Jr. was accorded an honor that really isn’t an honor but still kind of is. A trip to …
UPDATED: Wed., March 27, 2019, 7:48 p.m.
John Blanchette: Washington State’s hiring of Kyle Smith suggests determination more than desperation
If you look at the history – the raw numbers of history, at least – the easy conclusion to lunge at is that Washington State mixed some unconventional thinking in …
UPDATED: Tue., March 26, 2019, 9:14 p.m.
John Blanchette: Who are you and what have you done with March Madness?
Look, excellence is swell and should be rewarded. Merit? Merit is the cream that makes the coffee taste like something a little better than acrid hot water. Merit rules. But …