A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every day brings us good news and bad. Highs and lows. Hot takes and cold assertions. Why should today be any different?
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• Win some. Lose some. Grab a sandwich.
That was always my philosophy when I was young and playing competitively. OK, I’m kidding. I hated to lose. Whether it was a baseball game or a “friendly” chess match in the basement of my wife’s grandmother’s house. Losing made me crazy. And winning seemed to offer less of a corresponding high. Quite a bit less.
Which made my choice of baseball as the game at the forefront of my athletic career a really odd choice. More than any other, it is a game of failure. It’s built into its marrow. More games. More losses. More individual battles. More often someone has to come up short.
Maybe that’s why it is the most-number oriented sport ever. And has been that way since the invention of the pencil.
Our point? Being able to deal with failure is hard-wired into a baseball player’s DNA. Even the most successful ones. It took me decades to learn that.
And the lesson is still locked in. It shows here often. When you spend four or so hours each morning typing out thoughts and opinions about the local and national sports scene, you are going to win sometimes. And lose just as often. Maybe more. For example, we just have to peruse Tuesday’s column – though any of the past 14 years will do.
Let’s start with something written here yesterday I would put in the loss column.
“… the Cougars may be in tough Saturday morning. (James Madison is) trying to earn the CFP parking spot reserved for the Group of Five. Their top competitor for that premium place is North Texas, which already owns a win over WSU. A 59-10 home win. If James Madison, ranked 21st in the A.P. poll, wins the Sun Belt and North Texas does the same in the American, the two will probably finish with the same record. Might the margin of victory over the Cougs end up being a de facto tiebreaker? Could be.”
Turns out the College Football Playoff selection committee doesn’t seem to have the 9-1 Dukes on their radar. At least this week. The same with 9-1 North Texas. The committee’s pick Tuesday night to hold down the Group of Five’s designated spot? Tulane, who is 8-2 overall and tied with the NTU at 5-1 in the American – a half-game behind Navy. That could change over the next couple weeks, sure. But the loss I’m handing myself for the paragraph above? It’s chiseled in stone.
There was a win, of sorts, yesterday as well though.
While making the case why I felt Gonzaga should be in the current top 10, I had to eliminate someone. And in doing so, I pointed out a team I felt was something of an early season fraud. Let’s look at the tape, shall we?
“The top 10 team I would drop? Seventh-ranked Louisville. Not sure the Cardinals’ signature win, over No. 12 Kentucky, is going to end up worth that much.”
While watching Michigan State outplay the Wildcats last night in Madison Square Garden, a warm glow came over me. At my age, that isn’t always a good thing. But then I realized it was what vindication felt like. Haven’t felt it in a while.
To paraphrase Robert Duvall’s character in “Apocalypse Now,” It felt like victory.
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WSU: Part of the reason the Cougar offense is winning more battles up front these days lies directly on the shoulders of the tight ends. Greg Woods explains in this story. … Could the battle with UW in men’s basketball disappear in the future? Sure. Basketball schedules are mainly put together in the spring and summer before the season. They have little in common with football’s years-in-advance scheduling. My guess is the two administrations, pushed a little by the folks in Olympia who wear Crimson sweatshirts on the colder days, will figure out a way to play once a year. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has a couple columns in the S-R today. One is on the Big Ten’s recent issues. The main task of conference management is building consensus. The more teams in a conference, the harder that becomes. … His other column? A look at the Pac-12 bowls. We linked that yesterday when it was in the Mercury News. … Wilner also has his reaction to the CFP rankings in the Mercury News today. Others around the nation, of course, dissect them too. Criticize them. Praise them. … Stewart Mandel has a mailbag in The Athletic. … John Canzano took some time yesterday to update the Oregon State football coaching search. … One candidate? Former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin.
• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, with the latest Associated Press rankings and listed chronologically. All are on Saturday. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.
– Baylor at Arizona (10 a.m., TNT): Every quarterback likes to have signature games. Here are Noah Fifita’s. … The Wildcats are more than just their quarterback, though.
– No. 16 USC at No. 6 Oregon (12:30 p.m., CBS): It is pretty much official after last night’s rankings. If the Ducks lose again, there is little chance they make the CFP. … Lincoln Riley seems happier on the sidelines.
– Kansas State at No. 13 Utah (1, ESPN2): No matter what the Utes do down the stretch, they may get boxed out of a CFP berth.
– UL Monroe at Texas State (2, ESPN+)
– Colorado State at Boise State (4, FS1): One Bronco receiver has been in Boise a long time. … Despite the coaching limbo, recruiting never stops for the Rams.
– California at Stanford (4:30, ACCN)
– Arizona State at Colorado (5, ESPN2): Deion Sanders would like to have a strong relationship with the next Buff athletic director. … Will the Sun Devils win another close game? … There are rumors swirling around the program this week.
– Washington at UCLA (7:30, NBC): Any injury is scary. Concussions, though, are their own type of scary. … The Bruins may have their starting quarterback back this week.
– Utah State at Fresno State (7:30, CBS Sports): The Aggies continue to add to next season’s roster.
– San Jose State at San Diego State (7:30, FS1): The Spartans are struggling but they do have some offensive playmakers.
• In basketball news, the Washington men had an Apple Cup hangover and had to play two overtimes at home to get past Southern. … Oregon State is still looking for its identity. … Utah is too, but the Utes have yet to lose. … Stanford posted another easy win. … UCLA did the same, bouncing back from its first loss to crush Sacramento State. … UConn coach Dan Hurley is happy to have Arizona playing on his home court. … San Diego State was upset at home by Troy. … Fresno State seems to be doing better financially. … The Oregon State women won for the fourth consecutive time. … Colorado routed Boise State. … No. 11 USC got back on the winning side of the ledger, topping visiting Portland.
Gonzaga: Theo Lawson has his usual look back at the win over Southern Utah – the Thunderbirds are in Pullman tonight – and he focuses on scoring. Not a surprise after the Zags put 122 points on the board. … Theo also has a couple news stories too. Graham Ike is on the latest Wooden Award watch list. And Drew Timme won a G League award. … Another week, another Zags Basketball Insiders podcast with Jim Meehan and Richard Fox. You can listen here if you like.
Idaho: One day after issuing an apology over the officiating mistake late in the Vandals loss at Sacramento State, the Big Sky office issued something else. A fine for UI football coach Thomas Ford Jr. for, what else, talking about the play. You know, saying the call was wrong. The same thing the office did. Is there going to be a fine of whomever crafted the apology press release? Or the person who decided to issue an one in the first place? Just trolling, sure, but it is ironic. In a sad sort of way. Peter Harriman has a story on the apology.
EWU: Dan Thompson’s look at the Big Sky this week includes the showdowns that dot the final week’s schedule as well as Eastern’s quarterback injury issues. The big one is in Montana, of course. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, could this week’s game just be round one? Could Montana and Montana State match up again in the postseason? … In basketball news, the Montana men rallied but fell just short at Texas A&M. … Weber State is back home tonight. … Northern Arizona showcased a well-round attack in a home win. … The Montana State women were able to finish a road upset, hitting 13 3-pointers to top UNLV.
Seahawks: There were roster moves yesterday. One of the Hawks’ signees has a familiar last name. And not just because it is my usual side I order from Panda Express. … Will Kenneth Walker III really have more carries this week?
Mariners: Josh Naylor wanted to stay in Seattle? His family wanted to stay? What the heck? Oh, I get it. The M’s brain trust was smart enough to get his signature on a contract extension before the Naylors spent a winter in the region. And went through 87 days without seeing the sun. … As those gloomy days go by, the Mariners still need to fill them with other moves. … Seattle also added another reliever through a trade.
Kraken: Starting goaltender Joey Daccord was back Tuesday night. But it was not enough to hold off Detroit. The Red Wings won 4-2.
Sounders: The USMNT played their best match of the year as the last year before the World Cup comes to America nears its end. Last night’s 5-1 win in a friendly with Uruguay couldn’t have gone better for the beat-up squad and its under-fire coaches.
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• There was a big issue in the house the past few hours that demanded my attention. Demanded lots of time. And will cost us in the pocketbook. For the second time in three months, the refrigerator’s freezer went out. And this time we don’t see a way the machine will survive. We’re going to have to put it down. And buy a new one. The upshot for you? Today’s report is quite truncated. Sorry about that. Until later …
