A GRIP ON SPORTS • Saturdays jut hit different, even if eating seven bowls of Captain Crunch and watching Wile E. Coyote continue his New York Jet-rivaling streak of ineptitude on my agenda. Heck, I don’t even have to walk out front on Saturdays and pick up the paper before the sprinklers hit driveway.
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• It’s been a minute since the S-R delivered a print edition to my doorstep on Saturdays. But at least there is still a facsimile on the newspaper’s website, making it possible to feel as if the past hasn’t disappeared completely. Even after Wily won his lawsuit against Acme Products Inc.
And lo and behold, this morning the S-R’s Sports page included a college baseball story. This former UC Irvine bullpen catcher/first base coach/foul-ball chaser thinks his heart skipped a beat or two. Though it does that more often as I look over the cliff at 70, a cliff Wily would probably sprint off without a parachute.
The story of Whitworth’s come-from-behind 9-7 Northwest Conference championship game win, and the ensuing NCAA Division III tournament berth, reminded me of a couple parts of college sports that, like the Saturday S-R, seems to have disappeared into the past.
It hasn’t. It’s just different.
There are still hundreds of thousands of college athletes out there playing the sport they love for other things than NIL. For some it is the chance to go to college. For others, as was my case, it is a chance to continue to be part of a sport that runs deep in their blood. The financial revolution that we see on television?
It has hit them, sure, but not in the same way.
As windows opened for athletes in other sports, doors are being shut on the non-revenue ones. Tennis teams throughout the nation, even at the richest schools, are either disappearing – at least 20 of them in 2026 alone – or have appeared on the chopping block. Other sports are destined to follow the same path.
If the Power Four conferences are the Road Runner – as opposed to the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners – then every other conference, every other level of college athletics, fill Wile’s role.
And sooner or later the Power Four Road Runner will peck away all the birdseed and a boulder will somehow fall on Wile. Maybe even in Boulder.
Oh, sure, all athletes at all levels enjoy a new-found freedom. If the fit is wrong, a new horizon awaits. But, like the fake tunnels the Road Runner entered, if there isn’t a spot available on the other side due to budget cuts to free up more money for revenue sports, than the “free” athlete will suffer Wile’s fate and run into a cliff wall.
Will what’s happening to college tennis happen to other sports? Yes. Will it happen tomorrow? Maybe. But, for today at least, non-revenue sports still stand in many places. Still exist to not only allow games and competitions but to give the schools and athletes added value. The future is as frazzled as Wile’s fur after another cannon misfire. But he, and the sports he represents, are still standing.
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WSU: It’s not just sports that are threatened. It is also levels of schools within all sports. If the University of Oregon’s men, with more resources at hand, can undergo transformational change in an offseason, than is it any surprise Washington State’s men have been through the same wringer? David Riley is almost done, though, rebuilding the wardrobe, adding his 10th new face, 6-foot-7 Australian wing Roman Stathis. Greg Woods has more on that signing and the others preceding it. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, as we love to say, recruiting never stops. Nor does Jon Wilner stop passing along a weekend football recruiting roundup in the Mercury News. The Cougars earned a mention at the end. … Wilner also always has a mailbag on Fridays. … The Big Ten moved a few games to Friday nights. Washington and Oregon each had two moved to the traditional day of the week for high school games. … John Canzano mentions those games in his Friday notebook. … A couple of Colorado offensive standouts had to miss the spring. … Colorado State’s recruiting never stopped. … In basketball news, have questions about whether stars will stay in the draft or head back to college? Some of them are covered in this Athletic story. … Would Tucson be a good site for some of the new NCAA opening-round games? No. … Will Randy Bennett try to duplicate the Saint Mary’s vs. Gonzaga vibe with Arizona State and the Tommy Lloyd-coached Arizona Wildcats? Yes. … Boise State added another guard from the portal. … Oregon women’s coach Kelly Graves spoke some this week about his roster. … Finally, in college softball, UCLA star Megan Grant tied the college record with her 37th home run of the season yesterday. It’s quite an accomplishment but let’s not kid ourselves, the pitching in the Big Ten is not at the level of the old Pac-12.
Gonzaga: Incoming guard Isiah Harwell has decided to take his name out of the NBA Draft. The Houston transfer was scheduled to attend the G League Elite Camp but, as Theo Lawson passes along in this story, is set to move on to Gonzaga.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado has added players to its women’s and men’s rosters. … Northern Arizona just added one to its women’s. … Utah Tech’s new coach has added a bunch of players and coaches. … One of Oregon’s new Friday night football games will feature Portland State.
Whitworth: The Pirate baseball story we mentioned and linked above? We link it here as well. And mention the story is a roundup, containing information on Washington State clinching a berth in the Mountain West tournament and Gonzaga moving within a win of the West Coast Conference regular season title.
Preps: The District playoffs in a lot of sports are in full swing and Dave Nichols has a roundup that covers them as well as the end of the regular season.
Indians: Dave returns with coverage of the Indians’ 3-0 home win over Tri-City behind the stellar pitching of starter Brody Brecht and reliever Stu Flesland.
Mariners: The thing about baseball games played east of the Rockies, they start when a few chores need to be completed. For example, cooking dinner. Or driving somewhere to buy it. Which means there are gaps available in ingesting the game. We suffered a few yesterday even with our best efforts to follow on TV or on the car’s radio. And almost all of them were Mariner highlights. Did we see or hear Luke Raley’s grand slam? No. Did we see Emerson Hancock’s awful inning? Yes. Did we see Julio Rodriguez’s home run? Suprisingly, yes. Did we see or hear Raley’s three-run bomb? No. No matter. The M’s won 12-8 over the White Sox in new Comiskey Park (or Rate Field, as it is officially known.) … Brendan Donovan is back in the lineup. Now, can Cal Raleigh’s hitting return too?
Seahawks: Will the franchise command a $10 billion price? Maybe, maybe not. The market might not be as vibrant as the NFL hopes. But the sale will continue. … Thursday. That’s when the NFL is promising we will learn who the Hawks will play in their opener. And every other game as well. … The owners and the officials have worked out a contract. No Fail Mary this season.
Storm: Seattle opened the season last night, hosting the Valkyries. The new-look Storm and new-look Golden State played a game similar to last season, with the Valkyries earning a 91-80 victory.
Sounders: A homestand on the Lumen Field’s World Cup-ready grass begins tonight, with Seattle hosting San Diego.
Auto racing: There is this Athletic Formula 1 story on the S-R website today if it interests you.
Golf: One thing about Rory McIlroy. He can throw a verbal dart as well as Ted Lasso threw the real ones. McIlroy’s latest? Aimed at LIV players who are debating whether to return to the PGA Tour or ride the fringes. “If you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be,” he said in Charlotte yesterday. “And if you don’t want to play here, I think that says something about you.” OK then. Your play Bryson.
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• Ever swing a pendulum? Wile did. More than once. The Road Runner ducked. Every time. And the darn thing came back and hit Wile. When people connected to college sports talk about the pendulum swinging back closer to the way things used to be, Wile is all I think about. His life was the embodiment of unintended consequences. Same with college athletics these days. Until later …
