A GRIP ON SPORTS • This is it. Take a deep breath. Try not to cough. Look around the homestead. And understand one thing. You have this weekend. Next, if you don’t have high school football players in the family. And then your life will be controlled by football.
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• For quite a while now we’ve used the start of high school football practice in Washington as a marker of sorts. Summer before. Fall after. Even if that season is a month away.
This year that date of demarcation is Aug. 19. Wednesday, if my iPhone Calendar is correct. Which makes this the final weekend of summer around these parts.
(As an aside, Washington high schools start later than most states. Idaho has been practicing since Monday. And other states started in July, which means summer in those states, by our definition, lasts about six weeks.)
Thankfully, there are a whole passel of sporting events on TV this weekend to get you through. Just kidding. There really is bupkis. Nada. Zilch. Any other word in your vocabulary you use to mean nothing. It is about a dead of a weekend as you will see. Or not see, depending how much time you spend indoors.
OK, there is one thing that might matter to you. The Seahawks first exhibition game of the year. What you thought we were going to mention the Mariners? Oh we will alright, but not the way you might think.
Anyhow, we were going to castigate anyone who might actually turn on Fox on Saturday night at 5 to watch a bunch of Seattle second- and third-string players take on the Cowboys’ soon-to-be-cut deep reserves.
But, hey, football. NFL football. It’s been since February. We get it. You do you. We’ll watch “Avengers: Endgame” for the 54th time. Or maybe catch up on “Hard Knocks.”
Actually, we probably will be watching the M’s. At least tonight (5:10 start) on the Mariners Network). To see if they can win a second consecutive game. The first came 1-0 Thursday afternoon in New York, courtesy of Logan Gilbert’s six shutout innings, a home run from Weston Wilson and some tightrope walking by the bullpen. Winning a second in-a-row is imperative, though, if not on this mid-August Friday then over the weekend.
Though stretching the winning streak to four straight is probably the only outcome that matters. Sweeping the three games in Houston – Saturday’s starts at 4:10, also on the M’s Network while Sunday’s is at 4:20 on NBC – is the bottom line, considering the road trip continues in Milwaukee on Tuesday. That and the fact the Astros lead Seattle by five games even after the M’s Thursday win in New York.
Take two of three and Seattle heads north to face the best team in baseball (by record) still trailing Houston by four. Sweep and you cut that in half. In a hopelessly inept season, that would actually qualify as a hopeful outcome.
Of course, lose two of three or be swept and hope flees out the back door, probably not to be seen again until the offseason.
If then.
• What else is there to watch this weekend?
The usual space fillers. Or nap inducers. We love golf (and might even tune in Sunday to see which college star wins the U.S. Amateur), but even we recognize the first round of the PGA Tour’s playoffs is pretty of a sleep-contractor. The stars will move on to the next round no matter what, which sort of cuts into the whole playoff motif. If you do want to watch, Sunday’s final round is on CBS at 11 a.m., an hour earlier than Saturday’s start.
The Sounders face Cascadia rival Vancouver in Lumen Field on Sunday night (7:30 p.m. kick) on Apple TV. That’s about 24 hours after the Storm attempts to keep its tanking hopes alive against Portland (7 p.m. Saturday on ION).
Other than that? Might as well spend the weekend helping your uncle with the wheat harvest. If the combine is air conditioned.
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WSU: If helping harvest wheat isn’t your favorite Palouse activity, then keep going south on U.S. 195 Saturday. The Cougars will be scrimmaging starting at 11 a.m. And maybe the offense will finally be asserting itself. Greg Woods has this coverage of Friday’s practice, highlighted by another big defensive play. … Greg also had some fun asking the players what play they would call if ever given the chance. … We linked Jon Wilner’s thoughts on win totals for each Pac-12 school yesterday in the Mercury News. His column runs in the S-R today. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, we make fun of NFL preseason games a lot. But, hypocritical, we also like to point out when a former Cougar, such as De’Zhaun Stribling or Kyle Williams, has a big game. … Oregon State expects big things out of one receiver. … The Fresno State athletic director is about to sign on for five more years. He may never see another play like this, though. … Tight ends are making a comeback for San Diego State. … The numbers bear out the thought Colorado State has rebuilt its roster. … In basketball news, the Oregon State women are playing in a high-level tournament. … The men are headed to Canada soon. … Elsewhere in the West and the nation, Washington’s safeties are being held to a high standard. The offensive line, meanwhile, is posting high golf scores. Together. … How good will the Oregon linebackers be? Some Ducks will be bigger, that is for sure. … Sports writers all over the country are decrying what’s happening with Colorado’s football practice right now. John Canzano joins the chorus. … We mentioned Utah and its quarterbacks yesterday. There is another story. … Arizona State will hold a scrimmage tomorrow. … The defense seems to be ahead in Tucson as well.
Gonzaga: Today Theo Lawson puts newly recruited transfer point guard Javon Bennett in the spotlight. Theo talked with the Dayton transfer, who was awarded another year of eligibility in an Ohio courtroom. … How is this happening? This story explains a lot of the nuts and bolts. And uses Gonzaga as its prime example.
EWU: The Eagles played on green turf yesterday. Without even leaving Spokane County. Dan Thompson was at ONE Spokane Stadium on Thursday for what has become Eastern’s annual trip downtown for a scrimmage. And Dan has this coverage. … James Snook also has a photo gallery. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the Montana defensive backs have quantity. Quality? That has to be determined. … The same can be said of Montana State. … The UC Davis battle at quarterback has a lot of subtext.
Idaho: The Vandals will scrimmage Saturday. Before then, though, Peter Harriman took in practice Thursday and has this report.
Indians: Losing eight of nine games is not the way to stay in the pennant chase. But that’s what’s happened to Spokane after Thursday’s 7-1 loss in Everett. Dave Nichols watched and has this story.
Mariners: We linked the game story from New York above. And again here. … The big news, though, might just be the Colt Emerson experiment is over for now. He was demoted to Tacoma after Thursday’s game. Could that mean J.P. Crawford will be back at shortstop? Or will Leo Rivas be the guy for a while? … We also linked the Times’ story on the big series in Houston above. And, yes, here too.
Reign: Seattle has a female coach. Laura Harvey has been in place for a while and will lead the Reign against Chicago on the road tonight. But that’s rare in high level women’s soccer, a happenstance “Ted Lasso” seems to be shining a spotlight upon this season.
Seahawks:Terrion Arnold has made his choice. The free agent defensive back signed with Seattle on Thursday. Now he and the Hawks will have to wait and see if the NFL allows him to play. He’s facing a handful of felony charges in Florida. … Jalen Milroe participated in three plays last season. He’ll get a lot more than that in the Saturday preseason game against the Cowboys. … We linked this Matt Calkins column on the humble Jaxon Smith-Njigba when it ran in the Times. It is on the S-R site today.
Sonics: This story about Portland was in the Times yesterday too. And appears on the S-R site today.
Motorsports: There are a couple important Airway X Motocross races in Airway Heights this weekend. Doug Pace has all the details.
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• Speaking of motorsports,Spokane’s bike trails and streets are overrun with e-motos being ridden by kids, some of whom obviously have yet to reach double digits in age. And they are riding at high speeds. Seems like a recipe for disaster that won’t force any sort of enforcement or hand-wringing until something awful happens. That’s the way this city works. Until later …
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• Photos: The Spokesman-Review, Getty Images, Tribune News Service