A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is it college football season already? Is the Palouse wheat harvest finished? Those events go hand-in-hand every year, right? Run a parallel course, actually. At least on State Route 27 between Oakesdale and Garfield. That’s our way of saying to enjoy your trip to Pullman this morning. Enjoy the sites, the sounds, the pageantry. And more than likely, a Washington State win.
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• The Cougars are favored by four touchdowns. It’s why we felt safe in writing that last sentence of the previous paragraph. The 30,000 or so folks who will make the trek down “the back way” as we like to call it, down U.S. 195 from Spokane or across the state via I-90 and SR 26 through Colfax, should leave Martin Stadium happy. Then again, we foresaw the same thing in 2015 and Portland State ruined that prognostication.
Proving once more we have trouble seeing the future. OK, we could have stopped before typing, “the future.” But you get the picture, even if we have to put on our glasses, squint and move closer to make it out.
What are we looking forward to seeing today, this last day of August, 2024, on our TV?
• The CW Network’s first Pac-12 broadcast. Remember the Who, and their song about not getting fooled again? You don’t? What are you, 30? Well, folks who are in their 70s, and saw the ‘70s, do. There was a line near the end about meeting the new boss, same as the old boss.
Replace “boss” with “broadcast crew” and you would have a crappy song. But you would also have an inkling of what you will experience today. The CW is sending Ted Robinson, Ryan Leaf and Nigel Burton – each an alum of Pac-12 Network broadcasts – to call the game.
Deja vu? Or just common sense? Both, actually. No matter. We can’t wait to watch. Heck, we even saw The CW listed on the guide at our hotel. That part is different from the Pac-12 Network, right?
• We are also looking forward to seeing if we can write a coherent TV Take after a few months off. Our column will be on the website this afternoon. And in the S-R on Sunday morning.
• We are in California. Which means, even if our hotel or our mother-in-law had the Big Ten Network as part of their Comcast TV package, we wouldn’t be able to see either the Oregon vs. Idaho or Washington vs. Weber State. The carriage dispute between the cable behemoth and one of the all-too-powerful networks (in this case Fox, which owns controlling interest in the Big Ten), isn’t letting up.
Wait. We forgot to type “Network” after “Big Ten” just know. Funny. It’s still accurate.
Anyhow, most hotels have DirecTV. And mom has Spectrum. We would be good to go. If either wanted to pay the money for another Midwestern-based college sports network. Haven’t found that to be the case.
• We would like to watch the Oregon game today. Mainly because of the opponent. Will Idaho win? Well, the Ducks are 43.5-point favorites, so probably not. No one wants to see any of the poor sports books take a bath like that, especially not the Big Ten. But just seeing the Vandals running out onto the Autzen Stadium turf in their Nikes would be the worth the price of admission.
Actually, maybe even more, seeing that you can find a seat for $11 right now. Or $9, if you just want to stand.
• We have a little vested interest in Idaho State football this season – it’s a long, boring story and we share way too many of those here so we’ll skip it – and with the Bengals visiting Oregon State today, we have two reasons to watch. The other one? The Beavers are still in the Pac-12, right? It seems only appropriate that having eyeballs on the “other” team in a two-team conference would be an every-week occurrence – for both groups of followers. Followers who seem optimistic about the future.
• Let’s see. We have WSU and Portland State at noon on The CW. Oregon State and ISU on the same network at 3:30. We are curious about Oregon and Washington, but don’t want to waste our afternoon in a Buffalo Wild Wings looking up at a way-too-small screen. And that won’t work if the place is not willing to pay for BTN.
So, we have a lot of time. What else are we interested in seeing today?
The Mariners. Yep, that’s the ticket. We were driving last night so we couldn’t pull up the computer and log into AppleTV+ to watch. And we missed a five-run outburst by the visitors before two-thirds of the Angel Stadium crowd had arrived. Boy, those 73 people sure missed a lot.
Anyhow, the M’s are on Root tonight … wait, we’re not home. Crud.
Ok, then. Golf. From Atlanta. It’s on NBC this afternoon. Everyone gets NBC, right? We’ll sit down and … Oh, right. Scottie Scheffler, who leads by four strokes, tees off just before noon. During the Cougar game. And he’ll finish during the Beavers’ contest.
There’s always Sunday, right?
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WSU: Before we get to Greg Woods’ in-depth examination of the 2024 opener, we want to give you one more chance to peruse the S-R’s college football section. You know, in case you’ve been out-of-pocket the past few days. Traveling, for example. Here’s the link where you can find all the stories. … OK, Greg has his preview of the season opener. We love Jake Dickert’s attitude. Seeing all the uproar and change as an opportunity. It is. … Greg also has his pick – spoiler alert: he thinks the Cougars will cover – and his two-minute drill. Funny, when we were writing the two-minute drill, college football didn’t have a two-minute warning. It does now. … The S-R will have live updates all through the day. … Kyle Thornton has become a mainstay on the defense. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner opened the weekend with his Friday mailbag in the Mercury News. … Wilner and John Canzano also checked in on the Comcast/BTN standoff. Neither found any movement either way. … Canzano has more thoughts on today’s games. … Stanford played its first game as an ACC member on Friday night. And the Cardinal did something they did a lot in their latter Pac-12 years. They lost a game they had multiple chances to win. TCU came into the library-like Stanford Stadium and left with a 34-27 victory. … Trent Bray will coach his first game as Oregon State’s head coach today against Idaho State. How the Beavers will fare this season is a question no one can answer with any certainty. … The final Oregonian’s numbers stories run today. The players who wore No. 1 for Oregon State and Oregon. It’s been a long haul. … Yes, UW hosts Weber State tonight. Late. If you can watch and are still awake, here is what you should be looking for. … Oregon is ranked third nationally. Its head coach, Dan Lanning, seems to be locked in and has put together a powerful group. But he still has some things to prove. … Colorado’s two-way star, Travis Hunter, will have a lot of interest from the NFL. … Utah won easily on Friday, so a key backup got a lot of time. … California opens its ACC adventure with a familiar foe: UC Davis. We’re sure the Bears are paying the Aggies for the trip down Interstate 80. Maybe the money comes from UCLA’s Big Ten cut. … Speaking of the Bruins, they are in the islands for their opener. Facing Hawaii in the Warriors’ second game of the season. … USC was the best team in college football in 2003. The coaches thought so. The A.P. voters thought so. But the BCS computers did not. Hah. LSU defeated a flawed Oklahoma team in the BCS title games. The Trojans earned the A.P. poll nod. The two programs finally meet Sunday in Las Vegas. Neither are winning a national title this season. At least it does not look that way. … Arizona State’s opener with Wyoming is a big deal for the Sun Devils. … The same can be said for Arizona and its game with New Mexico. But in a different way. As in the Wildcats have big expectations this season. … In the Mountain West, Colorado State’s opener at Texas features a lot of storylines. And, maybe, a lot of points. … Boise State is in Georgia, where the weather may play a factor. … Speed is the key for San Diego State this season. … Robert Morris will hand Utah State its first test. Are the defensive backs, and everyone else, ready for it? … UNLV opens its season at Houston. There are questions about the quarterback position. … Air Force, and veteran coach Troy Calhoun, open the season by hosting Merrimack. Really? … In basketball news, Utah has added another assistant coach. … Finally, both WSU and Oregon State will compete in the WCC for women’s volleyball.
EWU: The Eagles’ 42-27 season-opening home win over Monmouth was not just a victory. It was a statement. That the Eagles are back? No. That this team, when it all comes together as it did Thursday night, can compete with anyone. Dan Thompson has more in this look back at the victory. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Missouri State visits Montana today, which means there is a reunion of sorts. … Montana State travels to Utah Tech. … Weber State has its work cut out tonight at Washington. … Cal Poly is at the University of San Diego. … Sacramento State was the victim of a San Jose State trick play Thursday.
Idaho: The Vandals are in Eugene. We’ve covered that in depth. Now we pass along Peter Harriman’s thoughts on what you should be looking for in today’s contest. … There is this look at UI in the Oregonian.
Indians: Spokane and Tri-City played another 10-inning game Friday night. This time, the home team won, walking off the Dust Devils 3-2. Those fireworks were followed by the explosive type. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, the Indians are two games up in the second-half standings as Vancouver fell to host Hillsboro 9-3. The Hops are just two games behind Vancouver in the overall standings. … Everett defeated Eugene 12-6 in Oregon.
Seahawks: Geno Smith. Russell Wilson. Intertwined. Forever? … There are always interesting roster stories. But this interesting?
Mariners: The good news. An Angels’ error and some timely hitting led to five first-inning runs. Julio Rodriguez hit another home run. The Mariners won 9-5 and kept pace, such as that is, with Houston in the American League West. The bad news? George Kirby seems to have hit a wall. He hasn’t thrown well lately. … Expect Seattle to make a waiver claim this weekend in an attempt to solidify the bullpen. … The city of Oakland is about to sell the A’s former home. It is going to take a lot of work to make it shine again.
Storm: Despite losing to Breanna Stewart (32 points) and the New York Liberty 98-85 at home last night, Seattle clinched a playoff berth.
Sounders: Seattle returns to MLS play with a home matchup with its biggest rival, Portland. … The Timbers are confident in their identity as they head to Seattle.
Reign: An old teammate awaits as Seattle travels to Louisville.
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• Yes, we will have our TV Take on the S-R sports site this afternoon. Thank goodness the game isn’t on the Big Ten Network. Until later …