A Grip on Sports: There are always a couple sides to every story, even in the pretty clear-cut world of sports
A GRIP ON SPORTS • For Christmas, Santa brought Kim a Far Side daily calendar. Just about every morning, before we start our journey around the Web, we take a glance at another way Washington State grad Gary Larson looked at the world back in the day. It’s always odd, twisted and, most importantly, funny. To honor Mr. Larson, as the New York Times called him, we try to look at things a bit differently on this Tostada Tuesday.
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• We’re not old enough to have experienced the Joe DiMaggio/Marilyn Monroe romance in real time. But our dad talked about it enough when we were young to feel as if we lived in that majestic era.
As one might suspect, Joe was a hero of our father’s, partly because they shared a first name but mostly because the Yankee Clipper was an Italian-American immigrant’s son from California. It was another thing they had in common. DiMaggio marrying a movie star, actually, the movie star? That was just icing on the Torta Caprese con le Noci.
The duo’s love affair, which started just after DiMaggio retired from the Yankees, and lasted, for DiMaggio at least, forever, resulted in a nine-month marriage. And flowers on Monroe’s grave until DiMaggio’s passing.
Why think of the ‘50s tabloid power couple? Well, there is a story on the Washington Post’s website today that compares their relationship to the nascent one between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. It’s a bit of a fallacy. But a fun lark.
Though Swift may be Monroe’s equal in the entertainment world – counterpoint: do you ever imagine her singing “Happy Birthday” to the president? – Kelce is nowhere near the pantheon of Joltin’ Joe, even in retirement.
The parallels are there, though. And modern social interaction being what it is, the relationship is even more white-hot. Then again, could you imagine Monroe and DiMaggio in this age of X and Instagram and the like? The Interweb might melt.
• It seems as if at least one scholarship quarterback at every Football Bowl Subdivision school decided to take a new look at their options. A story on The Athletic’s website this morning covered the comings and goings of 148 of them who entered the transfer portal this year.
Though, being there were 133 FBS schools in 2023, that’s more than one actually. If your school’s quarterback room stayed intact, you were not only lucky, you were an anomaly. An outlier. Or maybe an also-ran.
What is it they say about sharks? If they’re not moving forward, they are dead? Maybe the same is in play with college football programs these days.
• We are at the point in the college basketball season in which many attitudes and opinions have been set into concrete. Maybe well past that point. And it could hurt teams in this area.
Are Washington State’s men NCAA Tournament-worthy, even if they don’t win the Pac-12’s postseason tourney? It doesn’t help the Cougars they haven’t been in the nation’s consciousness for years. Or that their nonconference schedule wasn’t all that challenging. Or that their conference is derided for having a bunch of equal teams, instead of a handful of standout ones.
Less than 100 miles north of Pullman, Gonzaga’s men are going through the same wringer. Despite respect from the NCAA’s evaluation tool – the Zags, though not owning a Quad 1 win, are still ranked 26th by the NET system – the prognosticators from ESPN and elsewhere don’t see them as a participant. And that’s a tough narrative to overcome.
Both bubble teams may not be able to change the plot line either. Yes, WSU, thanks to the Pac-12’s actual depth, not the perceived variety, has multiple chances to score resume points. But lacking an overpowering record down the stretch, the built-in bias is going to be tough for the Cougs (ranked 40th in the NET) to surmount.
As for the Bulldogs, we’re pretty sure if they find a way to win Saturday’s nonconference extravaganza at 17th-ranked Kentucky, a school today actually one spot below GU in the NET, there will be some “Is Gonzaga back?” stories – but they will be completely overpowered with the “What’s wrong with the Wildcats?” think-pieces.
It all seems like perfect fodder for a Far Side cartoon.
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WSU: One reason why the Cougars are so deep in the NCAA conversation as February begins? Freshman point guard Myles Rice. He’s not just good, at times his play is surreal. And easy to reward. The Pac-12 did that again this week, as he won the conference Freshman of the Week award for the fifth time. Greg Woods has more on that in this story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, an NLRB official has once again ruled college athletes are employees. But unlike the last time this happened, in 2014, there is little chance a higher-up will overrule it. The courts? That’s where the final decision will be made. … Jon Wilner looks back at the men’s weekend in the Mercury News. … The paper also has Jeff Metcalfe’s review of the recent women’s games. … John Canzano answers questions in his Monday mailbag. … We can pass along power rankings for men and women from the Register-Guard. … Oregon is probably out of NCAA wiggle-room. It is a good thing Nate Bittle is back. … Cody Williams may not miss much time for Colorado. … The Oregon State women moved up 17th in the A.P. rankings. … Colorado jumped up to fourth. … The doubleheader in Tucson on Sunday was a big deal. … In football news, it seems as if Washington’s hire of Steve Belichick is going to happen. The Huskies also had some roster news. … Could Caleb Williams and Kliff Kingsbury reunite in the NFL? … Arizona State may have the Big 12’s toughest schedule next season. … Arizona is filling out its support spots.
Gonzaga: Great minds and all that. Jim Meehan examines how the Zags’ home loss to Saint Mary’s impacted the men’s perceived NCAA access. Quick summary: It was not positive. … Speaking of positives, the women won their game last week over Pacific by 7,000 points – OK, only 65 – and didn’t drop in the A.P.’s Top 25 poll. They didn’t rise either, staying at No. 19. By the way, they are 10th nationally in the NET. … Back to the men, or more specifically, the Kennel Club, the university is not happy with the performance Saturday night. There was an email sent university-wide yesterday decrying the outbursts near the end. Theo Lawson has the story. … Jim and Richard Fox have their Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast, which you can listen to in its entirety here.
EWU: The Eagles’ three-game weekend finished Monday night, with the men blowing out Portland State on the road 90-77 and the women routing PSU in Cheney 63-39. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, for Montana’s women, sweeping first-place Northern Arizona this season might be imperative to win the conference title.
Idaho: The Vandal men picked up a road win as well, topping Sacramento State 61-45. The women also won in Moscow.
Seahawks: Dave Boling has an idea for Pete Carroll’s next job. It’s not a coaching one. Yet Boling’s idea is brilliant, especially considering the way the NFL has appeared to abandon its players, as documented in a recent series of Washington Post stories. … The Seahawks were willing to pay Mike Macdonald more than Washington. That’s the crux of how they were able to get him to pick Seattle. … We asked this question yesterday: Is Jay Harbaugh the team’s next offensive coordinator? Turned out it was the wrong question to ask. He seems he may be the next special teams coordinator. Our bad. The search for an offensive coordinator goes on.
Sounders: Single-match tickets are on sale.
Storm: The roster rebuild continues with another high-profile signing. Seattle will be older this season but studded with stars.
Kraken: Shane Wright is shining in his AHL appearances.
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• We rarely get mornings in Spokane in early February like this one. Relatively warm. Clear skies. Sun bouncing off the shrinking piles of dirty snow. There is a certain beauty to it all. Until you look around the yard and realize how much cleanup work will need to be done. Uh, is it possible to get about six inches of new snow to cover everything up until late March? We’re just not ready yet to start raking. Until later …