How about another Super Bowl win?
A GRIP ON SPORTS
Ok, that's over. To quote President Bartlett, what's next? Read on.
• Though the glow remains, the Super Bowl is in the rearview mirror. It's time to widen our focus. Heck, pitchers and catchers report – four of the finest words in the English language – in less than two weeks. That means baseball is just around the corner. And college basketball has been center stage everywhere but around here for weeks now. Even college football will butt-in tomorrow with the annual "this-is-the-best-recruiting-class-we've-ever-attracted" extravaganza that is each signing day. But before we let the Super Bowl glow fade we just want to remind you of one thing. The Seattle Seahawks, the Northwest's professional football team, are the champions of the National Football League. Enough said.
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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe caught a break Sunday. It seemed like just about every year I covered the Cougar basketball team, I was traveling somewhere on Super Bowl Sunday. Returning home from LA, Arizona or the Bay Area. Which means there was little chance to get into the super spirit. Oh, sure, I usually arrived back in Spokane in time for the game. But I was about two hot dogs and three beverages behind everyone else – and badly in need of a nap. That wouldn't have been good this week. Anyhow, Jacob is ready for signing day (I wonder if that needs capitals?) and gets you ready with this feature on the quarterback in this year's Cougar class, Peyton Bender (pictured). ... Jacob also has a blog post from yesterday on DaVonté Lacy's return as well as one this morning with links. ... Klay Thompson is in a shooting slump. Well, it's not as bad as the one he went through his sophomore year at WSU. ... The Pac-12 is eating its own in basketball as well.
• Gonzaga: Jim Meehan has a feature on one of the more indispensible Zags, Kyle Dranginis. ... San Diego recently received a rather large gift earmarked for athletics. In the small-world category, USD's associate director development mentioned in the story, Brian Fogarty, was once a high school teacher of mine.
• EWU: The Eagles' Tyler Harvey was once again the Big Sky player of the week.
• Preps: The SWABs junior awards were announced yesterday. ... District play began at the 2B level last night.
• Seahawks: Are you surprised the Super Bowl was the most watched sporting event in Seattle history? Yes, the 1995 M's playoff win over the Yankees – the Griffey smile game – had a higher rating, but 92 percent of all television sets switched on in Seattle Sunday were on the Hawks' game. Super Bowls are different in that they are watched more often in groups, so the rating may be lower but the share higher. Oh, and the game was the most watched TV show ever. ... Russell Wilson stayed in New York, did the Letterman Show and sat next to Beyonce at the Nets game (pictured at the top of the column). Nice night. ... There are more details available for tomorrow's victory parade. ... There is no chance for a Sports Illustrated cover jinx this week. ... The Hawks begin the offseason as next year's favorite. ... Winning didn't quench Doug Baldwin's fire. ... Malcolm Smith: the unlikely MVP. ... The 49ers are not happy with being second-best.
• Mariners: Yep, baseball will be upon us soon. And we found a Mariners story. How cool is that? About as cool as the temperature outside, which is hovering around the single digits this morning.
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• Guess what. Yesterday was supposed to be my final day on the radio for a while but Mother Nature must enjoy listening. The storm she sent toward Newark on Monday kept Keith Osso from returning on time and that allows me another day of work. You can listen here to Dennis Patchin, Rick Lukens and me from 3 to 6 p.m. Until then ...
