A GRIP ON SPORTS • Cup your hand behind your ear. Can you hear that? It’s not loud, I know. But it’s out there, like the sound of leaves rustling in a slight summer breeze. It’s the sounds of football. Somewhere out of our vision, sure, but coming into view. You can just hear the faintest of rumblings. Read on.

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• The faintest of rumblings? Horse droppings. The full-blown 76-piece band will be playing today in Pasadena or San Francisco or wherever the Pac-12 is holding its football media days this year. (OK, I know they are in beautiful downtown Burbank – and if you get that reference you are officially old – but this media circus moves around more than Barnum and Bailey.) College football season is in motion, that’s for sure. And we couldn’t be more thrilled. Really, what else is there to look forward to in August? Heat? A PGA without a chance for a grand slam? The Mariners? Only one of those things even remotely excites me, so we’ll be more than happy to welcome the beginning of college football – and, to a lesser degree, the Seahawks training camp. (If you are wondering why the Hawks don’t excite me more, it has to do with the nature of the NFL’s preseason. There isn’t a lot of excitement until the regular season begins. The storylines seem kind of contrived and just a rehash of the offseason. College football, on the other had, with its constant turnover, has a preseason that means a lot. Heck, take Eastern for instance. As the Eagles prep for the opener, aren’t you excited to see how the defense comes together under a new coordinator and how the offense coalesces with a new quarterback in charge?) The Pac-12 ups the ante today with the first of two media days. The biggest news today? The preseason poll. Talk about a dart board or a back-alley crap game or Carnac the Magnificent. (Didn’t he live in Burbank?) Trying to pick the winners this far in advance is a gamble at best and a guess at worst. Heck, I could see Washington State finishing as high as third in the North – and as low as sixth. The only team I don’t believe has a shot at winning the Pac-12 South is Colorado and the Buffs may just decide the race with a big upset. So who finishes where? Your guess is as good as mine. I really don’t remember a Pac-12 season with more question marks. Honestly. How well will UCLA’s offense play without Brett Hundley? Who will be Oregon’s quarterback? Does USC have enough depth to survive its schedule? Is Stanford’s Kevin Hogan the real deal or just an overrated, strong-armed slinger? Can Arizona State reload? California? Will Rich Rodriguez figure out a way to get Scooby Wright in on even more tackles? If Washington State doesn’t make a bowl, will Mike Leach’s seat get really toasty? Heck, those questions just scratch the surface. Which is why the first section of the links, the WSU section, is full of links today. Everyone is trying to answer them this morning. Not us. We know whatever we write will be outdated in a week or two, after the first big injury of camp or the emergence of the newest Marcus Mariota. Between now and then, though, enjoy the music that is college football.

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• WSU: We’ll start with Jacob Thorpe’s blog post from this morning. He has his ballot. I’m guessing his picks were done in a haze of red meat, fueled by a trip to In-n-Out last night. How else can you explain picking USC to win the conference title? By the way, his media brethren agree with him. ... The Pac-12 coaches were in Bristol, Conn., yesterday, going through the ESPN car wash. Of course it was Leach who put the shine on the day, reiterating his believe there should be a 64-team football playoff just like the basketball one. I’m not going to point out there is about a third the number of teams in NCAA FBS football than there is in Division I basketball. Why let facts get in the way of great quote? After all, he also mentioned the Kardashians, the British Royal family and Deflategate in one sentence. ... The conference is not doing itself many favors. There are more great players not in Burbank than there are those attending. ... Still, there are enough questions and storylines and whatever to fill up a handful of reporter notebooks. ... It looks as if Daquawn Brown is going to end up at Fresno State. ... Will the AT&T takeover of DirecTV help the Pac-12? ... Who is the Cougars' most important player?

• Shock: The Shock have become the Woody Hayes of the AFL recently and it’s actually worked. Jim Meehan has more on the team’s revived running game and how it’s helped it win in his weekly notebook.

• Indians: Eugene jumped ahead early and a series of pitchers kept the Indians off-balanced all night in the Emeralds’ 4-3 win at Avista on Wednesday. Chris Derrick has more in this game story and blog post.

• Seahawks: Training camp begins Friday. There were rumblings out there yesterday that camp will begin without Kam Chancellor. He reportedly wants to renegotiate a contract that has three more years to run. Isn’t winning fun? ... Without Chancellor or the injured Earl Thomas, the Legion of Boom isn’t all that booming, is it? ... Can anyone in the 2014 draft class emerge as a star this season?

• Mariners: Want to epitomize the 2015 season in one day? Just use yesterday. Robinson Cano, the M’s most important offensive player, is out, due to an abdomen strain that hits just as he’s beginning to hit. Felix Hernandez, the team’s best pitcher, can’t get the ball down and is roped all over the place by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Wellington Castillo, the catcher Jack Zduriencik traded for to backup Mike Zunino and then traded to get Mark Trumbo, is on base five times and hits two home runs in Arizona’s 8-2 (fixed from earlier), sweep-ensuring victory. Yep, that’s this season all right. ... By the way, Art Thiel is now on board. He thinks Jack Z. has to go.

• Sounders: Clint Dempsey has played a lot lately. Just not for Seattle. He helped the MLS group win the all-star battle with Tottenham, 2-1 last night.

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• It won’t be long now. Who do you think will win this season’s Pac-12 football championship? Pick a winner on our poll and tell us how you feel below. Until later ...

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