A Grip on Sports: Bowl season gets underway today, which can be a good or bad thing

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s finally here. Bowl game season. It starts tonight. Continues Saturday. Which means your free time is gone. Kaput. Finished. Hope your Christmas shopping is done.

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• We’re a traditional guy. Which is why we are silly enough to think you can’t shop for the perfect gift from your Laz-e-Boy. While watching the state schools of Oregon and Utah match up in La La Land.

Now, with supply chain issues and the like, getting said gifts where you want them to go is a crapshoot but who knows, Amazon might come through in seven days. The question is, will the Beavers cover the seven points? Really, to many of you folks, that is all that matters.

There are two bowl games on today: One of them, the Bahamas Bowl, kicks at 9 in the morning. The other, the Cure Bowl, starts at 3 p.m. (PST). Tradition is alive and well – somewhere in the South Seas, I guess, because a bowl game from the Bahamas and/or something call the Cure Bowl, doesn’t resonate in my memory banks. The four participants? Middle Tennessee State and Toledo in the early game and Northern Illinois and Coastal Carolina in the afternoon.

So much for traditional powers.

It gets better Saturday. Besides Oregon State meeting Utah State in the Los Angeles Bowl – according to the trades, Jimmy Kimmel’s name is attached – on ABC, you can also watch games with western schools such as Fresno State and BYU.

Both days also feature FCS playoff games, with the one remaining Big Sky school, Montana State, hosting South Dakota State at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.

But football – we’ll get back to the coronavirus-riddled NFL in a moment – isn’t all that’s on this weekend.

There is plenty of college basketball, from near and far. In Gonzaga’s case, both. The Zags’ matchup with Texas Tech on Saturday not only is in an odd location – Phoenix – it starts at an odd time – 10 a.m.

It’s not often you can watch a GU game while still being able to get a Big Breakfast at McDonald’s. We would blame the proliferation of bowl games but the Bulldogs’ battle in Arizona is on CBS, a network that has pretty much exited the postseason college football picture.

Looking at the list of Saturday’s televised games, we see Washington State is hosting Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. on Pac-12 Washington, which means we won’t be able to see it in our hotel room. (Thanks Larry Scott.) And two bluest of blue bloods also face off on CBS following the Gonzaga game, with UCLA and North Carolina tipping at noon. Now that’s tradition.

What isn’t is NFL games in peril due to a late-season COVID-19 outbreak. The Seahawks had two cases surface yesterday, with Tyler Lockett and Alex Collins entering the protocols. Their opponent, the Rams, are so bad I get this vision of Sean McDermott dressed on the sidelines like Dustin Hoffman in “Outbreak.”

Thank goodness the NFL is sticking to its guns and keeping the affected players on the sidelines. Wait, what? The league changed its rules to make it easier for players to get back on the field?

I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.

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Gonzaga: The Zags got to Phoenix early enough Thursday to catch Corey Kispert and the Wizards play against the Suns. Jim Meehan was at the game as well and has this story. … Texas Tech is known for its defense, something the Zags found out a few years ago in the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga will send another highly efficient offense on the court to face the Red Raiders on Saturday, even without Kispert in the lineup. Theo Lawson breaks it down.

WSU: The Pac-12 released next season’s football schedule, with the days – a few may change – but no times. The key for the Cougars and their followers? The Apple Cup will be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Yep, no Friday in 2022. Colton Clark has this in-depth look at the schedule. I may figure out a way to make the Wisconsin trip again. It was so much fun in 2007. … Colton also has this story on Jayden de Laura up for an award that probably means a lot to him and his family. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Jon Wilner delves into the schedule in this column on the S-R site. … We also can pass along stories from Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, California, Arizona, Arizona State, USC, UCLA and Colorado. … UCLA may have found its quarterback for those games. … Arizona is still looking. … Utah’s season has not been easy. … Oregon State’s defense has improved as the season has progressed. Trent Bray hopes that continues Saturday. … Oregon’s interim coach isn’t sure where he will be this time next year. And we’re still not sure how many Ducks will skip the Alamo Bowl. … In basketball news, it doesn’t look as if the conference will get more than three NCAA bids. … Arizona is on track for one of those, though teams are starting to play the Wildcats differently. … Colorado hopes to get a player back soon. … The Stanford women are on a tough road trip.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado will visit Pullman on Saturday hoping to take care of the details and the Cougars. … A Montana State win over South Dakota State moves the Bobcats into the FCS semifinals.

Preps: Dave Nichols took in a non-league game between GSL foes University and Ferris last night. He has this story of the visiting Saxons’ 52-50 victory. James Snook has a photo gallery as well. … Dave finishes up the evening’s coverage with this roundup of other action.

Chiefs: This hasn’t been the best of seasons for Spokane. Dan Thompson delves into the reasons behind the Chiefs’ poor record and what the future might hold.

Seahawks: Things were going well for Seattle on the coronavirus front until yesterday. … The wide receiver group is pretty slim for the game against the host Rams.

Mariners: Ty France’s future might be cloudy but his present is a gift to the M’s.

Kraken: While the NFL makes it easier for a player to get back on the field, the NHL is trying to nip the COVID-19 problem by tightening policies throughout the league.

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• If I were king of the world I would mandate all hotel rooms must have a Kuerig coffee machine. That way I could drink the coffee I like on the road. Wait. If I were king of the world I wouldn’t have to worry about such mundane things. I would have coffee fresh ground for me each morning before I started writing this column. What? You think I would quit doing this? No way. You have to a steady income in case the revolution comes. Until later …