A Grip on Sports: There are few explosive sporting events to watch this weekend, but who cares, right? It’s a holiday

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is it the dog days of summer already? Reading through the weekend schedule of televised sports, and using it as a guide, the answer would have to be a resounding yes.

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• And that’s OK. The Fourth of July holiday isn’t about staying inside and watching explosive action on the TV. For way too many people, it’s about going outside and exploding things such as fireworks, thumbs, the neighbor’s car, all the grass at the local vacant lot and so on.

In other words, a holiday to celebrate the freedom to be a stupid … OK, we won’t use profanity. We’ll wait to exercise that First Amendment freedom the first (and every) time we hear a firework boom in our neighborhood. And our dog races downstairs in a vain attempt to get away from the attack of the unsafe and insane noises.

But we digress. What’s on?

Wimbledon, though we are long gone from the glory days of the 1980s, when U.S. men would dominate the draw – and television sets throughout America were tuned to the final. Heck, in 1982, six of the eight men’s quarterfinalists were American. The championship match, between winner Jimmy Connors and some guy named John McEnroe, actually occurred on July 4.

Those were the days.

And they, like the fireworks show down at the stadium, are gone with the wind.

But Wimbledon lives on. It’s on the ESPN channels all weekend. Except when baseball is on. Or soccer.

The Euros 2021 match today at noon between Italy – my alma mater, so to speak – and Belgium is one of the weekend’s highlights. England’s match with Ukraine tomorrow is also high up the list of the weekend’s highlights.

Which is fitting, I guess. It is Fourth of July weekend. If the British go down against the Ukrainian upstarts on July 3, would anyone in America be downhearted?

Heck, it would almost be enough to merit a few fireworks.

• There is a meme going around on Twitter – I would write “social media” but other than checking Instagram occasionally and always ignoring my Facebook feed, Twitter is social media for me – asking former college athletes to show four businesses they would have shilled for if NIL had been a thing back in their day.

Mine are simple. In-n-Out for sure. All the company would have had to do was supply free burgers for a year or so. Chevron too. After all, I was driving the L.A. freeways with abandon back then. Hamburger Hamlet, where I took all my first dates, trying to impress them by ordering the Richard III burger and explaining the symbolism of the king’s hump (and, yes, there were very few second dates).

The fourth one? Winchell’s maybe, though by college it was beyond my price point. But I’m guessing it would have been Aviator sunglasses. I only wore them indoors, sure, and only in lecture halls during finals weeks, but, you know, they helped me stay eligible. If you get my drift. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Psst, move your darn elbow.

• By the way, the number of stories we have to link below on the NIL revolution (is it reformation?) is impressive.

• Is marijuana a performance-enhancing drug? Maybe. There was an UC Irvine outfielder back in my day that smoked before every game, claiming it calmed his nerves and allowed him to concentrate. It worked for him. He hit well over .300 that season. But such anecdotal evidence isn’t the way of the world. Then again, neither is common sense.

U.S. Olympic Trials 100-meter winner Sha’Carri Richardson won’t be running that race in Tokyo. She tested positive for marijuana use. It’s a banned substance. A 30-day suspension has been handed down. She’s out for the race but would be eligible for the 400-meter relay, which will occur after the suspension is over.

She admits she smoked after her mom died. She did it in a state where it is legal. But it’s a banned substance, she knew that and she accepts her penalty. OK. But the U.S. team needs to take her and let her run in every relay she can.

Remember the scene in Chariots of Fire, in which the one British guy (ya, I know, they were all British guys) gives up his spot for that other British guy who won’t run the 100 final on a Sunday? It’s sort of like that. For the modern world.

Some day the incident could be the basis of a remake of the Academy Award winning film. And they wouldn’t even have to change the name.

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WSU: Did we mention somewhere we have a lot of stories to link about NIL? Yes we did. And the first one is here, from Theo Lawson. It concerns Calvin Jackson Jr., who is capitalizing on his fame that predates his time in Pullman. … The whole sea change is the subject of this Greg Mason story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college sports, a former Oregon football player is telling his story in hopes of helping others. … Hey, another Utah quarterback story. On a different starting candidate. … Oregon State alum Ethan Thompson is trying to improve his NBA stock. … What did we say about NIL stories? Yes, there are a lot of them, three from Colorado, a couple from Utah, some from Los Angeles, a story from Arizona, and on. … Should Reggie Bush get his Heisman (and his records) back? Being they never should have been pulled anyway, the answer would seem to be yes. That’s not the logic the NCAA and the Heisman organizers will use though.

Gonzaga: Of course GU athletes are candidates for endorsement deals. Who doesn’t think Chet Holmgren selling Canada Goose coats or Drew Timme shilling Morgan’s Moustache and Beard Cream is a good idea? Jim Meehan delves into their possibilities and how much money they might make in this story. … What book does Corey Kispert recommend you read this summer? You can find out here. Please ignore the blatant error in the George Raveling bio. I couldn’t.

Indians: There is a grind aspect to professional baseball. It’s a lesson every player has to learn. Dave Nichols picked one Spokane player and wrote about him. … Dave also wrote about the Indians’ 6-1 win over visiting Tri-City last night.

Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi was sharp again – he should make the All-Star team – as the M’s continued their surprising roll, defeating the host Blue Jays 7-2 in Buffalo, N.Y.

Seahawks: Wednesday’s minor roster move? There was an awful reason behind it.

Storm: Mercedes Russell has been integral in Seattle’s success.

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• Seriously folks. Fireworks are illegal in Spokane, for a variety of reasons. Setting them off, especially this year, is just plain silly. And risky, considering if you happen to start a fire and it burns down my house, I’ll be pretty mad. And we all know what happens when a Sicilian gets mad, right? Until later …