A Grip on Sports: The local teams don’t start for a while yet but next Saturday will feature college football

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The last Saturday without at least a dollop of college football? Yes, please.

•••••••

• When the biggest names set to play each other next Saturday are Nebraska and Northwestern, and it is no longer the late 20th Century, then you know the season won’t be getting off to a roaring start.

Well, there will be games featuring Florida State, Illinois, North Carolina and Vanderbilt, so the Power 5 will be represented pretty well in the 11 games on the slate. It’s just too bad none of them are playing another name school.

The other thing that is too bad? The games aren’t until next week. And most schools don’t start until Labor Day weekend.

What are we paying these players for, to take the entire summer off? Wait, we don’t pay them? Heck, fewer and fewer of us are even paying the schools for tickets to watch games. We pay with our eyeballs, sitting through interminable beer commercials and long soliloquies about how a certain conference values education above all else – while teams play a late-night game in the Midwest before flying back to the coast.

And we will probably be paying even more in a few years when the bigger, better media deals kick in.

Let’s forget all that today, OK? We’re too close to having our Thursday, Friday and Saturdays full. Sundays too, but that is another story. Anyway, get out today and do something with the family. They might not see you move much on the weekends for the next few months.

• We were exiled to the kitchen last night. The boys commandeered the big screen to watch the Sounders with their friends. Yes, it felt like the late 20th Century in our house. Except the soccer match was on Amazon Prime, which is why our house was the meeting place. That and the fact our TV is twice the size, and twice the definition, of theirs.

If you’re wondering why we were stuck in the kitchen, there is a simple explanation. We’ve downsized our TV load. The bedroom doesn’t have one anymore. Neither does my office. After (semi) retirement, we’ve decided to begin the process of simplifying our lives. The library is going through a cleansing. The garage as well. And the number of electronic devices in our house has been reduced. If it wouldn’t defeat the purpose of simplification, we might even invite Jeff Probst over to host a reality show in the place. At times it seems like a game of musical chairs if you want to watch the M’s.

At least we were able to see Eugenio Suarez blast a couple home runs, Marco Gonzales battle the A’s and an inconsistent strike zone, and Seattle win again. Turns out, if the two hottest teams in baseball right now were to match up the Series, we would see the Dodgers and the Mariners. Talk about worlds colliding.

For that, we would commandeer the big screen – Sounders be darned.

•••

WSU: The Cougars don’t begin play until Sept. 3, when they host Idaho. Basically, however, preseason camp will end this morning with a closed scrimmage. From here on in, it’s time to get ready for opponents, starting with the Vandals. Colton Clark was at practice yesterday and has this notebook. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, is the conference living in the past? … Jon Wilner has a bunch of stories on the Mercury News website this morning. Recruiting and money are covered. So is the season ahead for Arizona State with its new quarterbacks. … Speaking of a lot of stories, there are plenty on Oregon as the Ducks wind down camp and get ready for their opener with Georgia. … What is the goal of this season for Colorado? The Buffs want to earn respect. … Utah won the conference last year. Which translated into some great recruiting. … How will the increased Big Ten travel translate for UCLA and USC? … Chip Kelly doesn’t care. At least not yet anyway. … Ken Norton Jr. is back in Westwood. Seems like old times. … A Minnesota fan knew USC was sneaking away before anyone else. … Will Arizona sneak away too? This football season the Wildcats will try to sneak up on Pac-12 opponents. … In basketball news, Arizona State has filled out its staff.

Gonzaga: About 30% of the players who will represent Canada in the next 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifying window will be from GU. Kelly Olynyk, Kyle Wiltjer and Kevin Pangos are in Victoria, B.C., for the three-day training camp. Jim Meehan has more in this story.

EWU: Eastern held a scrimmage on the red yesterday and Aaron Best wasn’t pleased. Too inconsistent. Dan Thompson was in attendance and he has this coverage. The Eagles also begin their season Sept. 3, hosting Tennessee State. … Around the Big Sky, one of Northern Colorado’s incoming transfers is up for a national award. … Montana State spent the offseason trying to improve its strength up front defensively. … What was behind Idaho State’s quarterback decision? The Bengals begin their season next Saturday at UNLV.

Preps: High school football? Yep, it has begun in August once more. Dave Nichols has a roundup of the two games featuring North Idaho schools.

Indians: Spokane dominated Tri-City 7-0 behind Andrew Quezada’s excellent start. Dave has that story as well. By the way, despite the win, the Indians didn’t pick up any ground in the Northwest League pennant race.

Mariners: The 10-2 win wasn’t all that exciting, mainly because the Oakland Coliseum is a morgue these days. The A’s are awful and management is trying to force the city to build it a waterfront stadium or they will leave. … The M’s feel as if they will make the playoffs. They are already getting ready. Funny, a trio of players who were supposed to take them there are playing in Tacoma.

Seahawks: There are lessons to be learned from the loss to Chicago. But we still don’t know who will be the quarterback. … Damien Lewis was fortunate. So were the Hawks.

Storm: Just what did Seattle get out of its playoff opener with Washington? Here are four takeaways.

Sounders: A penalty kick in stoppage time on an iffy call? Was Seattle playing in Los Angeles? As a matter of fact, the Sounders were and the late goal lifted LAFC into an undeserved draw. At least Seattle picked up a point.

•••       

• Any special plans for the weekend? None here. Our days are full. Every day until the 22nd Century. Better make sure we take our vitamins. Until later …