A Grip on Sports: Tradition is important, but, like everything, changes have come to the best one in high school sports

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is a way to know spring has unofficially arrived in Spokane and it has nothing to do with the weather. Or flowers. Or the calendar. The State B tournaments take over the Arena.

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• Tradition is a funny thing. It always carries with it a welcome sense of continuity, of familiarity with what has come before and will come again. But if can also be a weight that doesn’t allow change, slowing down growth and keeping us from staying true to the times.

It’s a thin line and knowing when to cross isn’t easy. There is no tradition handbook with rules and regulations. The only guideposts for traditional events come from outside, whether it is how the public perceives it or whether they decide to attend. Even then, other factors come into play, factors that are uncontrollable to those in charge.

High school State basketball championships in Washington have changed considerably over the recent years. Most of the changes have been driven by a lack of attendance. That hits the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which oversees high school sports in the state, where it hurts the most: the wallet.

State championships feed the organization’s coffers, with the bulk of the WIAA’s budget dependent on whatever funds can be derived from them. As interest has wavered over the years, the WIAA has been forced to make changes to championships as well – all the while trying to keep tradition in play.

Spokane has felt it. Where once there was one State B tournament – “once” being defined as time period lasting about a half-century – there are now two. That split wasn’t driven by finance as much as it was by fairness. The difference in attendance (and competiveness) between the biggest 2B schools and the smallest 1B ones is huge in a relative sense. Splitting the classification in two made sense when it was done in 2007. Still does, even if it messed with tradition.

Other State tournament changes haven’t been as kind in the sense fewer teams make it to the State site, whether that is Tacoma, Yakima or Spokane. But we’re not sure that is as bad a thing as it seems. Getting to State is not a right. It is an earned reward. Not making it, as painful as it feels in the moment (and we’ve experienced this firsthand recently), is one of those life lessons sports is supposed to teach, whether the cutoff is 16 or 12 or four teams. Nothing is given. Earn it. Cherish it.

Once there, the tradition is alive, even if the crowds are not. At least not as alive as they were two or three generations ago. Or as plentiful.

No matter. The goal is the same. So is the effort required to earn it. And that’s the tradition that is important.

• The media had a different outlook than the Pac-12 coaches in their women’s basketball awards. The second group of awards, voted by those who cover the conference, were announced yesterday. Most notably among the difference? Washington State’s Kamie Ethridge was named the coach of the year, not Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer.

We documented why we felt that was the correct choice in this space yesterday. We stand by those comments. As did, seemingly, the media members who voted.

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Gonzaga: There is a lot to cover here, from West Coast Conference awards (and the ensuing controversies) to the upcoming tournament (which starts today). Where to begin? How about with the honors? Theo Lawson seems to be the guy covering those at whatever level, so he has the honor of telling us about the hardware raked in by the Zag men. … The tournament? Jim Meehan looks toward that, with an eye on who could stand between GU and another title. … Keeping with the awards, Jim Allen relays how many the Zag women won and then takes exception to the other coaches passing up Lisa Fortier as coach of the year. He uses a rare weapon, logic, to hoist them on their own petard. … Jim also previews the upcoming tournament with an eye on the rest period the Bulldogs enjoy. … On the recruiting front, a coveted Southern California point guard (who attends a school we still won’t name, as they were our high school’s arch-enemy) lists Gonzaga among his final four schools. Theo has this on Dusty Stromer, who also has Arizona on that list. … Once a player arrives at Gonzaga these days, they need help navigating the new world of NIL. Two alums, Matt Santangelo and Shaniqua Nilles, have teamed with local businesses to help them. Theo has more in this story. … Though Gonzaga is No. 1 in the nation, this year that’s a more abstract concept than many years. … Around the WCC, BYU has a chance to change the narrative on its season – and its stay in the conference.

WSU: Another change driven by the pandemic occurs tonight in Pullman. The Cougars will meet Oregon State in another back-to-back series with a Pac-12 school. It’s different. Colton Clark has this preview. … There are athletes from Ukraine all over the United State, including Washington State. Colin Tiernan has this feature on Kateryna Maistrenko, a WSU rower. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, can Washington play spoiler against hated Oregon? … Arizona State is peaking at the right time. … Stanford isn’t and Arizona hopes to take advantage. … The women’s tournament began yesterday with Oregon State stopping Arizona State, UCLA defeating USC, Washington losing to Colorado and Utah defeating California. Washington State will play the Utes tonight. … In football news, we almost wrote about the NFL draft combine going on in Indianapolis right now. And we do have more coverage in the Seahawks’ section below. But here we focus on the Pac-12’s most intriguing attendees. … USC has one of them. … Washington’s cornerbacks are high atop anyone’s lists. … Arizona began spring practice yesterday. We’re sure it was warmer in Tucson than here. … The amount of money the Pac-12 earns when media rights come open in a couple years will be dependent on things outside its control. … An Oregon receiver spoke about why he declared for the draft. … Colorado is moving quickly to fill a staff opening. … Finally, this is awfully sad news from Stanford.

EWU: The Eagles’ basketball team wouldn’t be where it is without the contributions of freshman Ethan Price. To quote my all-time favorite (though-not-really-a) Star Trek movie, “He’s British.” Dan Thompson has this story. … The Eastern women lost at Northern Arizona. … Dave Cook had another conversation with former Eastern football coach Dave Hansen, who is still in Ukraine. … Around the Big Sky, the Bobcats’ Washington transfer is reaching new heights. He has helped Montana State earn at least a share of the conference title. … Montana began spring football long before the flowers began to pop up in Missoula.

Preps: We had some thoughts on State above, as the tournaments began yesterday. But the best high school story today? That comes courtesy of Dave Nichols, who has this piece on Cusick’s Louis Cullooyah and his mom Taunie. Some of us have been around long enough to remember the story from years past that Dave is actually updating. … Dave also has a series of game stories, but we’ll start with his roundup of the smaller school action. Now we can move on to the stories from Tacoma, including coverage of Gonzaga Prep’s win over Federal Way, Central Valley’s loss to Kamiakin and Ferris’ defeat at the hands of Rainier Beach, all in boys’ action. And all were in loser-out games. … West Valley’s girls had the same challenge in Yakima at the 2A tourney. They overcame top-seeded Tumwater 56-52 to move on.

Mariners: Ryan Divish had a chance to watch a little of the M’s prospects against San Diego until he was booted from Peoria’s back fields. At least that is the impression we got from his Twitter feed.

Seahawks: The best of the combine? Media availability. Pete Carroll always seems to speak more freely at the event and he was open and straightforward again yesterday. It didn’t matter the subject, whether it was Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner or his hubris about the Hawks’ defense, Carroll talked about it. … John Schneider spoke as well. … As for Wilson, next year is set in stone. After that things might change.

Kraken: The seven-game losing streak ended last night in Seattle against Nashville, 4-3.

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• Ever run a race when you were young? We did. A few times. And we’ll never forget the first 10k we took part in. All we could think about after the first k or so was where the heck is the darn finish line? Did it keep moving? We should have been there by now. Little did we know then, some 50 pounds and 40 years ago, life would be somewhat similar. Where the heck is the work finish line? Shouldn’t it have been here by now? For Kim, it is finally in view. After nearly 40 years in nursing, time is winding down. Which means, like everything else connected to work in America these days, we have meetings to attend today. Got to get ready for when everything changes, right? Do your due diligence. Be prepared. Then coast. Or something like that. But don’t worry. She may be headed into a well-deserved career sunset but her husband? He’s an idiot. He will be doing this crud for a while yet. Like doughnuts, he’s actually addicted to it. Until later …