A Grip on Sports: America’s No. 1 sport is off and running and we are all ensnared in its web

A GRIP ON SPORTS • And we’re off. Football season, all levels of it, will be in full swing this weekend. High schools. Colleges. The NFL. Now until the new year. And beyond. Welcome to America. And Americana.

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• Sure, baseball is still considered America’s pastime. But football is how Americans prefer to pass their time. It is a uniquely American sport. And, by any measure, America’s No. 1 sport.

TV ratings. Money wagered. Attendance. Media buzz. They all favor football.

Baseball may be a source of poetry, golf a source of business dealings and soccer a source of beauty, but football is our wellspring. It nourishes the American soul in the fall, as nature’s bounty starts to fade. It gets us through the early throes of winter and, thanks to the long reach of the NFL, distracts us during the worst part of the year’s bleak months.

Even now, with the sun shining and the grass still growing underneath our bare feet, football grabs our attention.

No matter where you live, there is a high school game to attend on Friday night. Saturday brings the long tailgate, either at the stadium or in the living rooms of families across the nation. Sunday is the professionals’ time to take over the pulpit, delivering sermons about toughness and fortitude from Green Bay to Phoenix and all points in-between.

Heck, in the Northwest, the weekend revelry will extend into late Monday night, as Russell Wilson makes his return to the Emerald City, an orange horde in his wake.

What’s on tap this weekend?

Way too many high school games to delve into with any depth but let’s just say there is one for everyone to enjoy and leave it at that.

Washington State travels to Madison, Wisconsin for a game featuring a contrast in styles and, soon, an even-wider contrast in pocketbooks. In a serendipitous coincidence, new coach Jake Dickert gets to return to his home state for a game scheduled about a decade ago. Whether his Cougars will make it a happy homecoming is the reason many of us will tune in.

Eastern Washington and Idaho join nearly all of their Big Sky brethren in playing games motivated by their pocketbooks as well. The Eagles (at Oregon) and Vandals (at Indiana for a second consecutive season) are playing guarantee games, traveling to an FBS school for a slim chance at a historic upset and the sure thing of a fat financial guarantee.

Of the 11 Big Sky games this Saturday, six could be consider such money games. Two others are road games against highly respected FCS foes. And just three (the two Montana schools and Cal Poly) are home games. Such is the case most years early in the season.

After Saturday’s orgy of college games are over, we rest. But only a few hours. The NFL begins its annual steamrolling of our time on Sundays with enough marquee matchups to satiate the most ardent fan. Maybe the best one is actually on Thursday, with the defending Super Bowl champion Rams hosting the AFC favorite Buffalo Bills. But Sunday isn’t bereft of stellar matchups. Not with the always over-rated Cowboys hosting Tom Brady and Tampa.

The most-anticipated game in these parts, of course, is Monday night. Only Hawk fans with their vision obscured by rose-colored glasses foresee a close game, though that doesn’t matter.

It’s Wilson return to the scene of his greatest glory, something he may never do again in a Bronco uniform. It’s Seattle’s fans having the chance to show their magnanimous attitude or their vindictive pettiness. It’s a tough decision. And a tough matchup for the Hawks.

Monday night is also an opportunity for those of us who understand the place football plays in the nation’s sporting consciousness. We can sit, point at the TV, take in the bedlam and utter three words. “See, we’re right.”

We don’t get that chance all that often.

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WSU: No more looking back. It’s time to jump in with both feet and look ahead. To Saturday and the matchup with Wisconsin. Colton Clark gives us this in-depth first look at the game with the Badgers. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, the polls will be out today. In the Mercury News, Jon Wilner shares how he voted, this week’s betting lines and his first power ranking of the conference schools. WSU is 11th this week. … We can pass along a notebook as Washington prepares for a visit from Portland State. … Oregon State will have to battle Fresno State and the heat of the San Joaquin Valley. It’s hard to tell what will be the greater challenge. … Oregon, as we mentioned above, is hosting Eastern Washington. The Georgia loss is still on the Ducks’ minds. … Air Force is favored in its game with Colorado. … The loss was not the only nightmare happenstance for Utah over the weekend. … A walk-on is shining for UCLA. … Caleb Williams showed the USC faithful just what to hubbub was about. Now he’ll have to do it against Stanford on the road. … One game in and Arizona State has already lost a key player to season-ending injury. … Arizona has more than one running back it can count upon.

Gonzaga: What happened to Chet Holmgren is neither rare nor career-destroying.

EWU: Gunner Talkington had a great debut for the Eagles. Good enough, in fact, to earn conference player of the week honors. Dan Thompson delves into that and more in this story. … Dave Cook caught up with T.J. Lee after Lee played in his 100th Canadian Football League game. Lee’s career up north may never end. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, defense and special teams showed out for Montana. … As Montana State prepares for Moorhead State, a player is lost to injury. … Idaho State will play its second money game, this one at San Diego State. … UC Davis is on the road but its opponent is an FCS power.

Idaho: Ray McDonald and others will be honored by the university at the first home football game of the season, Sept. 17 against Drake. That and more is contained in the S-R’s most recent local briefs column.

Mariners: Seattle played as if it was a team that returned home at 3 in the morning. And had a game at 3 in the afternoon. The offense was sluggish and third base coach Manny Acta made the wrong decision in the bottom of the ninth. Though Marco Gonzales posted another solid outing, the M’s fell 3-2 to the White Sox. … Just how did the M’s pass the time during the long rain delay in Cleveland? … Seattle’s string of recent success has it moving up power rankings.

Seahawks: For the first time since Wilson was a rookie, the Hawks’ quarterback is not a captain. … Speaking of Wilson, Pete Carroll relishes the challenge he and the Broncos will present next Monday night.

Storm: Sunday’s loss didn’t just mean Seattle is one game from elimination in the WNBA playoffs. It also carries with it the pain of a last-second breakdown.

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• Alice Cooper never sang about school starting. Try as we might, we can’t remember any rock and roll song celebrating that event. Nor a rap song nor disco neither, though our memory of those genres doesn’t run too deep. There probably should be a blues record with such a subject, but Google couldn’t find one. Anyway, the school year began in Spokane today. How fun. Until later …