A Grip on Sports: Summer isn’t officially over for a while but as college football starts we see its end not far ahead

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Two words for your weekend. College. Football. OK, so it’s not a real deep slate of games. Nor are there any huge matchups. But. College. Football.

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• So what if it is 90 degrees outside. Or that the M’s are playing at home. Or the grass is greener than it’s been in a while and needs a trim. So what. College. Football.

Notre Dame is playing. In Ireland. Against the Naval Academy. It kicks on NBC at 11:30 a.m. And off we go. Until January. That’s 2024. Middle of winter. College. Football.

Who cares if there are no SEC teams to watch? No Big Ten teams playing, unless you want to include USC. The Trojans kick off their final Pac-12 season – ever – with overmatched San Jose State in the Coliseum (Pac-12 Network, 5 p.m.).

This is Week Zero, which means everyone had to earn an NCAA waiver to play. And that means the NCAA actually does have some control over college football after all. But we digress. College football is on our TVs again. No whining. Just enjoy.

• With college football as the main course, our TV dinner this weekend is actually appetizing. Taking the place of the brownie in the upper-left corner are the Mariners, who enter the weekend a game behind Texas in the American League West and percentage points ahead of Houston for the second wild card spot.

Enter the Kansas City Royals, who, if not for the soon-to-be Las Vegas A’s would be baseball’s worst team. Three games, beginning tonight in T-Mobile (AppleTV+ – dang it – at 7 p.m.). Saturday’s game is back on Root (1:10 p.m.) as is Sunday’s (also 1:10).

• If baseball is the dessert, what are the vegetables? Let’s put golf there. The PGA Tour is holding its Tour Championship, the Fed-Ex Cup on the line, at Eastlake Country Club in Atlanta. CBS has the main coverage, starting at noon Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Or we could consider the last week of the NFL preseason in that spot. The Seahawks will take their vitamins and face the daunting trip to Green Bay and Aaron … oh, wait. Their nemesis is in New Jersey. And probably wouldn’t have played if he was still wearing Packer green instead of the Jets’ weird hue. Anyhow, the game kicks at 10 a.m. Saturday (Fox 28).

If you saved room for another early morning snack, why not make it international basketball? The United States team, with Mark Few on the coaching staff, will face New Zealand in FIBA’s World Cup on Saturday (5:30 a.m., ESPN2).

If that’s not your cup of Lemon & Paeroa, then how about 12-year-olds playing baseball on national TV? The Little League World Series finishes up with the international championship (9:30 a.m. Saturday) and the U.S. title game (12:30 p.m.), both on ABC. The whole over-saturated event will be decided Sunday (noon, ABC).

• There was no movement on the conference-realignment front Thursday. Or should we say no movement that became public?

We sit where we sat at the same time yesterday, wondering what will happen to Washington State.

If the Cougars do end up in the Mountain West, we figure, we better begin to let their followers know a little about the conference. At least when it comes to football.

In that regard we pass along this preview from Jon Wilner in the Mercury News, which happens to be located in San Jose State’s hometown. The resident Pac-12 expert is gearing up for the future, perhaps? And who are the teams to beat? The usual suspects, of course, Boise State, San Diego State, Wyoming.

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WSU: Not only is the Cougars’ schedule dotted with exceptional teams, it also includes exceptional players. Greg Woods takes a look at the best of the opponents in this story. … Colton Clark returns for a Washington State swan song, focused on basketball and now-former WSU player Mouhamed Gueye. … We passed along Wilner’s thoughts on the next Washington AD (including his inclusion of Pat Chun) the day Jen Cohen left for USC. It runs in the S-R today. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Stewart Mandel handicaps the conference football race this morning in The Athletic. … Who is next at running back for Washington? … Oregon State named its captains. … The offensive line is a question mark for Oregon. … Believe it or not, Stanford has a transfer at quarterback. Wait, what? … California has named its starting quarterback. … There is a focus in Colorado and it’s not on the players. … A transfer linebacker is happy at Utah. … Caleb Williams is chasing Archie Griffin, in a way, for USC this season. And immortality. But first, San Jose State is on the schedule. … UCLA isn’t afraid to try players at new positions. … Arizona State expects its special teams to be more consistent. … An edge rusher seems to have left Arizona.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs will return to the past with a big nonconference matchup in February. Theo Lawson tells us that’s when the trip to Rupp Arena and the game against Kentucky will be held. … An interview with Few done in the Middle East? Yes, please. … Elsewhere in the WCC, could USF’s nickname be changing?

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, a defensive back’s return bolsters Montana State’s secondary. … Weber State has announced its latest Hall of Fame class. … UC Davis likes its running back depth. … Portland State is already looking forward to next Saturday and the opener at Oregon.

Preps: The high school football season in Idaho is really in bloom tonight, so it seems appropriate for Liam Bradford to have this look at the Coeur d’Alene High defense and its three highly recruited players.

Indians: It didn’t even take a no-hitter for Spokane to best Vancouver on Thursday night. All it took was seven runs. Dave Nichols has the coverage of the visitors’ 7-2 victory.

Seahawks: True story. Back in the mid-1990s, our dad left a visit with us in Spokane and spent some time in Seattle. While dining in a downtown restaurant, a drunken Seahawk fan came up to his table and started berating him for what he was doing to the drunk’s beloved football team. He mistook our dad for Ken Behring. Same hairline, similar big ears, totally dissimilar pocketbooks. Then again, it probably didn’t help that our father was wearing his favorite leather jacket, a staple of Behring’s California-thug look. My dad showed the drunk’s friends his driver’s license, they bought him a drink and all was well. Why do we share this story? Because Dave Boling shares some memories today of the worst owner in Hawk history. Not the worst in Seattle pro sports history – we see you Howard Schultz and Clay Bennett – but in the Seahawks’ for sure. … Jamal Adams came off the PUP list Thursday. When the safety will practice or play again is still to be determined. … The same can be said about rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. … Pete Carroll certainly doesn’t act his age. Good for him.

Mariners: We mentioned 1995 yesterday. Larry Stone mentioned it too and he was able to discuss it, and this year’s parallels, with a member of the team, Jay Buhner. … How does the pennant race break down? … This Jayson Stark story on robot strike zones interested us no end. And ticked us off. Who cares if the strike zone doesn’t expand in blowouts. Or if framing the ball goes away for catchers. Get the calls right.

Storm: It took until the fourth quarter, when it turned out to be too late. But Jewell Loyd got so hot she almost lifted Seattle past host Indiana. Operative word? Almost. The Fever won 90-86.

Golf: We finish up our links with Jim Meehan’ column on defending Circling Raven Championship winner Jillian Hollis. She loves the course, she loves the area and she will be playing today through Sunday trying to win another title.  

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• If you have anything needing done in the yard, it might behoove you to do it today. If you can. Spokane’s highs for Saturday through Monday, as predicted by our National Weather Service: 90, 94, 96. Not the best for yard work if you are, say, over the age of 48. Until later …