A Grip on Sports: Sure, Christmas and sports are intertwined but that’s the not best part of the holiday season
A GRIP ON SPORTS • All we want for Christmas is the ability to watch the Seahawks play this morning. And we’re pretty sure we’re out of luck. If we had known such a crucial game was not going to be available … Wait, what? We’ve just been informed by Alexa that CBS is showing the Hawks’ game at Tennessee up and down the West Coast. It’s a Christmas miracle!
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• Clarence must still be looking over our shoulder. In thanks, we’ll make sure to jingle a couple bells today and grant another angel or two its wings.
Now, can Devon Witherspoon also be healthy enough to play? OK, we’re pushing our luck, aren’t we?
That’s our way. Just like we’re pushing it hoping for snow in Spokane. We’re not there but the rest of the family is. And we’re sure a covering of the white stuff would help alleviate the loss of not being with their mom and dad on Christmas morning. That and the $1.7 million we spent on stocking stuffers. And the TV setup in the family room, making it look as if Pete Carroll is running down the sidelines toward the couch.
Funny, but Christmas Eve was never about football in our house when we were growing up. You might not know this, but there is newspaper ink running through our veins. Our dad, Captain Sunshine as he was ironically known to those who worked for him, made his living as an L.A. Times distributor. Not as an employee, mind you. He was sort of a middle-man. He owned his own business. Bought the papers each day from the Times, who brought them to his distribution spot. From there, dad and those who worked for him (including us from age 7 on) made sure they were in driveways before the sun came up.
The Times dictated what dad (and all others like him) could charge for the papers, which in the late 1970s, the courts ruled was an illegal restraint of trade. Which means as we were growing up, dad had something in common with modern-day college athletes. And like them, he chafed at the chains but also understood if he worked hard, he still got a lot out of it.
One thing he received every year was the gift of working Christmas morning. Bad for him, but pretty cool for the kids in the Grippi household. For as long as we can remember, presents were opened on Christmas Eve – before dad, like Santa, headed off to deliver presents in his sleigh. And by sleigh, we mean a 1964 red International Scout car. And by presents, we mean a huge newspaper accompanied by my dad’s cuss words as they flew out the windows.
He didn’t enjoy working Christmas. But he did it. So we could have our Battlewagons and James Bond race sets and baseball gloves.
We’re not sure we said thank you enough when we had the chance.
• Our Christmas traditions? Well, we worked either Christmas Eve or Day a few times over the years. But Kim always made sure the lasagna was on the table (Captain Sunshine’s recipe) for the Eve dinner and her Aunt Norma’s eggs (a bread-filled casserole) were ready for the morning as we opened presents. Stuffed stockings. Wrapped presents. A couple books to be read telling why Christmas is important. And, after all the mess was cleaned up around the tree, some sort of outside activity. Usually, shoveling snow.
We’re feeling a little maudlin this morning. For the first time either of us can remember, we won’t be with at least one of our boys. They are home, holding down the fort. Working, in a way, today and tomorrow. Us? We’re with Kim’s mom as she navigates her 89th Christmas and celebrates the recent arrival of her second great grandchild, albeit from 500 miles away.
Just thinking about the beginning and the end and the middle of it all has us tearing up a bit. And realizing – once again – the holidays are not about presents or games or even how you believe. They are about family. Memories. Support. Binding ties. The past and future.
Those you care about, those you cherish. Not things. People. And the hope we can live every day the same way we live the holidays.
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WSU: No transition here. Just another day of sharing links, as we do. Though we don’t have anything from Pullman to pass along. So, let’s get right to … elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner’s mailbag is available in the S-R this Sunday morning. … He also assesses in the Mercury News the recruiting winners and losers after the early signing period. … Washington isn’t the only conference football team still with a game (Oregon has the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day while OSU’s and Arizona’s matchups are still to be played this week), but the Huskies are the only one in a game that seems to, you know, actually matter. We wish the CFP committee had just acknowledged the overarching entertainment aspect of their four-team invitational and matched up Michigan and Washington in the Rose Bowl and made Texas and Alabama play a rematch in the Sugar Bowl. It would have made perfect sense. We realize the networks want the rematch in the title game – think about the ratings – and that worries us a little. … Speaking of Washington, the Huskies played a big role in the demise of the Pac-12. … There was one conference-affiliated game Saturday. Well, Utah and Northwestern played. It wasn’t the most exciting of games. Or offensive. Or featured the best decisions. Northwestern won 14-7. … As players transfer or opt-out of bowls, there are opportunities for others. … All we can say is, of course. Oh, and one other. No one seems to care. … Arizona expects to have a great secondary next season. … In basketball news, Wilner supplies us with a present of sorts for this morning in the Mercury News, with a look ahead to the Pac-12’s conference season. He has his picks for the final standings – he is still underrating WSU – and his thoughts on who will win the league’s awards. He also passes along Jeff Metcalfe’s thoughts on the women, who will compete in the nation’s toughest conference. … Arizona has played two of the nation’s best games this season. The latest, a double-overtime loss to Florida Atlantic in Las Vegas, was spectacular. … Colorado expects a player back soon.
Gonzaga: A few years back a good friend returned from the State basketball tournament raving about one Zoom Diallo. He thought he was incredible. As usual, Paul was right. He also predicted he would end up playing for the Huskies. Again, Paul was right. Diallo, who starred at Tacoma’s Curtis High before, for some reason, deciding to spend his senior year at a basketball-centric prep school, picked UW over Gonzaga and others yesterday. Jim Meehan has the story. … The Washington Post has this in-depth look at Corey Kispert’s season and how the Gonzaga product has improved his offensive game even as his stats tell a different story.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State has lost a few players to FBS schools already. … New Nevada coach Jeff Choate is tapping his Big Sky roots for assistants. … Northern Colorado has one of the conference’s best men’s basketball players.
Boxing: Jim Allen returns to the S-R pages with this Christmas-time story. After suffering a summertime heart attack, trainer Rick Welliver has witnessed the love and support around him in many different ways.
Seahawks: Julian Love will be in the Hawks’ lineup today. He and his wife had their child and he flew cross country to play. … Jamal Adams won’t be. And may never be again. … Seattle is favored.
Kraken: The turnaround continues. For the sixth-consecutive contest, Seattle has added points to its standings total. Saturday night, they came via a 3-2 road win over the Anaheim Ducks. … If Sidney Crosby is borrowing from your game, you are doing something right.
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• Merry Christmas Eve everyone. We’re going to spend our day doing two things: Counting our (considerable) blessings and watching every Christmas-themed movie we can find on free TV (and they should be considerable as well). As is our tradition, we won’t be here tomorrow. Enjoy the day and we’ll be back on Tuesday. Until then …