A Grip on Sports: The weekend sees the end of the Olympics, sure, but also features the start of the NFL’s season – sort of

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The final weekend of the Olympics. What other highlights could there be as we delve into the TV schedule? How about the first football games, such as they are, of the season?

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• The NFL hates the term “exhibition.” The league’s preference? “Preseason game.” The true label is somewhere in-between. “Glorified scrimmage” might be more precise. “Tryout competition” would also work.

Whatever you want to call it, with the caveat the NFL leans towards using the word game just to justify charging higher prices, the Seahawks have one Saturday evening. In Los Angeles. Against the Justin Herbert-less Chargers.

New Seattle coach Mike Macdonald is nothing if not fair. He won’t play his starting quarterback, Geno Smith, either. OK, we know both are injured. But if this were the Super Bowl, Smith would be playing.

Of course it isn’t. It’s an exhibition and Smith’s absence will be an afterthought after about one or two series. By then, every other Seattle starter will be wearing a baseball cap and watching from the sidelines.

If you must watch, it kicks at 4:05 p.m. on Fox.

• The other key game this weekend? Or games? The Mets are in Seattle, with a three-game series on tap with the back-for-the-dead M’s, once again tied with Houston atop the American League West. The games Friday (7:10 p.m.) and Saturday (6:40 p.m.) will be on Root. Sunday’s series finale is on ESPN, so that means a later-than-usual 4:10 p.m. start.

• The closing ceremonies are Sunday night in Paris. They will also be shown Sunday night everywhere on NBC, which means a 7 p.m. start in the Pacific time zone. We’re positive you can find them somewhere about nine hours earlier if you really must. But why? Spend your daylight hours watching the final competitions. The top highlight? It should be the U.S. women playing for basketball gold, trying for an eighth consecutive undefeated Olympics (12:30 p.m., USA). But putting that game in your calendar comes with a caveat.

The U.S. has to top Australia in the semifinals today (8:30 a.m., NBC). There is a warning though. Today’s game may be joined in progress, after the beach volleyball bronze medal match, according to NBC’s schedule. Yes, you read that right. Anyhow, to ensure you can watch the entire game, use Peacock’s stream, if you have it.

No such worries for LeBron, Steph and the men. Their gold medal battle – and a battle is what it will be – with host France is on NBC Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Of course, there are at least a half-dozen track and field medals that should also hold your interest Friday and Saturday, including the relays, pentathlon and the granddaddy of them all, the marathon.

• We can’t leave the Olympics without a few thoughts on the U.S. men’s semifinal win over Serbia on Thursday. It included a comeback for the ages, Steph Curry’s first takeover game of these Olympics and enough nail biting to keep your local salon in business until the cauldron is lit in Los Angeles.

The headlines will highlight Curry’s game-high 36 points, all of which were needed in the 95-91 victory. It’s appropriate they do. There also have been millions of words written about Kevin Durant’s key shots, LeBron James’ overpowering transition hoops and Joel Embid’s post presence. All well and good. But lost in most of the banter and highlights was a subtle late defensive change that keyed the comeback from a 17-point deficit.

Whomever decided to put James on the world’s best player, Serbian (and Denver Nuggets) center Nikola Jokic, deserves a platinum medal.

The subtle adjustment allowed Embid to roam around the rim or to double Jokic when needed. It also put the onus on cutting the heart out of the Serbian offense on the ultra-proud James, who was up to the challenge. The change worked brilliantly. Without Jokic to rely on in a myriad of ways, the open 3-point shot disappeared from the Serbs’ arsenal in the fourth quarter. Scoring was harder. Slower. Almost nonexistent. And that’s what the U.S. needed to win.

• Speaking of “needed” and “win,” the Mariners’ game Thursday fit both.

Being swept in a three-game set by the mediocre Tigers, very much in play after the ninth-inning started with Seattle down two runs, might have been a playoff-hopes dagger. Instead, the rally, climaxed by Mitch Haniger’s eighth career walk-off hit, allowed Seattle to escape with a 4-3 victory. And to enter the series with the Mets with some momentum.

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WSU: Jake Dickert has shown himself to be a thinking-man’s football coach. Want another example? Read Dave Boling’s column from this morning. Agree or disagree with Dickert’s thoughts on college athletics’ future, you still must admit he’s thought it through. … Greg Woods has coverage of practice, centering his story round defensive back Jackson Lataimua. But we have another thought. It sure seems as if the defense is winning the daily battle much more often than the offense. … Greg also has basketball schedule news, with the addition of a couple nonconference games this season. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Oregon State’s new left tackle is hard to miss. … We pass along more number stories from the Oregonian, with No. 23 today for Oregon and Oregon State. … Not every practice can meet the head coach’s expectations. Nor should they. It was the case yesterday at Washington. … Part of why Oregon is ranked third nationally? It’s recruiting, especially this past season. … A Colorado running back is looking to prove himself worthy. … Sam Huard, who first played for Washington, is in the running to be Cam Rising’s backup at Utah. … Stanford isn’t thought of well by its ACC opponents. … Elijah Page wasn’t in USC’s offensive line plans all that long ago. He is now. … The competition in UCLA’s running back room is cutthroat. … The starting quarterback role has yet to be determined at Arizona State. … There is no such decision to be made at Arizona. … In the Mountain West, we can pass along a look at Nevada from Corvallis. … How did Colorado State do during its first scrimmage? … UNLV is in pads and sweating a lot. … Another shoe has dropped as Utah State deals with the coaching change fallout. … San Diego State is trying to decide who to start at left tackle. … Boise State is trying to decide who to start at quarterback. … Wyoming is trying to decide who is the No. 2 cornerback. … Why is Fresno State playing at Michigan? One reason is the payday.

Idaho: The defense had a day in Moscow as well. Peter Harriman has the coverage of the Vandals’ scrimmage. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, a Northern Colorado football alum was surprised to be told he was headed to the school’s athletic hall of fame. … Second year Idaho State coach Cody Hawkins has been surprised by a few things as well. … A defensive lineman is ready to lead at Northern Arizona. … Sacramento State has added the University of San Diego to three future schedules. … A former play-by-play voice is back at Weber State.

Indians: If you are going to lose, might as well lose big. That happened Thursday night in Pasco, with Tri-City rolling to a 13-2 victory. Dave Nichols has the story. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver scored early and often in a 15-4 win over visiting Eugene. … Hillsboro made the home teams 3-0 on the night with a 6-5 win over Everett. The Hops also broke ground on their new, MLB-approved, stadium.

Olympics: We highlighted three races in yesterday’s column. In two of them, the women’s 400-meter hurdles and the men’s 110 hurdles, the favored Americans won. Heck, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set another world record in the former. And Grant Holloway finally won his gold medal in the latter. But the highlight videos were focused on Lyles and his bronze in the 200. Mainly because he collapsed after and then revealed he had COVID-19, something he had known since before the semifinals. You can debate the fairness of all that. As you do, though, remember the Olympics are, at their core these days, a television show. And Lyles, no matter the result, is ratings gold. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who won the gold medal, and the United States’ Kenny Bednarek, the silver medalist? They aren’t. Better on the track this day, sure. Better at moving the needle? Not so much. … The women’s water polo team’s quest for gold ended in a semifinal shootout loss to Australia. … The youngest U.S. track athlete ever ran in the 4x400-meter relay prelims today for the men. Quincy Wilson is only 16. … We didn’t highlight the women’s long jump yesterday but Tara Davis-Woodhall continued the U.S. dominance in the event. … There have been some interesting debates in these Olympics, not all about the competitions themselves. We would rather focus on those, including the women’s 1,500 meters. … The U.S. women will be playing for soccer gold this weekend.

Mariners: We can pass along the game story once more, as well as this piece of news. Julio Rodriguez is progressing from his high ankle sprain but probably won’t be ready to play Sunday night. … Andres Munoz is more than just Edwin Diaz 2.0.

Seahawks: Scuffles are part of football practice. But wielding your helmet as a weapon? That’s not. … Macdonald made a change in the Thursday practice plan after the contentious Wednesday workout. … Bryan Murphy II has a chance to show the Hawks what they have in the first exhibition. … Just how reliable will the offensive line be this season?

Sounders: The L.A. Galaxy just don’t win in Seattle. Not recently anyway. The Leagues Cup knockout match last night was no different. The Sounders scored three early goals and breezed to a 3-1 victory.

Golf: Chi Chi Rodriguez died Thursday at 88. His status as golf’s most-loved ambassador during his career was probably unchallenged. His showmanship unmatched as well in his era. And he had enough game to be inducted into the sport’s hall of fame. But we remember him most due to the greatest golf joke ever shown on network TV. Watch this WKRP video. We challenge you not to laugh.

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• We are trying to lose a little weight. Shed the few pounds we added back on after our hernia surgery and the subsequent drop in exercise. But we are also craving doughnuts. What’s a well-intentioned senior supposed to do? Well, crud. We just got powdered sugar all over our keyboard. We’ll never get that out. Until later …