A Grip on Sports: We are sure of one thing – the next four years are going to drag on as we wait for L.A.’s turn in the Olympic fire

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Soccer. Basketball. The 4x400 relay. Today is a sad day despite such things. Mainly because most Olympic competitions end. And we have to wait four years for the Summer Games to return. It seems like a long time. It is.

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• Think about the four-year stretch between, say, September of 1938 and the same month in 1942.

In 1,461 days, the world went from the declaration of “peace in our time” to much of the planet under the control of one or another fascist power. And another 1,461 days after that, it was at peace once more, though an atomic sword of Damocles hung over everyone.

That’s not whiplash. That’s like every muscle in your body stretched out to a breaking point and then snapped back.

It’s not that we believe such events could happen before the Olympics return. But the past shows its possible.

Want a more-recent example? When the Dream Team was wandering around Barcelona in 1992, if you had a Super Nintendo gaming system, you were as cool as Charles Barkley. If you needed one? You had to pull out the local phone book to see if there was a Circuit City nearby. By the time the world reconvened in Atlanta four years later, you could search Google in a more-than-likely futile attempt to find a Nintendo 64.

Who knows what will have changed by the time the world gets to Los Angeles. Hopefully, though, the LAX construction will be done and Botswana’s incoming track fans can actually use a train to get to their hotel. We’re not counting on it.

Just like we were not counting on the United States winning the men’s 4x100 relay Friday. Even with the deepest group of sprinters in the world.

See, there is this little thing called a baton. It weighs less than two ounces. It’s not even a foot long. Each four-person team has to carry it from the start to the finish. Doesn’t seem all that hard, does it?

Except it is. If you have USA across your chest. And you are a young man.

The women? They passed it safely four times, Sha’Carri Richardson flew down the straightaway and they won another gold medal.

The men? Wait, let me stop laughing and/or crying. They couldn’t even get the first pass right. And finished last. DQed. No gold. No silver. No good.

We have a thought. For Los Angeles, hire Carl Lewis. Put the sprint legend in charge of the men’s relay teams. Let him put his money where his thumbs are. After all, a lot can change in four years.

• We noticed one little oddity from the track yesterday.

The U.S. was shut out of medals in the women’s 400. The top American finisher, Alexis Holmes, finished sixth in 49.77 seconds, which, to be fair, was less than a second from a medal.

Funny thing, though. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the 400-meter hurdles the day before by getting around the track in a world-record 50.37 seconds. Heck, second-place finisher Anna Cockrell earned her silver with a 51.87 time.

Does it seem out of the realm of possibility 10 hurdles could add at least two or three seconds on the journey? Nope. In fact, three seconds is considered by most track folks as the minimum time addition.

If that’s the case, McLaughlin-Levrone better be the anchor in today’s relay race. And Cockrell should also be a part. Oh, and Gabby Thomas, who was a member of the gold medal 4x100 group, won the 200 and has run a sub-50 second 400 in her career, should also carry the baton for a lap. We’ll see. Today, in fact. A little after noon.

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WSU: The Cougars are scrimmaging this morning. It’s move-in weekend in Pullman, so we will avoid Whitman County all together and urge others to do the same. In lieu of traveling, however, why not read this Jon Wilner mailbag? It leads off with a Pac-12 question. … If not that, how about this John Canzano interview with the conference’s commissioner? … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, for this Saturday we can pass along stories on both interior lines at Oregon State. … The numbers stories from the Oregonian continue, with No. 22 today for Oregon and Oregon State. … Washington was out on the practice field again Friday. The Huskies’ lack of a ranking seems appropriate considering how much they’ve lost. … Oregon holds a scrimmage today. … What is going on with Deion Sanders this season? The Colorado coach has an issue with CBS? And the Denver Post? What? Whatever happened to “control what you can control?” … OK. We know when Utah will decide on Cam Rising’s backup. … If you are a high school football player and are offered a scholarship at an FCS (like EWU and Idaho) or Division II (like Central Washington) school, it may not be a full one. Partial scholarships are allowed at those levels. At the FBS level? It has to be a full-ride. USC’s Lincoln Riley thinks the NCAA may change that as schools face the possibility of 20 more scholarships. … Arizona State will scrimmage today, part of its hard-to-do trek to the mountains. … Arizona practiced in the football stadium for the first time this season Friday. … In the Mountain West, Boise State has to decide who will be the starting quarterback. … It is obvious a rebuild is underway at San Diego State. … A former four-star recruit is starting over at New Mexico.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State lost a lot of great defensive linemen from last season. … Weber State is breaking in new linebackers. … Portland State scrimmages today and will start a bit earlier than originally scheduled. … Cal Poly has experience at quarterback but no starter decided upon just yet. … Northern Colorado’s setter expects to be a difference maker for the volleyball team.

Indians: There is little doubt Spokane will finish the season with the Northwest League’s best record. But all the promotions recently – good teams lose players to higher classifications every season – will the Indians be the best down the stretch and in the playoffs? Not sure. We are certain, however, the bullpen couldn’t hold a lead last night at Tri-City as the Dust Devils won 7-6. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver held off visiting Eugene 3-2. … Everett broke open the game early and went on to an 8-2 win over host Hillsboro.

Olympics: Interesting. Breaking, the Olympic name for break dancing, is in the Games this time around. In Paris. That means something to Spokane’s dancers, as Alexandria Osborne lets us know in this story. But the competition won’t be in Los Angeles in four years. At least as of now. … The U.S. soccer team plays for the women’s gold medal against Brazil (8 a.m., NBC) if you want to watch. … The U.S. men play for the basketball gold as well, facing host France in what should be a louder-than-loud arena. It starts at 12:30 p.m. (NBC). … The Serbian team, with Gonzaga’s Filip Petrusev playing his part, won bronze this morning with a win over Germany. … The men’s marathon also wound through the Paris streets today, with Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia winning in record time. … Storm legend Lauren Jackson is making her final Olympic appearance this year. … The U.S. women play for gold on Sunday. … The U.S. won the men’s 400-meter hurdles as well.

Seahawks: The new kickoff rules? Sam Howell? Ryan Grubb’s offense? Heck, Mike Macdonald on the sidelines in Los Angeles? Whatever it is you are focused upon in the Hawks’ first exhibition game of 2024, you can watch it tonight at 4 on Fox (in Spokane).

Mariners: There is a baseball cliché that momentum lasts as long as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Well, in the M’s case, the momentum they built Thursday with the improbable comeback win over Detroit was propped up by an almost untouchable Bryce Miller. His six innings of shutout ball led to a 6-0 victory over the Mets to start a three-game T-Mobile series. … We said it yesterday. Andres Munoz is more than just Edwin Diaz 2.0.

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• Spoiler alert incoming. We finished the second season of House of the Dragon last night. We have one thought. What the heck? We spent more than eight hours watching, well, what exactly? How do you spend a whole season building up to … nothing? The answer to that, friends, is the same it always is: Money. As in the show is expensive, putting a big battle on the screen takes a lot of moola with CGI dragons and such, and HBO had spent enough this season. Oh joy. The big battle? You can watch it in two years. Hope we last that long. No, we’re not being morbid, though we understand why that would be your first thought. It’s more a warning that our interest in what the heck is happening may ebb to nothingness in 730 days. Until later …