A Grip on Sports: An unwanted missive signals the impending end of an era and the beginning, maybe, of a rebirth

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you’ve ever been a fan of Wiley Miller’s “Non-Sequitur” cartoon, you know there is one trope that pops up often. It features a long-haired, shaggy fellow holding a sign that states, simply, “The End Is Near.” And then the punchline arrives. Well, for the Pac-12 as we’ve know it, that guy has been hanging out on Third Street in San Francisco recently. The punchline? It hits in a month. And no one is laughing.

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• The joke is on us, right? Those of us who have followed the West Coast’s premier college athletic conference for all our lives? It’s not funny. It’s not even sad. It’s somewhere beyond either. It’s a joke not even the Mitch Hedberg or George Carlin, with their odd way at looking at the world, would have found worth making. But it’s real.

The punchline – or gut-punch, whichever you prefer – plays out over the next month. Appropriately, July is supposed to be hotter than hell, because that’s where everyone who had anything to do with the Pac-12’s breakup should be assigned. Though that number would easily overwhelm the fire marshal’s approved capacity for Charon’s ferry.

We don’t know who exactly should be on the boat, but we do know the fruits of their labors are coming due.

Last night the Pac-12 Networks went dark. Disappeared from our cable guide. The good stuff it showed – “Pac-12 After Dark” anyone? – will remain in our memories. All the bad – the DirecTV-carriage fiasco and the like – will fade. Either way, the disappearance was the first tangible step in the ancient conference’s teardown.

Another step appeared in our in-box today. At just around midnight. The West Coast Conference put out a media release welcoming Washington State and Oregon State as affiliate members. And, as Miracle Max would say, the current Pac-12 isn’t even “all dead” yet. Mostly dead, sure. But not all.

The real time of death is 11:59.59 p.m. August 1. A second later, the four Mountain schools, who either arrived in 1978 or 2011, will become members of the Big 12. Four longtime Pac-12 flag wavers, UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington, head off to the Big Ten. And, in the biggest knee-slapper of them all, Cal and Stanford join the Atlantic Coast Conference, an entity that officially welcomed in Texas-based SMU and the Bay Area schools this morning.

We guess WSU and OSU decided that, as they were still the only Pac-12 members left standing, and they had the keys to the safe-deposit box firmly in their possession, they were more than welcome to start their WCC affiliation for most sports at any time. Football, the key to this whole mess nationally, isn’t officially affiliated with any other conference, though the schools have entered into a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West. That kicks off this fall.

After the 10 schools depart Aug. 2, the Pac-12’s two-year, NCAA-allowed grace period starts. Washington State and Oregon State must rebuild the conference to a minimum of eight schools by then for the Pac-12 to remain viable.

The clock is ticking, sure. It has been since June 30, 2022, the day then-Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff’s Montana vacation was ruined. It was also the day USC and UCLA announced their move.

Kliavkoff, and everyone else in the West, was caught off guard. There was no going back. And, it turned out, no way for Kliavkoff to keep the remaining 10 members together. At least no way he could come up with.

Which brings us to today. A day without the Pac-12 Network and its one-hour reruns of the 1997 Apple Cup, a random Cal-Stanford volleyball match or another Oregon State baseball victory. A day with two homes for many OSU and WSU sports. A day of change once more.

The final blow comes in a month, sure. The finality of the change came months ago. But, like any passing, the reality of it has been tucked into a back recess of the mind – unless we stumbled upon, say, a WSU basketball game as we flipped through the sports channels on our Comcast feed.

Maybe it was a visit from USC or a battle with the Ducks. For a few minutes we would watch and remember. Think of the thousands of Pac-12 games we saw over the years. Reminisce about the athletes, the games, the rivalries.

Then we would shake our head and, like the 10 schools, move on.

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WSU: Speaking of moving on, former WSU hurdler CJ Allen is headed to Paris. With the U.S. Olympic team. As John Blanchette tells us, Allen finished second Sunday in the 400-meter hurdles, ensuring his spot on the U.S. Olympic team. … Jon Wilner thought today would be a good day to pick the Mt. Rushmore for each school in the Mercury News. His choices for WSU: center Mel Hein, quarterback Ryan Leaf, running back Reuben Mayes and quarterback Jack Thompson. He also considered quarterback Drew Bledsoe, running back Steve Broussard, safety Lamont Thompson and defensive linemen Rien Long and DeWayne Patterson. Though Wilner decided not to include specialists for any school, he did make mention of Mead High graduate Jason Hanson, the best kicker in conference history. What do you think? … Klay Thompson is on the market. For the first time since leaving WSU and signing with the Warriors. We suspect the 13-year NBA veteran will end up with the Lakers. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, John Canzano weaved in the Pac-12’s divorce in his Sunday column that was also about a wedding. … Wilner also picked his all-time conference football team, which included Hanson, Hein and Long. … Conference realignment basically needs a scorecard. Here is one from The Athletic. … Football recruiting hasn’t stopped, of course, and there are stories from Washington and UCLA. … How much money will schools have to raise to pay their athletes in the not-too-distant future? It’s part of the House settlement and schools such as Utah (and in this area, as shown by the letter to basketball season ticket holders, Gonzaga) are grappling with the question. … The Arizona women’s basketball team has added another player.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, the Northern Colorado hurdler trying to make the Jamaican Olympic team? He came up short. … Montana football has an incoming player who should fit right in.

Indians: Spokane earned a split of its first full six-game series of the second half by rallying past host Everett 10-8 Sunday. Dave Nichols has the coverage. … In other Northwest League action, will Vancouver ever lose in the second half? The Canadians topped Hillsboro 4-2. … Eugene edged visiting Tri-City 7-6.

Mariners: The quick fall from their high point, a 10-game lead in the A.L. West, continued Sunday for the M’s. The weird 5-3 loss to the Twins means they are just 3½ games ahead of surging Houston. … Weird? Luis Castillo had to come to the plate after catcher Mitch Garver was injured and designated hitter Cal Raleigh had to play defense. Castillo was told by Scott Servais not to swing. He struck out. … One has to wonder, as we did yesterday, if the M’s have enough offense to win the West. Matt Calkins wonders, that’s for sure.

Seahawks: Which player is playing for a new contract? Mike Sando of The Athletic sees it being Darrell Taylor.

Sounders: The U.S. has a win-or-go-home game (basically) against Uruguay tonight (6, FS1). The national team has been in this spot recently and figured out a way to get it done.

Reign: Defending champion Gotham FC dominated Sunday and led by a goal as the game wound down. Then, magnanimously, a Gotham player put the ball in the team’s goal. Seattle escaped with a 1-1 draw.

Wimbledon: The top Grand Slam tournament begins today with Carlos Alcaraz trying to do something historic again.

Hoopfest: Rain fell Sunday afternoon, a rarity for Hoopfest. So much so, it caused a change in the elite schedule. Greg Woods covers that development as well as all the elite winners in this story. … Elena Perry also has a story on how the last day of the 3-on-3 event turned out.

Olympics: The track and field trials ended Sunday in Eugene. It ended with world records. Meet records. Veterans missing the team. Newcomers making it – including one 16-year-old runner. It seems as if the U.S. group is pretty darn strong. … The same can be said for the Simone Biles-led women’s gymnastics team, which also features a couple of athletes with Northwest ties – and one 16-year-old.

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• July? Already? It seems like only yesterday it was still June. Sorry. Dad jokes just leak out sometimes. But, seriously, June flew by. Maybe it was because we spent the entire month icing. At least most of it. We should be good to go sometime this month. We’ll be traveling a lot but, as always, will have our laptop and stand ready to keep you informed. Unless the M’s collapse continues. If they drop out of first place, we’re signing off for good. Just kidding. No way we would miss eviscerating Jerry Dipoto’s failed offseason moves or his panicky dismantling of the farm system’s stars. Yes, that last one is a prediction. Until later …