A Grip on Sports: Hey, we’re another year older today, though we’re not sure we’re another year wiser

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We are sort of ambivalent about birthdays. In one sense we’ve grown a bit tired of them after getting past the stage in which the correct number of candles are put on your cake. The counter argument? Well, the alternative seems pretty boring.

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• We’ve always been lucky, of course, to have been born on this date … no, we’re going to tell you how many years ago. You’ll start thinking we are the perfect age to run for president. Sorry, no. We’ve known since the day we were born we were fated to spend our life immersed in sports.

How’s that?

Our birthday. It’s Oct. 8. Year of our Lord 1956. The day former Hayden resident Don Larsen took the Yankee Stadium mound and retired all 27 Dodgers. Still – and probably forever – the only perfect game in World Series history.

We’re pretty sure former Cardinals pitcher (and Portland State alum) Jeff Lahti – he was also born on Larsen’s big day – felt the same way, though we never had a chance to ask him. Maybe someday.

Anyhow, being born on a day every athlete of your father’s generation recognized was a blessing. It immediately allowed a connection. It was hard to forget. And it shaped our destiny.

Baseball it was going to be. Our father, who may have been on that mound in Yankee Stadium that day if World War II hadn’t intervened, had a glove and a bat ready that morning.

To paraphrase noted Yankee fan Bruce Springsteen, the first swing we took was when we hit the ground. And we kept swinging, playing baseball (or its cousin, fastpitch softball) well into our 50s.

But it was as a follower of the game our birthday took on extra significance. What red-blooded American mother was ever going to say “no” when her red-headed son flashed his hazel eyes and asked to be able to skip school on his birthday – World Series games were played in the afternoon then – to watch the World Series? Well, ours, sure. The nuns, however, were a lot more amiable. Mrs. Henning? No way. Had to sneak in a transistor radio and an ear piece that year. And pray she didn’t catch us. (Spoiler alert, she did.)

That last vignette tells you how much life has changed since Larsen’s gem. If today is, say, you or your child’s 12th birthday, there is no chance of a World Series’ record being set. The Fall Classic won’t start for a couple more weeks.

Every season in every professional (and college) sport has grown longer since our first breath. Not that we are complaining. We love every sport. If baseball wants to play its final game in November, we’re not going to complain.

The fact that the sport almost overlaps with college hoops is a bit of a bummer, but that’s just progress. We think.

For fun, this morning we took the Wayback Machine – with Mr. Peabody’s blessing – to 1968. That year contained one of our favorite World Series ever. The team of our dad’s youth, the Detroit Tigers, won their first championship since he was, well, a youth. It made him a happy man. And whatever made Captain Sunshine – our friends’ ironic nickname for him – happy made us happy.

Anyway, that Series began on Oct. 2. In St. Louis. Finished on Oct. 10 in the same city. Quick. Early. And, oddly, since Oct. 8 was a Tuesday that year, as it is this one, there was no game. We had to go to school. Without a radio.

Just for the fun of it, we checked out our other favorite teams’ schedule for that month. The Lakers didn’t start until Oct. 18th, which isn’t all that different from now. And the Kings? The hit the ice for the first time on the 12th. Again, similar.

The most-glaring difference comes in the college ranks. John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins began their 29-1, NCAA-winning season that year on Nov. 30. Ya, almost a full month after the season’s first games these days.

By the way, for all of you who have been brainwashed into believing Wooden’s teams never played anyone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) and company began the year hosting Rick Mount and Purdue, the school they would meet in the NCAA finals. Then the Bruins played five of the next seven games away from home, including such powers as Ohio State, Notre Dame and St. John’s. Come to think of it, that might be UCLA’s conference schedule this year.

If anything better illustrates how much has changed in 68 years – oops – that’s it.

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WSU: Bye week is over. How can we tell? Greg Woods has his first look at Saturday’s Fresno State game. We wrote it last week and we re-emphasize it today: This is the 4-1 Cougars’ most-important game of the season. They have to show the loss at Boise was an aberration, not the beginning of a trend – like last season. … They will have to do it without a couple key players out with injuries. Greg covers that too. … Washington State added a tough game to next season’s slowly emerging schedule. The Cougs will play at Mississippi. And yes, Greg has a story about that as well as the kickoff time being set for the Hawaii homecoming game Oct. 19. It will start at 12:30 on FS1. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, John Canzano has his usual Monday mailbag. … Jon Wilner has his usual CFP projections in the Mercury News. … Others have the same thoughts if not the same projections. … Oregon State’s offense has been inconsistent. And the Beavers may face Nevada this week without their starting running back. … No one is unaware Jedd Fisch has connections to the NFL. Just look at the assistants he was able to hire at Washington. But there are other, subtler, benefits as well. … There have been big games already in the Dan Lanning era, but third-ranked Oregon’s matchup with No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday in Eugene trumps them all. How can the Ducks top Chip Kelly’s, er, Ryan Day’s Buckeyes? … Travis Hunter is good. But is the Colorado two-way star the school’s best ever? it is too soon to say that. … It has been five weeks since Utah’s Cam Rising suffered a “minor” injury. … UCLA got its quarterback back to practice this week. … Lincoln Riley still believes in USC. … Arizona State has a not-so-secret weapon. … Arizona knows it needs to make fixes. … In the Mountain West, Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty compares favorably to some of the game’s greats. …  Utah State still feels it can turn its football season around. … Despite a bye, Wyoming is still dealing with injuries. Next on its schedule is San Diego State. … Colorado State has play-clock issues. And an urgent fix is needed before it meets San Jose State. … Hawaii needs to join the conference on a full-time basis. … New Mexico is still looking for an athletic director.

Idaho: Our favorite Vandal story today – and there are three – has nothing to do with football. Or on-court basketball action. It’s Peter Harriman’s missive on the Corner Club, Gus Johnson’s nail (in its modern version) and a current UI hoop player. … Of course, with the No. 7-ranked Vandals headed to Bozeman to take on third-ranked Montana State on ESPN2, Peter has a story on football as well. … Monica Carrillo-Casas also has a story on Idaho broadcasting its football games in Spanish for the first time. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the Montana offensive line is better due to a transfer center.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Monday’s action.

Chiefs: As the NHL gets underway tonight, Justin Reed took some time to run down the former Spokane players on the league’s rosters. There are four as of now.

Kraken: Seattle starts its season by hosting the St. Louis Blues in a 1:30 p.m. matinee. It marks the debut of coach Dan Bylsma. … The young players have key roles this season.

Mariners: We watched quite a bit of baseball yesterday. In honor of our dad. The Tigers were playing. We like to think he was watching them top Cleveland too – though we’re sure he used the franchise’s old nickname. And he had to be happy the Yankees lost. He was not a fan. Ever. All four series are tied at a game apiece, which is perfect.

Seahawks: Yes, the Hawk coaching staff knows it is not running the ball enough. … One has to wonder if Geno Smith is checking out of runs. … We have other questions as well. … More worrisome is the defense isn’t much better than it was last season. … Funny, but the same can be said about the offense. … Hey, Thursday night’s opponent, the 49ers, are having issues as well. … Uchenna Nwosu’s season debut did not last long. … Finally, it is obvious Aaron Rodgers owns the Jets. At least the over-the-hill quarterback is in charge. What a joke.

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• With Kim still with her mother, our birthday celebration will be somewhat muted. Lunch with a college friend. A few chores. Watch a youth football game. Dinner with family. You know, the normal stuff. Candles on a cake? We don’t need no stinkin’ candles. But a piece of cake, sure. Maybe in the morning. Until later …