A Grip on Sports: As the Mariners’ season takes its final breathes, we are so grateful for winning football

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The halfway day. It’s been Wednesday’s fate ever since Julius Caesar sat down at his iMac and developed the calendar. Or something like that. It’s also its fate to be a day to cover a little of everything. In this column, at least.

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• How many times have you quit on the Mariners’ season? We believe we are upwards of at least a dozen since, and including, the infamous day Jerry Dipoto explained his theorem about winning 54% of the time.

After last night’s debacle, which included Victor Robles giving everyone in the relatively sparse T-Mobile crowd a hint of why the Nationals gave up on his immense talent, we have done it again. For the last time. We promise. Pinkie and/or cross-my-heart or whatever type of swear you need.

This team is toast. Probably was weeks ago. We knew it. Intellectually. But the heart? It wants a miracle run so much. A last-second reprieve from the governor. The calvary riding in. Late returns from Chicago.

Sorry, it ain’t happening. Not in 2024.

Instead, like Caesar, the M’s and their fans are going to stumble and fall and not get up. Victims of a knife in the back. This particular Brutus? We’ve said it before. We say it again. Ownership and its miserly ways.

The other assassins? Front-office maven Dipoto and his swings and misses in the offseason. The players and their 1,522 strike outs. (We’re giving Luis Castillo and his one backward K a pass because, you know, he’s a pitcher.) The already gone Scott Servais. Heck, that one concession stand guy who refused to sell you 11 adult beverages last night after Robles was thrown out trying to steal home – with the bases loaded and a 3-0 count on Justin Turner. There was no way you had imbibed too much in the bottom of the first inning. Though it is somewhat understandable if you had – and already called for an Uber home.

For the last time in 2024 we’ve called for our metaphorical Uber. We’re out of here. Again.

• Thank goodness there is football. Good ol’ football. Nothing beats it.

We watch two teams on a regular basis. The Cougars, in large part because we are paid to do so. And the Seahawks, in large part because we have a member of the household that pays us to leave the TV room when we start acting up.

It’s a win-win. Appropriately, both teams have done nothing but win this season.

The Hawks might be doing it with fun-house mirrors. And an easy start to the schedule. To illustrate the former, we give you the Dolphins, a trendy pick to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl before the season. They looked to be a wake-up call this weekend. That was, however, before their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, suffered another concussion and will sit for a while.

We’re starting to wonder if first-year coach Mike Macdonald has entered into a blood oath with a demon or something. Honestly, though, who cares? It’s his choice and most Seahawks fans would be good with it – if it meant at some point washing the still-lingering taste of Super Bowl XLIX out of their mouth.

The Cougars? The feel-good story of college football, circa post-realignment, right? Not just around these parts. Nationally. Out there each weekend not only slaying dragons but perceptions as well.

Then we read a national college football writer’s mailbag today and there is a question about whether or not WSU could make the College Football Playoff with a 12-0 record. Wait, what? There is even a question there? Well, yes.

At least The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel thinks there is. The bottom line: Would the committee take a 12-0 WSU over one of many possible 9-3 SEC schools? He’s not sure the 13 members of college football’s Auror Office would.

Let’s get ahead of ourselves here. Sure, the chances of the Cougs winning 12 times without a loss are slim, even if the schedule isn’t filled with the best teams in the nation. But the idea a 12-0 team being left out makes a mockery of an “expanded” playoff.

Maybe the narratives will change as the wins pile up. The wrong-headed idea that Jake Dickert’s team couldn’t be all that good because 10 members of its old conference ran away from it. Or that the transfer of the starting quarterback was a killer blow.  Or a hundred other incorrect story lines.

We’re sure of only one thing. Every person who pulls on a crimson sweatshirt this Friday night would take 12-0 and then see how the CFP scenario ends up. Us too. If only to grab a bowl of popcorn and settle in to watch the carnage.  

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WSU: The first time we saw Wayshawn Parker run, we told the other two folks in the room we were impressed. We told you too the next day. We also wondered something. And that something is answered today by Greg Woods. He tells us how the future star found his way to Pullman. … The Times’ Mike Vorel’s column that ran in the S-R today expounds on something we wrote yesterday. Jedd Fisch backtracking on his ill-fated play call and saying the execution was the problem is not a good look. And could haunt him down the road. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner has his weekly bowl projections in the Mercury News this morning. … He also has some interesting news. A Nevada regent told him UNLV and Nevada are not necessarily tethered when it comes to future conferences. … One last Wilner piece. His weekly look at Utah and BYU. … Oregon State’s offense has been devilishly inconsistent. The quarterback believes the problem lies in the details. … The Oregon Ducks answered a lot of questions with their rivalry rout last weekend. … Recruiting never stops, as Washington knows. Nor do the challenges of the Big Ten. … Colorado faces a challenge. Two starting defensive linemen are out. … Utah has one coming from a Oklahoma State running back. … This is not last year’s Arizona State team. … The grades and the statistics thus far for Arizona are not great. … Michigan has made a change at quarterback. Lincoln Riley is not worried. … In the Mountain West, Colorado State plays on TruTV this week. … Can New Mexico be better in the red zone? … A couple of players have left San Diego State this week. … The Hawaii rushing attack has to improve. … In basketball news, the Oregon State women have put together their nonconference schedule.

EWU: We mentioned Nevada in the WSU section above. Funny thing. The Wolf Pack are the Eagles’ host this weekend. And their future is very much a subject of discussion in Reno and Carson City. Dan Thompson has this story on that subject, as first-year coach Jeff Choate, a man with numerous Inland Northwest ties, talked about it. … We also can pass along another story from the Nevada perspective. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, mothers can play a big role in a football player’s life. … Next year’s football schedule is final for Montana State. … Idaho State may make a quarterback change. … There are also changes on the Weber State depth chart. … In basketball news, Montana has finished its nonconference schedule. … There have been some great women’s basketball players at Idaho State.

Idaho: We haven’t been in Moscow recently. But the Lewiston Tribune’s Randy Isbelle has. And he has thoughts on the difference between now and his past experiences watching the Vandals play.

Preps: Tuesday’s competitions included soccer, slowpitch and volleyball. Dave Nichols has all the action in this roundup.

Seahawks: How are the rookies doing? … Special teams played a big role in the win Sunday. … We found this story out of D.C. interesting for a lot of reasons. It concerns the football franchise, a former stadium and D.C.’s lack of self-determination.

Storm: Seattle is dealing with a lot of injuries to key players. Those absences cost them last night in an 85-72 loss to the Aces. … Portland has been awarded a WNBA franchise that will begin play in 2026.

Kraken: The future in goal is a player from Finland.

Mariners: The final score in last night’s killer loss – everyone the M’s are chasing for a playoff spot won – ended up being 11-2. But Robles’ ill-advised decision came when the game was still in doubt. … Logan Gilbert is the next pitcher tasked with righting the ship.

Sounders: With a midweek match, there may be one new starter. Someone Seattle hopes to count on going forward.

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• Let me be clear. We’re out on the Mariners’ chances of making the postseason. But we’re not out on watching them. Haven’t you ever slowed down on the freeway to look at a wreck? That’s our mindset. Robles drove the careening car last night but Bryan Woo and others were also involved. Until later …