A Grip on Sports: Funny how the Inland Northwest’s fog season corresponds with a lull in the sports seasons

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We’re in a bit of a fog. Sure, we mean that in the weather way, as the house was enveloped in the fluffy white stuff this morning. But there is the other kind of fog too. The mental one. A Wednesday without anything to write in-depth about? How can that be? Uh, it’s late January.

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• There are lulls in the sports schedule throughout the year. Even in our modern age, as every sport known to mankind trying to squeeze every penny from every known man (and woman). But the rhythms of the seasons still have some gaps. We’re in one right now.

It’s why, in the middle of winter, baseball announces its Hall of Fame voting. For the record, three players were elected, including, in his first year of eligibility, former Mariner Adrian Beltre. That news gave us something to focus on Tuesday afternoon but doesn’t really move the dial a half-day later.

Of course, the NFL has something to say, whether it’s late January or May or August or November. But the Super Bowl semifinals, also known as the conference title games, aren’t on tap until Sunday. Storylines today are wearing thinner than Jason Kelce’s chest hair and won’t really ramp up until his hangover is finally gone. We’re thinking Friday.

We’ll be happy to delve into those a bit then, as the quarterback-driven league has a bus-full of quarterback stories waiting for us on Sunday.

The NBA? What are we, just over halfway through the season? Wake me in mid-April, after the Masters and the NCAA title game. We’ll see how it’s playing out. Though we did find it interesting yesterday the Milwaukee Bucks gave someone we didn’t really know, Adrian Griffin, a whole half-season, one in which his team won 30 of 43 games, to prove himself as a head coach. And then fired him. Nice job security. Hopefully, nice severance package as well.

The supposedly dominant force this time of year is college basketball. But the season-creep that has beset college football at the big-time level, seems to have pushed aside the hoop folks. At least for now.

After all, with all the turmoil in college athletics, we can’t turn our eyes away from next season, especially in football. If Nick Saban’s retirement at Alabama had happened in a vacuum, we still would be dealing with the fallout. But it didn’t. And the isotopes floating in the wind have trickled down from Tuscaloosa to Seattle to Tucson to San Jose, the last one a place nobody would call a hotbed of college football. Heck, maybe the last three places, though Husky fans will defend their status until they post a 3-6 mark in the Big Ten next year.

And just think, if Jim Harbaugh is successfully wooed to Los Angeles to take over the perennial under-achieving Chargers, the whole mess may start all over again.

How fun.

Such shenanigans have diverted us from the important things we usually focus upon this time of year. The Australian Open. And West Coast golf. OK, just kidding, though both, with their sunny skies and warm temperatures, do serve as a palate-cleanser from winter’s awful taste.

The key elements of the final week of January should be college basketball and the M’s doing nothing. The latter is always in play – and is again this year. Jerry Dipoto does know there are a handful of designated hitters available, right? Just a few million bucks and, bingo, another bat in the lineup.

As for college hoops, the momentum around the Spokane area has been dented a bit, what with Gonzaga’s men actually in third place in the West Coast Conference. The Zags host the team they are tied with, San Francisco, Thursday night at 6 on ESPN2. But the Zags aren’t the only program in the area, as much as the local newspaper might want you to believe … uh, just kidding boss.

Too bad the Cougars, who seemed to be well on their way to shocking the rest of the Pac-12 (and cementing their status as the class of the Pac-2) found a way to lose to Cal. That makes this weekend’s visit by the Mountain schools crucial.

Meanwhile, Big Sky-leading Eastern (both teams) plays second-place Northern Colorado tomorrow night, putting a seven-game winning streak on the line.

Speaking of streaks, the Eastern women, also atop the BSC standings, have won nine consecutive times and the Gonzaga women, leading the WCC, have won 12. There actually is some momentum in the wind around these parts.

Maybe it will blow out the fog.

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WSU: It’s OK to be star-struck. Especially if that star is the best basketball player of his generation. Such was the case with the Cougars recently while playing, and defeating USC. LeBron James was in the house, there to watch his son Bronny play. Greg Woods talked with the Cougs and got their reactions to having the elder James in the house. … Speaking of Bronny, he had a heart issue over the summer, one that could have had dire consequences. The L.A. Daily News has this story that details everything that happened. … Former Washington State and Lake City High slugger Kyle Manzardo will get an opportunity with Cleveland this spring. … Next up for the Cougar men is Utah, which understands how tough it is to battle in Pullman. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, John Canzano believes it is time for the conference to part ways with commissioner George Kliavkoff. … Washington has a make-or-break hoops homestand coming up. … Oregon may get a player back this week and it lost a player, both injury-related. … This is the final conference trip through Washington for Colorado. … On the women’s side, a player is heating up for Colorado. … Is Tommy Lloyd waiting to see what will happen at Arizona before signing an extension. Maybe not but if we could give him advice we would tell him he should. The athletic director who hired him is no longer employed. … In football news, Will Rogers, Mike Leach’s former quarterback, has changed his mind and will stay at Washington. That’s good news for the Huskies. … If you like pro wrestling – and many of you do – then you will recognize the name of this Colorado player. … Cam Rising is worth every penny Utah’s NIL collective is paying him. … Arizona has hired another Carroll for its strength staff. … A former Oregon State quarterback talks about why he followed his old coach to Michigan State. … Finally, both Arizona schools need new athletic directors. Jon Wilner delves into that odd circumstance in the Mercury News. He also looks at the best candidates for Arizona State and Arizona. Beware, WSU followers. Your athletic director is on one of his lists but could fit at both spots. Though, depending on your feelings about Pat Chun’s tenure, it could be good news.  

Gonzaga: Did you know the Zag women’s coaching staff has been together for 10 seasons? Yep. All four, from head coach Lisa Fortier to former Med High star Stacey Clinesmith, have been together for all 250 wins. Greg Lee delves into why the group has stayed together in a transitory profession such as coaching. … The men’s team has not been as sharp offensively as others in recent years, so the Bulldogs have had to sharpen the other side of their sword, their defense. Theo Lawson looks at the improvement on that end. … Theo also shares the news former GU star Chet Holmgren, just two years from playing in Spokane, has been named to a list of 41 players who will make up the U.S. Olympic team. …TCU’s women’s basketball team had to shut it down for a week or so, as the Horned Frogs ran out of healthy players. They held tryouts. One player picked to join the team stood out to us. Piper Davis. The former Timberline High player’s father, Jerrod, played for the Zags about 30 years ago. … Speaking of former Zags, Rem Bakamus is following in the family business at Arizona as his Hall of Fame father, Bill, finishes out his final season at Mark Morris High.

EWU: We mentioned the Eagles above. They play second-place Northern Colorado this week. The Bears have one of the conference’s best players. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State has added a quarterbacks coach whose name stick in our memory.

Whitworth: Once again one of the Pirates’ Northwest Conference competitors is going through a debate about its mascot. It’s Portland’s Lewis & Clark. The Pioneers. Guess if Missionaries doesn’t work anymore, Pioneers could be out too.

Preps: East Valley’s Logan Hofstee is Washington’s Gatorade girls cross country runner of the year. Dave Nichols has that story. … Dave also has coverage of the key 3A boys’ basketball game between Ridgeline and Cheney as part of the daily roundup.   

Velocity: The USL team is filling out its roster. The most-recent signings are part of the S-R’s most-recent local briefs column.

Mariners: The Hall news is front and center. Joining Beltre will be Joe Mauer and Todd Helton.

Kraken: They are getting healthier, including in goal. Should the Kraken trade one of their goalies?

Seahawks: The Hawks are looking for a new coach. Some of the prime candidates are kind of busy right now. … Bill Vinovich, who refereed a Gonzaga basketball game just last week, will be the Super Bowl referee. He was in charge of the game that shall not be mentioned, better known as “why didn’t they give the darn ball to Marshawn?”

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• We’re pretty proud of ourselves today. Mainly because we are dealing with a toothache. Forget guys playing in the Super Bowl on a broken leg or someone returning from an ACL after eight months. Writing this column with a front tooth sending out occasional stabs of light pain, now that’s the warrior mentality. Please keep us in your thoughts. Until later …