A GRIP ON SPORTS • We can’t remember how many times we’ve linked – and written – stories concerning the family nature of football. Dads play, sons play. Heck granddad played too. Or at least tunes in to every game. But we’re not sure we’ve ever linked – or written – a story on the communal nature of watching the game. It was something we experienced last night.
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• We have one Cougar football fan in the family. That would be Kim, the matriarch. She also plays the role of the household’s smart one – though we’re not sure adopting Washington State as your college football team fits the latter narrative very well.
Why? Signing on to root for WSU is signing on for a lifetime of pain. We cautioned her of that years ago, when she put her X on the fan contract back in the day. We had seen too much of the agony up close, walking the Bohler Gym halls, talking with Coug alums, reading the agonizing social media posts.
But she is contractually obligated for a lifetime of being with us, so why not throw the Pac-12’s orphans in there too?
When she can, she dons one of her Cougar sweatshirts and sits with us as we cover their game at home – or in a hotel room somewhere – for our TV Take. She supports every WSU player, bemoans injuries and is happy when Washington State walks out of the stadium with a win. You know, like all Cougar fans.
She offers little in the way of comment, though, having been married to a journalist long enough to understand breaking their concentration at an inappropriate time is a gross misdemeanor.
Last night was different. Mainly because, due to travel made necessary by family circumstances and responsibilities, Kim was watching her first game of 2024. And, because the journalist sitting to her left respects her judgment above all, she was encouraged to chime in.
A fresh set of eyes and all that.
Which led to an exchange early in the game with our son concerning quarterback John Mateer’s passing mechanics.
Tyler, who also spends much of Saturday watching college football with his father, rooting for no one, has been harping on Mateer’s flaws since the season began. Kim, who spent all of September and early October on California’s central coast, where The CW station is also an NBC affiliate, thus robbing the local viewers of Washington State and Oregon State football games, wondered aloud at one point why Mateer constantly was throwing passes without his feet under him, even in the pocket. Flinging intermediate and deep balls without a base of support. The two of them discussed this off and on throughout the game.
The observer in the room, who was also listening to Fox’s Petros Papadakis talk about Mateer’s inconsistency as a passer without doing what an analyst should – explain why – took it all in. And wondered what Jake Dickert and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle would have thought of the discussion. Wondered what former Cougar quarterbacks might say. Other WSU fans. Are the same thoughts being thrown around wildly throughout Cougar Nation? Or, thanks to Mateer’s legs and occasional clutch connection, are they happy with his performances?
After all, Washington State is 5-1 at the season’s hallway point. It will play in a bowl game. It is in the national conversation, albeit peripherally after the blowout missed-tackle fest at Boise a couple weeks ago. In a season of upheaval, is that enough? Especially considering this is Mateer’s first year as a starter and he has two more seasons to improve.
We may know soon, though. The CW Network will broadcast the Cougars’ next game, Saturday afternoon’s homecoming against Hawaii. There is a good chance Ryan Leaf, who has forgotten more about quarterback mechanics than anyone in our zip code knows, may be in the analyst’s seat. As a former WSU star, it’s his homecoming too.
It will be interesting to listen to a breakdown by someone who truly knows the ins-and-outs of playing the position. That’s a knowledge not many fans – or aging journalists – possess.
• As much as we love writing a column about the Cougars’ TV coverage each week, we also find ourselves with seller’s remorse on the occasional Saturday. Last night was one of them.
Why the heck did Oregon’s wild 32-31 win over visiting Ohio State have to run on a parallel track with Washington State’s come-from-behind win in Fresno? How did the Pac-12 hierarchy allow such a travesty to happen? Oh, right.
The Pac-12 doesn’t include Oregon anymore. Or USC. Or Arizona. (Insert bad words here.)
If it did, a conference showdown between the second- and third-ranked teams in the nation more than likely would have been given the stage all to itself. The network partners want the best ratings they can draw too. Why submarine another conference game, chipping away viewership from both?
We would have loved to watch – and write about – the Cougars in the afternoon. Then settle in and quietly pull for whomever is playing the Buckeyes. Like any patriotic American.
• By the way, we injected family dynamics into today’s column. It’s a different set of those which informs our anti-Ohio State bias. Late in his life our dad, God bless him, burdened the rest of us with an Ohio State alum as a stepmother. A stepmother in the “Cinderella” or “Enchanted” mode. Hope that explains it.
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WSU: Against Boise State two weeks ago, the Cougars had troubles tackling. Or being consistent on offense. Only one of those issues were glaring last night, partly, we’re sure, due to Fresno State not having a running back named Ashton Jeanty. Bottom line? They got a win. Which seems to be the be all and end all for Dickert’s crew, considering their postgame comments. Our thought: Getting better each game is also important, if only to ensure more of that “winning” thing that seem to be the goal. How did Washington State earn Saturday’s? Greg Woods tells us in this game analysis. (By the way, Greg had two main stories leading up to the game, one on defensive communication and the other on yards after catch by the receivers. FS1’s play-by-play person Trent Rush, reporting from Los Angeles, must have read both, as he talked about the two subjects at great length early on.) … Greg also has the difference makers while the folks in the office put together a recap with highlights. … Tyler Tjomsland was in Fresno and has a bunch of photos on the S-R website. Both links we followed, however, were broken this morning and we can’t fix them. When they start working, we will pass the photos along. … Finally, we had our usual TV Take. If Papadakis does another Cougar game this year, we’re thinking of just documenting all the fun, off-the-wall, Bill-Walton-like things he says. It would be really entertaining. … We can pass along some coverage from Fresno as well. … Former WSU basketball standout Isaac Fontaine will enter the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday in a ceremony at the Spokane Memorial Arena. Dave Boling has a column this morning that catches up with Ike, as anyone connected to Washington State knows him. He will be inducted along with eight others, including someone we admire as much as we can, longtime S-R and Chronicle sports writer and editor (and softball umpire) Chuck Stewart. … Another former Coug basketball star, Klay Thompson, is embarking on a new chapter of his NBA life.
– Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, Jon Wilner’s Saturday Night Five column chronicles the former Pac-12 schools’ woes. Except Oregon of course. One thought we have, after watching weeks of those schools playing in new conferences, is every 50/50 call seems to be going the other way. How odd. … Stewart Mandel also has his thoughts on the weekend in The Athletic. … Poor Oregon State. The other remaining Pac-12 member traveled to Reno and found out its defense isn’t good enough to stop an also-ran Mountain West school under a first-year head coach. Trent Bray admitted as much afterward. The Beavers better pick it up or this will be a lost season, not just for them but for the conference. … The Ducks’ win was everything the school, the Big Ten and everyone who is in our anti-Ohio State camp could have wished for. No, not really. It was too close. A blowout would have been better. … John Canzano has a column from Autzen. … The national media was in Eugene in a big way for this one. … Washington got pushed around again Saturday, being run over in Iowa 40-16 in a game that began at 9 a.m. on the West Coast. The coverage focuses on how the Huskies are having trouble competing in the rough-and-tumble Big Ten, but we see that as a way-too-simple explanation. They lost so much up front on both sides of the ball, they would be getting pushed around in the Pac-12 too. Heck, WSU did it. USC is going to. Oregon? Oh, ya. At least UCLA may not be able to. … Stanford played its annual game with No. 11 Notre Dame. Lost 49-7 in South Bend. If this is the last matchup between the longtime rivals, it leaves a sour taste in the Cardinal’s mouth. … California has a sour taste in its mouth all the time. The Bears had another good shot at an upset, Saturday’s coming at No. 22 Pitt. But they failed down the stretch and fell 17-15. … We mentioned the newbies getting the short end of the stick with their new conference’s officials. USC’s 33-30 loss to Penn State in overtime is a good case study. The Nittany Lions committed two defensive pass interference penalties in OT and neither were called. … A beat-up Colorado squad could not stay with visiting Kansas State, falling 31-28. The game ended on a controversial no-call that went against the Big 12 newbies. … UCLA led. Again. The Bruins lost. Again. This one 21-17 to Minnesota. … So much for Arizona as a Big 12 contender. The surprise of the season, BYU, took care of that in Provo with a 41-19 rout. … Unlikely heroes are stepping up each week for Arizona State.
– In the Mountain West, San Jose State proved the long-held theorem if you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none, rotating at the position, getting little good from either player and falling 31-24 at Colorado State. The Rams picked up a much-needed win. … Hawaii kept it close for a long time but Jeanty and Boise State had too much and pulled away for a 28-7 win. … New Mexico rolled over, around and through the Air Force defense is a 52-37 home victory. It was the Falcons’ fifth-consecutive loss. … San Diego State went from sea-level to altitude and still won, topping host Wyoming 27-24. … Somehow we missed this coverage from Las Vegas on the Friday night Rebel win.
Gonzaga: Let’s check our notes. Since last year’s 32-4, Sweet Sixteen season, the GU women’s basketball team has lost some of the best players in their illustrious history, most of that roster and much of Lisa Fortier’s free time, as she spent the offseason getting breast cancer treatments. It’s no wonder Greg Lee led his coverage of yesterday’s annual coming out party at McCarthey with this sentence: “Don’t judge the Gonzaga women’s basketball team on the FanFest scrimmage Saturday afternoon.” … Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara women’s basketball coach Bill Carr, an Alec Baldwin look-alike, abruptly resigned Saturday.
EWU: We wrote “it is do-or-wait-until-next-season time for the Eagles” yesterday. They did, winning in Sacramento for the first time since 2016, topping the Hornets 35-28 with a strong defensive second half. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State picked up its first win of the season, going into Pocatello and topping Idaho State 42-38. … Northern Colorado also won for the first time, upsetting No. 23 Weber State in Ogden 21-17. … No. 14 Montana rallied for a 31-20 win over visiting 24rd-ranked Northern Arizona. … Sixth-ranked UC Davis won the 50th Golden Horseshoe, routing Cal Poly 56-10.
Idaho: The Vandals took their eighth-place ranking in the FBS into Bozeman last night for an ESPN2-televised showdown with third-ranked Montana State. It didn’t turn out as UI wanted. The Bobcats rolled on the ground – rushing for 361 yards – and shut down the Vandal offense once again dealing with quarterback injuries. The final was 38-7.
Whitworth: Homecoming is a celebration, right? Which is why smart schools try to schedule opponents who will give little to no resistance. Put Whitworth in the smart category. The rolled visiting Willamette 48-0 behind Ryan Blair’s four touchdown passes. Colton Clark has the coverage.
Preps: It’s Sunday morning. We can pass along Dave Nichols’ Friday Night (High)lights column. All is right in the world.
Chiefs: Spokane plays today in Regina with a chance to take over first in the WHL’s Western Conference.
Velocity: A home 3-2 loss to the Greenville Triumph was the bad news. The good? Spokane qualified for the USL League One playoffs.
Kraken: Seattle has a win. It came via a 5-4 shootout decision after being outplayed all night by Minnesota.
Mariners: Yesterday we linked this story from the Times’ Adam Jude on the M’s starting pitchers and a possible trade. It ran in the S-R today. The thought Luis Castillo won’t be traded is misguided. Yes, he has a no-trade clause. Money makes those disappear. … The Dodgers could be a partner, but right now they are prepping for tonight’s NLCS opener with the visiting Mets. … Cleveland picked up Lane Thomas from the Nats at the trade deadline. Saturday Thomas lifted the Guardians into the ALCS with a grand slam winner vs. the Tigers, 7-3. The Yankees are Cleveland’s next victim.
Storm: The Lynx unlikeliest of heroes came through in the first game of the WNBA championship series.
Sounders: Mauricio Pochettino’s first game as the USMNT’s head coach was a successful one with a 2-0 win over Panama.
Reign: Seattle can be eliminated from the postseason with a loss today.
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• Is watching the Cougars (or some other college or NFL team) a family get-together for you? We usually don’t have everyone in the same room – dad needs his quiet to work – but yesterday was an exception. Only occasionally, though. The son watched the showdown in Eugene in the other room much of the night. Smart man. … We came back. And we finished up at 9:15 a.m. Wrote too much this morning. Until later …
