Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
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There have been a lot of changes in NCAA basketball. UConn won its second championship in a row — in case you forgot. Coaches moved to different challenges, replacing coaches who were fired or took a successful season and received a bigger paycheck somewhere else. I guess we could call it the coaching transfer portal. Eastern Washington University head Coach David Riley moved onto WSU. I like Riley, but I wish he hadn’t said this was his dream job because a lot of dream job...
By the time you read this you will know who the men’s NCAA basketball champion is. All I can say is that the two best teams are playing for the crown. I’ll watch as I always do because it’s the right thing to do. It was a great season and an interesting one. Whereas the women’s champion was undefeated the men’s’ teams stubbed their toes a few times, Purdue 4 times and UConn 3. It has been a long time since the men had an undefeated champion mainly due to talented rosters and...
I’ve always maintained that timing is everything. I wrote last week’s column and sent it off a few hours before WSU basketball coach Kyle Smith announced that he would be the next Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball coach. When I found out I thought that it wasn’t a step up as Stanford has had trouble winning and now they are going to the ACC to play the likes of North Carolina, Duke and this year’s tournament upstart North Carolina State. A few hours later when I was watch...
There are a ton of stories about the teams, players and coaches in the NCAA basketball tournament. There are family stories and stories of tragedy that can make a person cry. With the games there are upsets and blowouts and buzzer beaters. We all know that some of the players that had great tournaments will be on someone else’s roster next year. Coaches that had great seasons will be courted by bigger programs that weren’t happy with the person that is heading their pro...
I’m sure that many people who enjoy watching the NCAA basketball tournament really don’t watch many of the conference tournaments. For fans around here that watch Gonzaga and WSU your interests were in Las Vegas last week and the last game you watched ended in a loss for the men and also the GU women. The only local team to win their conference tournament was the EWU women. The Eagle ladies had and extraordinary season and will now take on Oregon State in Corvallis. Nice rew...
As the youngest of five I grew up with basketball, football and baseball. My older brothers taught me how to play and to take a few lumps along the way. I loved to play and work on my deficiencies to be a better player. I watched a lot of games as a youth and of course when my heroes lost I took it pretty hard. When it was my turn to play in high school I paid attention to the rule changes and it was interesting how many changes there were in the game of basketball. The idea...
It's kind of interesting when you watch championship games especially at the professional level and think that the players will be so focused and there won't be many mistakes. But mistakes were made and with dropped passes and penalties that allowed the offense to get a fresh set of downs and continue their march towards the goal line. In the AFC game Kansas City would make enough plays to get a lead and hold off the Baltimore Ravens. On one drive in the second half the...
It is hard to fathom what all happened last week. We know that the UW Huskies were humbled by the Michigan Wolverines. I was looking forward to a good game. I started listening to the game when it was in the second quarter and the score was 17-3. I had other things going on at the time and when I got the game on the radio in my car it was a shock. The game was played on Wolverine terms and the Huskies could never get over the hump and get close enough to make it a good game. A...
It is hard to predict what type of team that the Eastern Washington Eagles will field each season especially with the transfer portal changing rosters all over the country. The Eagles have lost a few players in the last few years because of it and some really good ones too. Some have made good decisions while a few others have had trouble finding playing time or maybe they have had trouble adjusting to the new coach. When Shantay Legens left for Portland after a Big Sky...
I remember growing up that a person could stop at a gas station and pick up a map of most nearby states or the city they were in if it was a large one. Whenever we travelled my dad would always plan the trip with the use of a map, and he could fold them back into place. He had a bunch of maps from all over and I can’t tell you what happened to them but they are long gone. He did interest me into the use of maps and I can honestly say that as long as I used a map I didn’t get l...
It certainly was a wild weekend for college football. Of course, if everything would have played out according to who was favored then we wouldn’t have such a controversial final four that was chosen by the committee on Sunday. But, as they say, that is why you play the game. Friday night the final Pac 12 championship game was played and it was a great game. Washington beat Oregon by three for the second time this season and since they had already been a part of the chosen four during the week they were certain to be in the t...
Before I get into this week’s sports update, let me wish all of you faithful readers of this column a very Happy Thanksgiving. And may I remind you to not eat too much — but definitely enough — and enjoy family and friends on this holiday. There will be some pretty good games to watch, Be sure you enjoy them and don’t get wrapped up in the winning and losing. Let that part of the game bother the coaches and the players. As fans, we really don’t have a lot to do with the final...
There were a couple of interesting events that took place following Saturday’s college football games. On Sunday, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was fired after a 51-10 shellacking of Mississippi State. And the Mississippi State coach also lost his job. Closer to home Boise State also let their coach go and he was a former BSU Bronco player First of all let’s just say that coaches are fired a lot and this far into the season usually means that the donors, fans and alumni are...
Well, it looks like the last of the warm weather will be leaving us until spring. We always seem surprised, but we shouldn’t be. Once October is past the midway point, we should expect the warmth of the sun to go away. Oh sure, we’ll have a day or two that will be enjoyable. But for the most part, it’s time to find a jacket to wear or reacquaint yourself to the layered look. We will soon be watching the World Series. By the time you read this, the teams should be decid...
Around about this time of the football season many teams have a bye or are coming off a bye week. The long 11-12 game seasons call for a break to heal up and catch your breath. This also allows coaching staffs to go on the road and recruit high school and Junior College athletes in order to fill vacancies in next year’s roster. Kids graduate or injuries will knock out a quality athlete but the position needs a replacement National signing day has become a big deal where a 4-5...
I have a few things to talk about after this past weekend. First off, I went to Cheney on Saturday and watched a highly entertaining game between EWU and Idaho. A few years ago when Idaho came back to the Big Sky Conference the powers that be made Idaho and Montana yearly foes because of a suspected rivalry. EWU and Montana had a great rivalry going but the Big Sky said no you get to play Montana State and Portland State each year. Now Idaho has a really good team. Fans in...
We are a couple of weeks into the football and volleyball season and fans can start to see where the experienced teams are and where those that maybe rebuilding will eventually end up. For those rebuilding it is a long road and finding the talent and willingness to make that journey means commitment by young athletes that want to be successful. There is something else that happens this time of year that also takes commitment and time constraints. That would be the late season...
On Halloween day in 1992 my brother Larry and I went to the UW-Stanford football game in Seattle. I could get complimentary tickets as a coach and let’s just say that Larry was my assistant coach for a day Anyway the plan was to park in Bellevue at a Park and Ride and get on the bus to go to Husky Stadium. After we got off the bus and were walking to the Will Call ticket booth we couldn’t help but notice just how much purple surrounded us. If Barney the dinosaur would have got...
I watched some of the Major League baseball draft live from Lumen Field in Seattle on Sunday. It was interesting to see how many high school seniors were drafted. I’m sure that a fair amount of them will turn pro and learn more about playing baseball for a living and polish up their game at spring training facilities or at the Class A level around the country. There will be some who will begin their college careers in hopes of learning from some great coaches and facilities i...
I watched some of the Major League baseball draft live from Lumen Field in Seattle on Sunday. It was interesting to see how many high school seniors were drafted. I’m sure that a fair amount of them will turn pro and learn more about playing baseball for a living and polish up their game at spring training facilities or at the Class A level around the country. There will be some who will begin their college careers in hopes of learning from some great coaches and facilities i...
There were a couple of baseball games played last week that were significant because of the amount of runs scored by one of the teams. In the Major Leagues, the Los Angeles Angels unloaded on the Colorado Rockies in Denver, 25-1, with a barrage of home runs. Certainly, a laugher if you are an Angels fan. If Colorado is your team and you only get to see one game a year and this was it, then it couldn’t have been a lot of fun for the price of admission. I remember several y...
I met Kenny G several years ago at the Big Sky Track championship in Cheney through a mutual friend. Throughout the day we conversed about EWU football and his time there in the early 1960s. We became fast friends as they say and have watched a lot of Eastern Washington University games together. Ken told a bunch of stories about his high school days in Othello. Since I told him I was from Ritzville he had to tell me the story of his prowess as a middle linebacker and the day...
We all get asked about sports. Can you compare this guy’s game from a bunch of years ago with this youngster’s game? So, if you go back 50-plus years, you would see there wasn’t much weight work. But then, there weren’t that many state tournaments either. With some sports not having any playoffs, a team’s only claim to fame was to win the league championship. It wasn’t until Title IX came into effect in 1973 that state championship competition expanded in the state. We a...
In a month from now school will be out and the Lind Combine Derby weekend will bring a bunch of crash test dummies to town. We still have some spring sports to follow before the final state contests take place on Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately the LRS baseball team was eliminated this past Thursday. The team had a so-so season but this group of seniors have had a pretty good year with a successful football season and a berth at state for the basketball team with a 5th...
Last week I talked about some of the changes that were made to the game of baseball in order to speed it up a bit. But I left out a couple of big changes that really need to be mentioned. One of the changes concerns the pitcher when there is a runner on base, mostly first base. The pitcher is now limited to make two throws over to first to keep the runner close especially if he is a base stealer. Now the pitcher can throw over a third time but he needs the first baseman to...