Vince Grippi

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Hating on Daylight Saving Time is all the rage. Not the idea of later sunsets itself, sure, but the back-and-forth, switching time twice a year. Especially in the spring, when we all take that forward leap. As we did overnight – giving each of us an hour’s less sleep. And keeping me in the dark.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Hardly a week went by some 50 years ago without drama in our home. Usually it began with dad sitting in his chair, reading his newspaper. He would hit some story, read about a third of it and throw the paper down in disgust. “The world is going to hell in a handbasket,” he would yell before stomping out to the garage or the yard, muttering to himself. Me? I would immediately pick up the discarded Sports section and checked the box scores.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There are few sure things in life. One of them is in the Spokane forecast today. Snow. Enough of it to make skiers smile and the rest of us frown. Even the phone’s weather app lists the probability of the white stuff today at 100%, a rare occurrence. But you want to know what’s not guaranteed?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It is really happening, isn’t it? No, not Spokane’s sub-zero streak ending, but there is a big “yes” to that as well. I’m referring to college basketball’s regular season winding down. With all that entails.

Funny, 6,000 folks walked into the McCarthey Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon, ready to watch a women’s college basketball game. They got it. A physical, wood-chipper sort of one, in fact.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • I’m sort of on a TV kick. It’s easy to understand. Why would anyone want to leave the house after dark when the weather is as cold as it is? And is forecasted to be. Besides, lots of good stuff on the box. And some good news too.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Everyone knows the Super Bowl is on Sunday afternoon. And by “everyone,” I mean even those folks whose paychecks depend on programming sports in such a way that draws the most eyeballs. It’s why there is only one sporting event available to watch once the game kicks. Why get into a steel cage with King Kong?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As the first full week of February dawns, we are forced to ask a crucial mathematical question. Or a basketball question, if that’s how you want to frame it. Are we seeing a reversion to the mean for our local college teams?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Being self-aware is important. That’s why I can say with no uncertainty that I am not a great prognosticator. And not a bettor. But I am someone willing to own up to my failures in both.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The NFL is king. King of television. King of American sports. King of mass hysteria.