It’s officially “break glass” time for WSU Cougar sports news

Good morning. I hope you and your families are all healthy and, if you have children, still sane. As the headline suggests, we’re getting really close to CONTENTCON 1 when it comes to Washington State Cougars news, and there’s probably a long ways to go before things even begin to rev up again. Unfortunately, nobody criticized any former coaches this week, so we have to take another avenue.

Well, it turns out we do have some link-type stuff to share, even though it’s dated. Kinda like how NBC used to tout re-runs during the summer. If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!

But before we do that, let’s talk some more about how new head football coach Nick Rolovich continues to own the offseason. Rolovich took to Twitter Saturday, encouraging folks to support local restaurants during these obviously tough times.

Now, for the olds such as yours truly, Pizza Perfection hits a soft spot because it was even around in the days of yore when I was there. Best part was that it was BOGO if you could pick it up. But Rolovich and Co. weren’t just gonna buy pizzas for themselves.

That started a run on social media of folks giving “thanks” to the coach for picking up the tab on their dinner. I won’t post the reactions here, but you can have a look if so desired.

Rolovich’s public pledge of local support soon caught the eye of an Idahoan from the internet and, well, it ended for someone named Trent Cowan as it most often ends for the Vandals when they take on WSU Football.

Trent quickly tucked tail and executed a full retreat.

As for the #content, the fine folks at College Football News published some early schedule thoughts for the entire conference, and list WSU as a “winner.”

If you’re a team in the North, you want Oregon and Washington at home – check. You’d like to miss Utah from the South, but if you can’t you want that at home, too – check. You’d also like to miss USC – check. Yeah, there’s a run of three road games in four dates, but the non-conference slate is at Utah State, Houston, Idaho.

There’s no question that WSU has somewhat of a soft opening, though it probably won’t be very easy opening on the road against a G5 foe in the Utah State Aggies, who will undoubtedly be looking to make a statement. Houston’s loss of D’Eriq King will no doubt harm them, and Idaho is, well, still Idaho.

Here’s hoping everything starts on time and we have a football team for which to actually cheer.

Football

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This Week in Parenting

Due to everything being closed everywhere, school at home began in earnest last Thursday, and it has revealed some interesting things. As you may expect, it’s been a bumpy start. For example, virtual school was set to begin at 0800, and when I left for work around 730, everyone was already at their wit’s end. And, we’re off! I was home with the kids on Friday, and the eight year-old occupied much of my attention. The one thing I noticed was that he had maybe 90-120 minutes of work, total. This led me to wonder, what on earth do the teachers do with these kids all day? Better them than me.

We were watching a science tutorial on states of matter, and he had to match “what’s in the jar” with the shelves labeled “solid,” “liquid,” or “gas.” Helium was one of the things he had to categorize, so he asked me what it is. I told him it’s often used in balloons because it’s lighter than air. He then said, “Isn’t that what Tom Brady put in the footballs? I heard that at school.”

As for the 11 year-old, he’s been mostly “fire and forget” so far, except when it comes to some of his math, which of course contains techniques and terms that confound his dad. Sunday did not bring good things for him, however, as mom noticed he had scores of class-related emails that have gone unread.

For example - On Friday, he went outside for a while and ran around with a classmate, because that’s what the PE teacher asked them to do while out of school. When he got back, I asked him if the teacher told the kids to make a log of their activity. He said “no.” Welp, there are lots of unread emails from the PE teacher and guess what? THEY DIRECT HIM TO KEEP AN ACTIVITY LOG. AM I YELLING??!! IT FEELS LIKE I’M YELLING.

Always comforting to wake up on a Sunday and realize your kid has a full day of work ahead of him. He’s currently viewing a lecture on Islam and Sharia law. Gonna be a long day.

All this time at home has allowed us to make some headway in the Millennium Falcon build. So we’ve got that going for us.

12 sets of bags down, five to go.

Since there are no sports anymore, American Forces Network is scrambling, which led to an airing of NBA Finals Game 4 from 1987 on Sunday morning. It was quite a trip down memory lane, and I told the boys that back then, everybody was either a Lakers fan or a Celtics fan, and I was all in for the Lakers.

The eight year-old had some observations and questions. Since the original broadcast was in Standard Def, the TV had black bars on both sides. This prompted him to observe, “This is cool. I didn’t think it would be in black and white.” I told the kids that I remembered watching this game when I was about 11, and the eight year-old openly wondered if any of the guys who played in the game were still alive. Dagger.

He then had a question that I’m sure a lot of young folks ask. “Why don’t they show the score on the screen?” Finally, after Magic hit his baby hook to give the Lakers the lead with two seconds left (which had 11 year-old PJ jumping for joy at the time), he asked me what the Celtics should do. I told him, “they need to get the ball to Larry Bird.”

“Who is Larry Bird?”

I have failed as a father.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: I realized this week that I’d brought back a Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA the US back in December, and that it was still sitting in the pantry. It is no longer sitting in the pantry.

How Will Coronavirus Impact Craft Beer? The Brewers Association Weighs In | Food & Wine Many states have closed bars and breweries amid the coronavirus pandemic, meaning beermakers who rely on taps and taprooms are losing customers.

Non-Sports

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