A GRIP ON SPORTS • Hope is a pretty big word for only being four letters long. That’s something worth examining today as college football takes the field in a semi-big way. And then there is the little matter of a horse race in Kentucky, something that most everyone hopes to attend someday.

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• There is hope up and down the West Coast this morning. It all has to do with COVID-19 testing. Weird, huh? The past few months, when anyone would be singled out for testing, the hope was it would return negative. Now everyone is positive a quick, easy, reliable test will help Pac-12 football return, maybe even sometime this year.

January football games in Pullman (and Boulder and Salt Lake City) sound like fun, don’t they? My guess snow would be in the forecast. But so would Max Borghi runs, so maybe it’s a wash.

Why such hopeful glances? It’s money of course. Everyone is worried about their athletic budget. Without football, it’s going to be hard to keep their heads above water. Utah has furloughed everyone in its department, from the athletic director to the, presumably, guys or gals who make minimum wage. Colorado continues to trim here and there. The budget ax is about to fall at Washington and everywhere else.

At least no one in Pullman is talking about dropping the entire athletic program, as is the case at one California school.

Which is why hope is important. The testing news supplies some of that, but unless the machines the conference schools are going to employ can also test 35,000 Cougar fans, and all the folks who work in the stadium to accommodate a full crowd, than playing football in January isn’t going to impact the budget much more than March or April. Maybe less.

One can hope the Martin Stadium gates will be open to fans that have been medically cleared. But hope isn’t going to get it done. Only even easier testing, and possibly a vaccine, will do that.

• Yes, for years I wanted to attend the Kentucky Derby. Just to see what it was about. But after talking with some people who have experienced it, I was happy to just walk through the grandstands a couple decades back for a convention reception. That was enough. From what I understand, the big ol’ party you see on TV isn’t in reality all that fun.

Imagine that. Television distorting something. How odd.

But nothing is odder than this year’s Derby, coming into your living rooms this afternoon. Sure, everything is odd in 2020, from baseball games with cardboard cutouts in the stands to folks thinking there is something wrong about wearing a mask to watch a high school football game.

No one will be wearing a mask in the Churchill Downs’ stands today. Mainly because there will be no one there. The race is closed to spectators. But COVID-19 isn’t the only reason for that. Louisville native Pat Forde explains why in this Sports Illustrated story, as sports once again this year intersects with a reality that has intruded all too often the past few months.

For those of us sitting at home hoping to see Tiz the Law dominate and bolster its Triple Crown credentials, that intersection probably won’t be visible. But that doesn’t mean it won’t exist.

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WSU: Theo Lawson passed on Tay Martin’s tweet yesterday, but didn’t write a story about the former Cougar receiver exalting in his immediate eligibility at Oklahoma State. So we found one for you. It’s what we do. … Former Cougar quarterback Gardner Minshew wants to win. For a variety of reasons. … Around the Pac-12 and the nation, college football gets underway for real today but not without a hiccup. Next week’s decent nonconference matchup between TCU and SMU has already been canceled due to a COVID-19 problem. Expect more as the season goes on. … Larry Scott is more and more hopeful sports will be back this year. So is USC’s Clay Helton, who has an entire scale named after his chances of surviving. … Oregon’s governor talks football and gets a dig in. As a resident of Washington, I’m ticked. … An Oregon State starting-quarterback candidate isn’t letting the season’s postponement slow him down. … Former WSU coach Mike Leach is just one of the old faces in new places this season. … In basketball news, Washington’s Mike Hopkins has a few thoughts to share. … Brandon Williams’ Arizona career is already over, done in by injury. The guard is headed to the pro ranks. Which means the Wildcat roster is complete.

Gonzaga: Mark Few was honored last night at the virtual version of the Dick Vitale Gala, a fundraiser for cancer research sponsored by the longtime basketball analyst. Jim Meehan has more in this story. … Jim also spoke with Larry Weir yesterday for the latest Press Box podcast, which has been virtual since it began.

EWU: An Arizona high school defensive back has committed to the Eagles.  

Preps: So is defense one of those things that have disappeared in 2020? From high school football, I mean. Coeur d’Alene played it last night in the Viks’ 55-0 win over visiting Sandpoint, but most of the other games mentioned in Dave Nichols’ roundup of games were high scoring, including one, Lewiston’s win over Lake City, featuring more than 100 points scored combined.

Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi pitched well again and the M’s defeated Texas 6-3. Seattle was coming off a coronavirus-caused three-day break. … The players the M’s picked up in trades are going to play, causing a bit of logjam in the infield. Shed Long may be the odd man out.

Seahawks: There were no cuts yesterday. But they are coming. … The Hawks will wear helmet stickers to honor victims of racial injustice. DK Metcalf has made his choice. … Who stood out in training camp? Bob Condotta has his views. … Jim Moore has a few things to say about the Hawks.

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• For a day without a printed version of the S-R, we seem to have a whole bunch of links to pass along. I should have gotten out of bed earlier. By the way, it is Labor Day weekend. Or as I have always found it in my neighborhood, the weekend when everyone leaves. Takes off for the lake or mountains or coast or whatever. Except us. I wonder if 2020 will be different in that regard as well. Until later …