Art Thiel

Except for a two-run, welcome-back homer by Haniger, plus a two-run dinger from pinch-hitter Dylan Moore, the Mariners disappointed a sellout crowd of 45,337 with a 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

If you follow the turns here, undoubtedly you have reached the same conclusion as me: Sentiment, loyalty and conscience have no purchase in big-time college sports.

In large part, free agency is a grand shuffling of players among teams with the pivot points being salaries and age. Breakouts and busts always happen, but in general during this period we are seeing a swapping of JAGs (Just A Guy).

Does the state of Washington get awarded a "We Do Last Best" certificate? Is there a trophy, like maybe a door blown out of a Boeing 737 Max 9? Do Huskies and Cougars fans meet in Washtucna, hold hands and sing kumbaya?

All within the realm of rules and customs, of course, but the Chiefs' harrowing triumph in the 75th minute of play did not at all resemble, say, the 13th century works of Genghis Khan, his many offspring and the Mongol Empire.

Culture doesn't breed winning. Winning breeds culture. The rest is personality.

Despite the heavy steam wafting out of the crater in the middle of the program, Huskies fans need to know all is not lost.

"There ain’t enough wins," he said. "As a coach, there’s not enough wins. We know right now there’s not enough wins this season.”

The expectation is that the Huskies late Monday will be trailing by two points with one second left. Then the NCAA penalizes Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for being an all-around scoundrel. The five-yard advance allows kicker Grady Gross to attempt a 60-yard field goal that bounces once, then again, on the crossbar before falling past the uprights for the win.

They will be seen as the rose atop the slag heap. Dorothy prevailing over the Wicked Witch. Ferris Bueller prevailing over his day off.