Stuck

On a Saturday last August in Pullman, a Lentil Festival parade entry rounded the corner of Main Street. A scattering of claps rose. Was it a small, unfamiliar non-profit? The Pullman junior soccer league kids? The Rising Stars Dance Studio?

It was the Washington State Cougars football team, coming off an 11-win season.

If you closed your eyes, or bent down to tie your shoe as they passed, you wouldn't have known it.

Why?

Why the muted reception for this team? It was similar to other recent years of the parade, including after WSU turned a major corner for a 9-4 season in 2015.

The reason may s...