Eastern Washington opens the college basketball season! They’re obsessed with opening seasons

THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON HAS STARTED! The first game of the year was Eastern Washington vs. Texas Southern, and it’s underway:

EWU starts the game off from the Pacific Time Zone because the Eagles decided to bump the game up from 6 p.m. local time to 8 a.m to be the first in the nation.. Having a college basketball game at 8 a.m. throws everything off. There’s no morning shootaround. And for the student section, well, I struggled to make it to 11 a.m. classes. You want me to be somewhere at 8? On a Friday? With bright lights and loud noises? Maybe, but only because it’s college basketball.

The Eagles also hosted the first game of the college football season, and I guess they liked the exposure, so they did it again. Except that had exposure for a few reasons: EWU is one of the best FCS football teams in the country, and their opponent, Sam Houston State, was ranked at the time too. The game got an ESPN broadcast and everything.

This game doesn’t have a national broadcast and is against a SWAC team, so... not quite the same exposure boost. (Also, the football field is COLORED LIKE BLOOD and the basketball court is just a court. Bummer.) Sam Houston State plays at 1 p.m., which is the second game of the hoops season against “Austin.” Guys, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Anyway, congrats to Eastern Washington in their continued quest to be FIRST. Like Neil Armstrong or the Wright Brothers or those weirdos who wait around all day to comment “1” on celebrity’s Instagram posts.

(Important notes: EWU has a player named “Sir Washington” who hopefully only looked at schools in Washington to maintain his knighthood and their star is Australia’s VENKY JOIS.)

Sure enough!!!

And the maple bars look great:

Welcome back, college hoops.