The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT August 4, 2010

It's true.

I have lived in North Idaho my entire life, so liking many of those professional and college teams from the area is nothing too shocking.

Sure, most teams from the area are better to watch than others, but throw me into any other setting, you'd find the same result.

HAD I never watched the Idaho Public Television station KUID growing up, I may have never seen the Idaho Vandals play a football game.

In fact, growing up, the most sports I'd watch on television revolved around the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves because they were easier to find than any other baseball games.

But for years it became something normal than if I wasn't off shooting hoops in front of the house.

Most of the time, it wasn't very long before I'd be outside and trying to replicate what I'd just watched Andre Dawson do and try to do the same in my back yard.

For the most part, watching the Seattle Mariners wasn't easy, unless they appeared on national games of the week, until Ken Griffey, Jr. put Mariner baseball on the map.

After they settled on Fox Sports Northwest, games became easier to find. Later I went to Seattle and saw them in person, first in the Kingdome, then at Safeco Field.

Comparing the two stadiums, what I recall from my trip to the Kingdome was that it seemed enormous because of all the concrete, but a cool place to watch a game.

Being only 8 years old at the time, my only comparison was Sather Field in Silverton.

WHEN IT came to watching my first NFL game live, I had no idea what to expect, especially when it came to what happens when television cameras aren't rolling.

From the point of the first game (Denver vs. Seattle at Husky Stadium in November 2000) - I was hooked from that point and have been to at least one game a year since.

It has also became a tradition to go to the home opener, with this being the sixth in seven years that I will have made the opener to Seattle.

But I'd probably be just as thrilled to watch a game anywhere across the country.

For me, the biggest thing to me is to see a good game, no matter who wins.

Last year, while at a Mariner game in Seattle against the Boston Red Sox, I stood and clapped when former North Idaho College standout Jason Bay hit a two-run home run into the left field bullpen. That next day, I clapped when Mariner outfielder Franklin Gutierrez drove in the winning run the following day - although, a Red Sox win was what I thought was going to happen.

You see, I'm just a fan of sports. Both watching and playing them.

Regardless of who is playing.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached via telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020, or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.