The Front Row with Mark Nelke Feb. 21, 2010

I didn't even go to the state girls basketball tournaments this year - I was busy manning the fort up here - but I'm still exhausted.

What a week it was, with North Idaho guaranteed three state girls basketball titles entering the day, as all three featured all-North Idaho matchups in the championship game.

The Winter Olympics - taking place only some 400 miles away - served as a backdrop for the entire week.

And then there was that golfer fellow finally speaking after nearly three months of silence.

There is always a certain amount of North Idaho pride when one of the teams from up north makes it to the state title game - the out-of-town teams coming to the big city and playing for the big trophy, as it were.

This year, it was double that, with Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston of the 5A Inland Empire League playing for the state 5A title, Kellogg and Priest River of the Intermountain League playing for the state 3A title, and Lapwai and Clearwater Valley of the Whitepine League squaring off in the 1A Division II title tilt.

Anyway, when two teams from the North play for the title in Nampa - like three years ago, when Lake City beat Coeur d'Alene in the championship game - it's pretty much a friends-and-family type setting. Most of the fans are from either of the two teams, and only the most diehard girls basketball fans from southern Idaho would stick around and watch.

It's like going to someone else's house to watch the Super Bowl, and the game isn't going their way, and they decide at halftime to go to the movies. You get to watch their big-screen TV, eat their food, mess up their house ... and then go home and leave it behind for them to clean up.

That doesn't make it any less exciting to win a state title - probably more gratifying, actually. Because, at least for one day, the North has taken over the South's house.

This week, the girls tournament was truly a "state" tournament and not the "Boise Championship Series," as one coach dubbed it a few years back. In fact, only one Boise-area team - 4A Middleton - played for a state title.

And it was a nice complement to the Americans' exploits in Canada - whether they brought home a medal or not - and a nice alternative to a certain golfer trying to apologize for his "transgressions."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.