The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT July 10, 2010

Two years.

In that time, I have had three different jobs, spanning the Shoshone and Kootenai County areas.

And it's the same amount of time NBA mega-free agent LeBron James flirted with eight franchises about coming to play with the promise of multi-million dollar contracts once his previous deal ran out in June.

THROUGHOUT THE same amount of time, the North Idaho College women's basketball team has qualified for the NJCAA tournament twice - with completely different teams each year.

At the junior college level, that's basically your only option - win in two years and watch the players move onto bigger and better opportunities.

Players have come to Coeur d'Alene as freshmen and a couple have left All-Americans and moved onto Division I schools, while others are preparing to make another run at nationals this year.

Next month, area teams will be back into the mix, preparing for the fall sports season in a handful of different sports.

State tournaments have bounced from southern Idaho to the north last year, back down south for this year's tournaments.

OVER THE last two years, the Seattle Seahawks have had two coaches, both finishing with terrible results.

When Mike Holmgren rounded out his reign as Seattle's coach, the Seahawks had been to the playoffs five straight seasons, even hosted a few of those games.

Once Jim Mora took over, they looked more like a team in turmoil as players were head-butting helmets to pump themselves up for games, blaming each other for interceptions and when they'd finally get a lead, they couldn't keep it.

Games have gotten so bad over the past two years, it's possible some of the losses on the east coast could be called the worst in franchise history.

Hopefully, with the front office changes and a new coach, a different path will be taken than the one they’ve failed to blaze the last two years.

IN CASE you missed it, LeBron James invited nearly anyone he could think of to Cleveland in the last week in an attempt to woo him to play basketball next season for their respective city.

After a two-year wait, James finally let his intentions know that he’ll be leaving Cleveland for the Miami Heat, joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who both signed with the team on Wednesday.

Wade won an NBA title with the Heat. The other two are still looking for a first championship.

James, who grew up just a couple hours from Cleveland, now leaves his roots in search of a championship.

Should he get one, it won’t be the same as winning it for the team he grew up watching.

Hopefully, James learns to enjoy the spotlight and pressure, because, the heat is now on.

Whether it’s on his jersey or his disgruntled fans.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020, or via e-mail at [email protected]