The Front Row with MARK NELKE Jan. 16, 2011

I remember watching Eastern Washington University football coach Beau Baldwin speak to a couple dozen or so North Idaho College boosters last summer at The Coeur d'Alene Resort's Shore Lounge.

At the time, it was a pretty good bet some people wondered who the man was when he showed up ("A new member? Cool!"), and several likely only had a vague knowledge of Eagle football.

Beau and I chatted for a while following the booster lunch, then he headed back to Cheney to get busy preparing for the season.

I'm sure neither of us knew at the time what kind of wild ride Baldwin and the Eagles were about to go on.

With interest heightened by the installation of the red turf (a terrific idea, I still believe - and not because I'm an EWU alum), Eastern beat rival Montana in the first game on "The Inferno," and later won three straight playoff games on "the red" to advance to the FCS championship game.

And naturally, in a stirring ending you would have sworn had to have been scripted, Eastern capped its first season on its highly talked about turf by rallying from a 19-0 deficit to beat Delaware 20-19 and win its first national championship.

These days, Baldwin is recognizable by more than just the diehard EWU fan, and people can name other Eagles beside Bo Levi Mitchell, Taiwan Jones and J.C. Sherritt.

And the Eagles, lucky to draw more than just a few thousand fans before they started this magical run, are the talk of the Inland Northwest these days.

EWU is scheduled to play at Washington this fall, and at Idaho and Washington State in 2012, so we'll get to see how the Eags stack up against the bigger (FBS) schools in the area. Heck, they might even be favored in two of those three games.

With Mitchell and several other key players returning - and even with Jones opting to leave school after his junior season to take a shot at the NFL - it's not farfetched to think Eastern can't win it all again next year.

And as for Baldwin, if he's invited back to speak to the NIC boosters again, his speaking fee likely went up - to at least a prime rib sandwich.

You would have thought it was the Coeur d’Alene eighth-grade Junior Tackle all-stars that beat the New Orleans Saints in an NFC wild-card game last week, the way many people referred to it as a “stunner” and “the biggest upset in NFL playoff history.”

Puh-leeze.

The recipe was in place for a Seattle win — the Saints limped into Seattle as a banged-up version of the defending Super Bowl champs, and left town as a franchise which has still never won a road game in the playoffs.

The Seahawks, 6-9 just two weeks ago, played aggressively and well in front of the boisterous home fans for a second straight game, and against the Saints, Matt Hasselbeck looked more like the QB that led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl and less like the aging veteran getting beat up behind a bad offensive line.

The strange thing is, the Seahawks might have an even better chance to win today in Chicago in the divisional playoffs. They’ve already beaten the Bears in the Windy City this year, erratic Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler could turn into more of an asset for the Seahawks than for his own team, and seven of the Bears’ 11 wins have come by seven points or less.

Now, if DirecTV and the people that own Spokane FOX affiliate KAYU can settle their differences so some of us don’t have to find alternate means in which to watch the game ... especially with the Super Bowl slated for FOX in three weeks.

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.