The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT March 12, 2011

Like every year since I've been covering sports, once basketball finishes for the year, most teams believe they're about to walk out and get those early March games in.

What a fool believes.

IN A move that surprises nobody, the first of the local baseball and softball games in some areas were postponed due to bad weather.

At least area golf teams were able to fit in a tournament in Clarkston, if for nothing else they were able to see what green grass looked like.

Living in the Silver Valley, it never fails.

A week before the start of spring sports and you're likely shoveling three inches of snow off the infield before first pitch at either Morehouse Field or Teeters Field.

Even tougher, the ground is usually soft for those first couple rounds of golf at either Shoshone Golf Course in Big Creek or Pinehurst Golf Course in the spring.

But teams prepare, often in a gymnasium for the eventual start of the season. And outside of starting later, there's no way around it.

Baseball teams will have a mad dash to fit games in, much like softball teams may have to, should the weather not turn around soon.

Area track teams will compete in anything and did last year as rain and snow made a few events interesting.

Golf teams, especially in this area went through a number of different weather conditions, from snow in March, rain in April, nice spring-like weather on the first day of the various state tournaments, and a thunderstorm and howling winds when championships were handed out by that Tuesday.

BEFORE THE transition from winter to spring can happen, the eighth annual Idaho high school all-star basketball games will be played out at North Idaho College later today, featuring the best seniors from the north against the best from the south.

It remains to be seen if the North girls, which had players in four of the six state title games, have enough to defeat the south for the first time since 2009.

The North boys, who’ve won two straight since a 109-66 loss in 2008, will have their hands full with a talented squad, including Gonzaga recruit Kyle Dranginis of Skyview High in Nampa.

THERE WAS a bright side for those teams eager to get out their gym on Friday afternoon — the sun finally came out after a long hiatus.

Whether it’s a sign that spring is on the way, or just a break from the rain and snow long enough to give people hope, I’d prefer to think it’s a sign of better weather on the horizon.

Or at least that sunnier days are right around the corner.

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