The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Nov. 30, 2011

It was a strange feeling walking into Christianson Gym on Friday night, but enough about the unusual weather we had for Thanksgiving weekend.

On the way to NIC for the opening night of the Thanksgiving Classic, I was used to walking into the gym and looking straight up toward the scoreboard.

That night, no matter how many times I looked up to find a score, I was unsuccessful.

Between the conclusion of the volleyball season and start of basketball, the school had removed the scoreboard, which has been in place for two decades, and replaced it with two newer state of the art scoreboards on separate ends of the gym.

True, the old scoreboard had its flaws - the burned-out lights, causing the foul counts to look like more than they should and if you attempted a shot from the backcourt, chances were only the perfect shot was going in.

And if you weren't in the right spot on the floor, that last-second shot was more likely to hit the bottom of the scoreboard than anywhere close to the basket.

The same could be said for volleyball matches, as any ball played by one team that hit the scoreboard and bounded onto the other side of the net was ruled a dead ball and a point for the other team. A team could play its own deflected shot off the scoreboard, but often times, the ball caromed to the floor.

I'd seen this happen more often that not watching games at the Mullan Pavilion, where the gym ceiling isn't as high, but not that much at NIC.

But it should be the best of both worlds - the school gets an upgrade and the visitors finally can stop complaining about the numbers on the scoreboard not being totally accurate, as well as often times not being able to see the scoreboard.

MEANWHILE MUCH later on Friday night, the NBA owners and players finally agreed to stop their fighting and get back to work - at least tentatively.

Both sides still need to come to an agreement on the deal and games won’t start until Christmas, or so it appears at the moment.

Whatever comes of the next two weeks, between free agency and those players trying to get out of deals overseas, the chaos is bound to resemble how the NFL put things together to start its season.

In talking with a friend of mine a few days ago, I had mixed feelings about the return of basketball — as well as those players that left to seek other jobs while the lockout was still on.

Players had a right to seek other employment during the lockout — just as much right as an owner has to tell them to stay where they’re at.

IT GOES without saying that having the NBA back in business is good, because if nothing else, it gives sports fans something to talk about once football ends and baseball begins.

But for me, there was nothing better than watching a game under old red.

No agents or lockouts there.

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 email at [email protected].