The Front Row with MARK NELKE Oct. 9, 2011

I will not miss Hank Williams Jr.'s intro to Monday Night Football on ESPN - something that has part of MNF since 1989, when the game was on ABC.

Sorry, but by that time, I am already "ready for some football" without having to sit through a couple minutes of needless racket trying to get me ready for another game.

Notice the intros to the games on Sundays - somebody might say a couple of words, but they pretty much just kick the ball off and start playing. And that seems to work just fine.

But if ESPN insists on some musical intro, go back to the one before Hank - "Duh duh duh duh ... "

After a decorated career as a quarterback playing high school football in Boise, college football in Arizona and pro football in Arizona (six years with the Cardinals) and in Denver (four years with the Broncos), Jake Plummer could have retired pretty much wherever he wanted.

He and his family chose Sandpoint, which, granted, is near family (his older brother, Eric, lives there).

"It's so peaceful," he explained the other day, prior to the start of his charity handball tournament this weekend in Coeur d'Alene. "Everyone up there, it's kind of live and let live. Everybody does their thing ... its a very diverse environment ... they all live in harmony. It's fun to be a part of that. I have to tell people who I used to be."

As one of our sportsies pointed out the other day, it's kinda strange when reporting that Tiger Woods made the cut is actually news now.

So is it a good or bad thing that the two heavyweights of the baseball playoffs - the Yankees and the Phillies - were eliminated on consecutive days in the first round?

Some would say good, because it gives the little guys - like the cuddly Brewers - a chance to win a title.

I see it from the other side.

I like a good upset as much as the next sports fan, but for the most part, I usually pull for the favorites to win the championships.

Why? Because they have done the work all year to be great, withstanding the pressure of being on top, fighting off teams trying to knock them off their perch.

I root for the Yankees because they at least try to be great. Yes, they have the resources to buy pretty much whoever they want, but I have to believe there are other teams that could spend a little more trying to win, but choose not to.

For whatever reason, I am not a Phillies fan — maybe it’s from rooting for the Dodgers to beat them in the playoffs in the 1970s — but you have to give them props for this run they’ve had so far — four straight playoff appearances, two trips to the World Series, one Series title. But they might be more remembered as the team that had four No. 1 starters and couldn’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs this year.

So, of the four teams that are left, who has put in the most work?

The Cardinals and the Tigers have the most history, as well as history against each other — the Cardinals beat the Tigers in the 2006 World Series, and the Tigers beat the Cardinals in 1968. The Cardinals have won nine World Series, dating back as far as 1926, and the Tigers have won it four times, spread out over time as well (1935, ‘45, ‘68 and ‘84).

In contrast, both the Brewers and Rangers are putting together nice little stretches of late.

Until recently, the Brewers went into seclusion for more than two decades after their World Series appearance in 1982. Their playoff appearance in 2008 was their first since ‘82, and they’ve now made it twice in four years.

The Rangers finally figured out it was OK to develop good pitching to go along with their good hitting, and are one step away from playing in back-to-back World Series.

The Rangers should be a contender for years; the Brewers will take a hit if Prince Fielder leaves and they don’t find a suitable replacement.

The allure of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to many fans is that, very often, the best team doesn’t win the title.

Two of the most glaring examples I can think of are Georgetown in 1985 and UNLV in 1991.

Both had won national titles the previous seasons, and were even better teams and clearly the most dominant the following year. But the Hoyas were upset in the championship game, and UNLV was beaten by Duke in the national semifinal.

Georgetown went to three Final Fours in four years (1982, ‘84, ‘85), so it was nice to see the Hoyas “rewarded” for their work with at least one national title. Ditto that UNLV squad, which made it to a regional final and two Final Fours in that three-year stretch from 1989-91, and got its “reward” in 1990.

After the Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 in their fourth season, they had only made the playoffs again twice until this season — and they were coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the NL West.

So I tend to look at Arizona as one of those teams that catches lightning in a bottle every now and then. They haven’t paid their dues as much, so it makes it harder to pull for them.

But then again, if the Mariners finally got it figured out and made a playoff run one of these years, all that would be forgotten.

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