The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT May 19, 2012

It never fails.

Young fans go to a baseball game, they want to become a baseball player when they grow up.

Adults go to a boxing or mixed martial arts fight, they think they can punch each other in the stands.

Unfortunately, that's not the way it works.

WHEN THE sport of mixed martial arts returned to the area on Thursday night, it was a huge success, with a sold-out crowd at the Coeur d'Alene Casino and Hotel in Worley.

Of the professional fights, most, if not all were worth the $50 price of admission.

Even better, with a few locals on the card, having some local interest definitely helped in drawing some 1,500 fans to the casino.

Once the main event started, featuring Trevor Prangley against George Stork - the matchup that most paid to see, you'd think that most of the attention might be on the cage and the action in the spotlight.

It wasn't.

In between rounds, an altercation broke out in the crowd, taking attention away from the biggest fight of the night.

Otherwise, the event was better than most expected.

Prangley, who also helped promote the event for the King of the Cage, Inc. promotion was happy with the way things turned out.

"It was a complete sellout and from what I'm told they had to turn away 400 people at the door," said Prangley, the former North Idaho College wrestler. "I'm looking forward to being a part of it again when it returns."

WHATEVER THE case might be, just because you buy a ticket to a fight, it doesn't give you a license to be a fighter - much like buying an airplane ticket doesn't mean you can fly the plane.

The fighters that stepped into the cage have dedicated a lot of time and effort into their craft.

Is it really too much to ask to sit back and just watch them do it?

Fans that go and watch football games don't run out on the field and try to catch a pass from the quarterback.

Neither do baseball fans upset with a pitcher throwing in the bottom of the ninth - should they just grab a glove and try to get an out?

Before some high school games, the public address announcer mentions something about letting the coaches coach, the players play and the spectators — spectate.

For the most part, all of those in attendance on Thursday night got exactly what Prangley was hoping for in a “good, quality fight card” in the area.

A return could be as soon as August — that is if the black eyes out of the cage didn’t ruin the stuff inside it.

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 jelliott@cdapress.com.