The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Nov. 3, 2012

Time flies when you're having fun.

Or in the case of prep sports, covering various state tournaments.

While it has snuck up on me the last few years, preparing for the start of winter sports might have been worth the wait.

SCHOOLS IN the 5A Inland Empire League have had a chance to at least get a few days of practice before most of their girls basketball games get started the week of Nov. 13.

That's not the case for teams from the Silver Valley (Wallace, Kellogg and Mullan), which along with Kootenai will take part in the annual Silver Valley Tournament next Friday and Saturday at the Mullan Pavilion.

Lakeland and St. Maries will start their seasons as well next weekend in nonleague games.

The fall sports season won't conclude for at least another two weeks with football playoffs continuing until the weekend before Thanksgiving, but by that time, boys basketball practices will have begun - and in the case of Lake City, a game will be played that weekend in Wenatchee.

Members of the North Idaho College men's and women's basketball teams have started their season, with the men wrapping up a tournament in Yuma, Ariz., on Friday and the women playing a regional all-star team tonight at Christianson Gym.

NIC's wrestling team, which opened the season as the top-ranked team in the NJCAA poll, was supposed to have a home match later tonight against Highline Community College, but was postponed due to illness, leaving the Thunderbirds unable to field a full team.

USUALLY IT doesn't seem time for the winter sports season to start until the snow begins to fall, but this year might be a little different.

As teams from the fall have had success and played deeper into the winter, those that play multiple sports sometimes take a few extra days to get caught up.

The good thing is that any key games within their league won't be played until late November at the earliest, with some even waiting until December to play games that will go a long way to determining who moves on to the postseason.

Even better for the NIC basketball teams, the road to nationals comes through Coeur d'Alene with the teams hosting the Region 18 tournaments.

They'll travel to Scenic West Athletic Conference rivals Salt Lake, Snow and Southern Idaho twice, but those teams will still need to win at least twice in Coeur d'Alene to head to nationals.

It has been a fun start to the sports season - at least the fall one.

This winter likely won't disappoint either.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].