THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, December 25, 2015

Whether anyone out there is looking for something to do, needs a break on those shoulders from those “fun” winter chores or simply wants to watch the madness that is tournament basketball and wrestling, allow me to be your guide of sorts for local and regional athletics.

Before I get started, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, stay safe on those slushy roads and of course, stay warm. In my book, there are no such thing as too many layers. Unless your circulation is nearly cut off, then in my book you can take it easy. And here’s hoping those pesky power outages did not affect you in any serious manner. Here’s hoping you are enjoying those presents, Christmas trees, decorations, holiday parties and all that jazz.

WE BEGIN with college sports, so it’s not necessarily needed to drive a few miles, unless you wish to visit your local sports pub. They also begin at the same time on the same day. At 11 a.m. on Saturday on KREM 2, cheer on YOUR Washington State Cougars as they play in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. My favorite pirate-loving coach, Mike Leach, and his pinball of an Air Raid Offense, along with its sieve of a defense. Their opponent is the Miami Hurricanes and both teams are 8-4. It should be a pretty good game.

At 11:20 a.m., those puppies from the opposite side of Washington, those Huskies (6-6), face Southern Miss (9-4) in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. If you can spot him coming off the bench, watch out for Washington redshirt freshman offensive lineman Matt James, No. 71, No. 1 in Coeur d’Alene High’s hearts. James started the first two games and saw action in nearly every other game this season. He earned honorable mention all-Academic Pac-12 honors, and he wants to go into nanotechnology, which according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is the science of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (as robots). Another peculiar coincidence is the fact that James was born in San Antonio, Texas.

At 1 p.m. on Sunday, the NFC playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks host my beloved St. Louis Rams, who sadly are shut out of the playoffs yet again and have been since 2003. Having a passing game that goes nowhere will do that to you, but I have a feeling rookie running back Todd Gurley will stick around. But anyway, your Seahawks have done a great job of maintaining its vaunted running game with and without Marshawn Lynch, who’s trying to return to action in the team’s Week 17 game against Arizona and can make it back for the playoffs, which begin the weekend of Jan. 9-10.

Meanwhile, quarterback Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin are absolutely “balling out”, as Wilson had a five-game streak since Nov. 22 of 18 touchdowns, no interceptions, at least a 70 percent completion percentage and 249 yards or more. Seattle will start its playoff stretch playing at the NFC East champions, which for now are the Washington Redskins. In my opinion, the Carolina Panthers will win the NFC, but there is no reason why the ’Hawks can’t win the whole darn thing ... again. Just no more ‘pick plays’ at the worst possible time, OK, coach Pete Carroll? Mark my words, ol’ Petey is the Seahawks’ own worst enemy.

MOVING ON, we get to some nice preps action. We head to the Lake City Holiday Invitational in boys hoops, starting with Lakeland vs. Mountain Home at 3:30 p.m., Kentwood against defending state champion Post Falls is at 5:15 and Lake City against Timberline is set for 7.

In the recent past, the local prep teams would play in the Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational. But this season, North Idaho College and several other community college men’s basketball teams are filling those brackets. At 7 p.m. on Monday at Christianson Gym, the Cardinals host Grays Harbor College of Aberdeen, Wash. Follow the bouncing bracket to see if NIC (15-0, 3-0), ranked 13th in the NJCAA, can reach the championship game, set for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. As we’ve mentioned a few times, Braian Angola-Rodas is fifth in the nation with 23.9 points per game and BJ Blake is 20th with 21.4 points per game. So they are certainly among the best duos in JUCO hoops, now’s your time to watch them tickle some twine on the hardwood.

A visit by San Jose City College marks the first time a member from the California community college system has competed in an NIC men’s basketball tournament. Their coach, Percy Carr, has earned more than 800 career wins and he holds the record for the most wins in California community college history.

Don’t miss out on those strong girls basketball teams, as Lake City and Post Falls compete at the Coeur d’Alene Winter Classic. Coeur d’Alene hosts Lyle-Wishram on Monday at 7 p.m. It is entirely possibly your next state champion could be seen playing in this tournament. You heard it here first.

And of course, there’s wrestling. On Jan. 2, defending state champion Post Falls will head on over to Moses Lake, Wash., for the Hall of Fame Duals. The Trojans won the prestigious Tri-State Invitational last weekend at NIC, and Moses Lake finished seventh.

BACK TO college sports, except this time we visit the wonderful world of hoops. On New Year’s Eve, at 5 p.m., before embarking on those champagne wishes and caviar dreams, consider watching the Gonzaga women’s team as it hosts San Francisco. Then after ‘recovering’ from New Year’s celebrations, the Lady Zags host Santa Clara at 2 p.m. The local angle, of course, is senior starting point guard Georgia Stirton, an Australian, who played for North Idaho College during her freshman and sophomore seasons. Her former NIC teammate and Australian, senior post Renae Mokrzycki, is fourth in scoring and rebounding as a backup playing for the University of Idaho. At 2 p.m. on Monday, the Vandals will host Carroll College and at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, they will host North Dakota in their Big Sky Conference opener. Especially for those with any link at all to Idaho or the visiting two schools, it could be worth the 90-mile drive south to Moscow.

Gonzaga’s men host Portland on Jan. 9 and on Jan. 14, it’ll host Brigham Young, who has given the Zags a tough game from time to time.

So there are plenty of area sports to watch, either on television, over the radio airwaves or of course, in person. Just gotta get that snow cleared off that driveway and sidewalks, soon after gathering around for some holiday cheer.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via email at bbourquin@cdapress.com or via Twitter @bourq25