THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, February 22, 2015
We knew it had been a long time since a state high school girls basketball tournament in the largest-school classification had not included a team from Kootenai County.
A trip downstairs to our newspaper's dark, dusty morgue confirmed that.
The year was 1985 - the last year, before this year, that has been the case.
At that time, Coeur d'Alene was starting to emerge as a North Idaho power in girls basketball. In 1983, Dave Fealko guided the Vikings to state, where they went 0-2. The following year, Coeur d'Alene won the state A-1 title in its own gym, beating Sandpoint in overtime before an overflow crowd in a game you may have heard about in the past.
But in 1985, the Vikings didn't make it to state. They were back at state in '86, going 0-2, and ever since then, it has been Coeur d'Alene, or Post Falls or, later on, Lake City representing Kootenai County at state.
You might be saying, "What about Post Falls during that time?"
But the Trojans were in the A-2 classification - the state's second largest of four classifications - during that time.
Post Falls went to state in 1985, finishing fourth in A-2 under coach Mike Curtis. Under coach Ron Worley, the Trojans won the state title in 1983, then finished second in '84.
* File this under "small victories:" I can't exactly take credit for it, but a few days after noting that DirecTV subscribers could not access ESPN3, news came down from the satellite company giant that DirecTV subscribers now could access ESPN3 through their computers, as well as watch ESPN channels through the WatchESPN app.
Now if ESPN could only come to an agreement to carry the Pac-12 Networks ...
* Everybody knows how Gonzaga's men's basketball team has dominated the West Coast Conference for the past decade and a half.
A little more quietly, Gonzaga's women have done much the same thing. The Bulldogs won their 11th straight WCC title on Thursday night. The first 10 were won under coach Kelly Graves, the beloved coach who stunned Zagland by leaving after last season to take over as head coach at Oregon. This year's title was won under longtime Zags assistant Lisa Fortier.
For anyone who may have thought their might be some slippage in Zag women's land as a result of the coaching change, well, people like Saint Mary's coach Paul Thomas knew better.
"I don't want to take anything away from what Kelly Graves did, or what I've done, or what any other coach in America does, but in my opinion, I haven't gotten a rebound in a game yet," Thomas said last week, prior to the Gaels losing 80-72 at Gonzaga on Thursday. "I haven't scored a basket in a game yet, and I've been coaching 31 years. I give them the framework, and I try to get them all on the same page, but once the ball is tipped off ... I have some effect, but the players still decide the game. And Gonzaga still has really good players. Lisa has done a tremendous job. That's a pretty difficult situation to go into. I have been there, I have done what Lisa has done. I have replaced a Hall of Fame coach, and I didn't do nearly as well as that."
* Now that Cracker Barrel appears to be headed our way this summer, we can move on to the next two items on our restaurant wish list - Chick-fil-A, and In-N-Out Burger.
Others?
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.