THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016

When I watched the football kicked off on Friday night at Corbit Field in Rathdrum, it marked the beginning of the 16th year I’ve covered football — as well as a ton of other stuff — in the newspaper business.

No, really, 16 years.

WHILE THERE has been a handful of great games that I’ve had the chance to see, whether that be at a high school field, the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, or Roos Field in Cheney, the first one comes to mind the most.

Before I’d started in this business in the summer of 2001, if you were to have told me about 8-man football, I’d probably have no idea what to expect.

At the time, shooting photos during the game was a dream because those 3 p.m. kickoffs never let me down as far as good light to take pictures. Chances are, they actually made me look like I was doing a little more than I really did at the time.

That first game was quite the experience, and it had nothing to do with football.

I believe Mullan was playing Lakeside — could be wrong — but Mullan won the game fairly easily on that particular day. As I arrived and stood on the sidelines, I noticed a fan on one of the streets behind the field taking a chainsaw out of his truck and proceeding to cut down a tree that was in his way for the game.

As the season went into October, fans would often times be dressed to go hunting, sometimes even bringing the animals to the game with them.

These days, the fans keep the chainsaws to themselves, and the athletes are finding themselves playing a lot longer.

And making games all that more enjoyable to watch.

IT WASN’T that long ago that the NFC West division was laughed at around the league for the teams that were, well, lousy.

Seattle won the division with a 7-9 record, Arizona started drafting a little higher, as did San Francisco and the Rams until suddenly they were among some of the better teams in the league.

In fact, each team in the division has appeared in the Super Bowl in the last 15 years, with only Seattle and the Rams coming away with the Lombardi Trophy.

Arizona was close, but a late touchdown grab in the end zone by Santonio Holmes ruined their first appearance in the big game. Had it not been for Adam Vinatieri’s field goal at the end of another Super Bowl, the Rams might have two titles, as well as a big enough following that they might have been able to stay in St. Louis.

And had Colin Kaepernick been able to connect with Michael Crabtree on that fade pass in the end zone against the Baltimore Ravens ... maybe the 49ers might not have been so quick to dismiss Jim Harbaugh.

If the Seahawks’ preseason start is any indication, the offensive line is going to be a work in progress — again — as the team tries to mix the right guys into the lineup in protecting Russell Wilson.

After getting smacked around a little bit to open the season last year, Seattle caught fire late in the season to advance to the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Hopefully the Seahawks can get things rolling a little earlier this season.

Otherwise, it’s going to be like that other Seattle sports rollercoaster coming into the playoff stretch.

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. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.