THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Spring sports, we hardly knew ‘ye

It’s not official — yet — but with every growing day of increasingly gloomy news, it might as well be.

The high school spring sports season in Idaho is all but over.

Sure, there’s a glimmer of hope — when the Idaho State Board of Education voted for a “soft closure” of schools statewide for the remainder of the school year, but leaving open the possibility individual school districts could reopen their doors before the end of the school year.

And the Idaho High School Activities Association reiterated Wednesday it is still keeping the option open for resuming spring sports, should those school doors be reopened.

Or perhaps that glimmer will be the 20-minute tribute to high school seniors on Friday, when #BeTheLightID is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. at many outdoor stadiums in North Idaho.

Anyway, unless someone has designs on a quickie in May, or pushing things into June or beyond, March 14 would turn out to be the final day of spring sports in Idaho.

Not May 16, the scheduled final day of a week full of spring competitions throughout the state.

Washington pulled the plug on its spring sports season on Monday, and Oregon followed suit on Wednesday.

SURE, WE all hoped things would get better soon.

Spring sports practices began Feb. 21. While talk of the coronavirus circulated nationwide, Idaho wrapped up its winter sports state championships, concluded by the final winter sports game of the year — Post Falls vs. Borah for the state boys basketball championship on March 7 in Nampa.

Three nights later, Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team won another conference tourney, and was primed to make a run at the program’s first national title.

But one night later, an NBA player tested positive for coronavirus, and everything changed.

Tourneys were canceled. Leagues were suspended.

High school teams tried to play on, taking advantage of some rare playable weather in March.

Coeur d’Alene got it started on Monday, March 9, beating Moscow in baseball at home.

Two days later, Timberlake played at St. Maries in baseball and softball. Though it was cold, there was even a track meet, between Post Falls and Lake City.

On Thursday, March 12, Lakeland played host to Lewiston in a softball doubleheader. But the coronavirus fears were growing by then, and the cancellation of some high school events began, including the state boys and girls basketball all-star games at North Idaho College.

The next day, Coeur d’Alene got in the first game of a scheduled baseball doubleheader at Kamiakin of Kennewick, Wash., before the second game was rained out.

And the cancellations continued.

Athletes from Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and St. Maries competed at a track invitational in Lewiston on Saturday, March 14. But after the meet, the Coeur d’Alene School District announced school were closed, and sports suspended, until April 6.

The Post Falls School District followed suit the next day, and others followed.

And the school closures and the suspensions of sports continued.

And now here we are.

BUT PERHAPS we should have known something wasn’t right.

After all, during all the coronavirus commotion in the second week of March, Washington State’s men’s basketball team won a game in the conference tournament for the first time in 11 years.

That should have been a sign in itself.

The IHSAA’s current suspension of sports runs to April 20, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who thinks the games will resume at that point.

Sure, spring sports don’t begin with the excitement that the fall and winter sports seasons generate.

The weather is often lousy for much of the spring, and many games are postponed, reschuled, postponed and rescheduled again. When the sun finally comes out, it’s just in time to sneak a surprise sunburn on folks around regional or state tourney time.

We’ve only been without high school sports for nearly four weeks, but it feels like four years.

Given the current situation, I’d take a good rainout any day.

Or even a sunburn.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.