New league needs a name, and a Kobe story

What’s in a name?

Well, when you’re starting a new league, apparently quite a lot.

That’s why Lakeside, Wallace and Genesis Prep are doing their due diligence in picking a name for their new, 1A Division I league, which begins play this fall.

Lakeside and Genesis Prep are moving up from 1A Division II, and hence are leaving the North Star League, which will consist of Kootenai, Mullan and Clark Fork beginning this fall.

Wallace is staying in 1A Division I. But in recent years the Miners have been allowed to be a part of the North Star League, then their teams go battle Division I teams from District II to get to state. That way, they got to compete in a league, because joining the District II teams in the Whitepine League was too expensive and meant too much travel.

IN SEARCH of a new name, Lakeside ran a contest for its supporters in December, looking for suggestions.

The three top ones — Timber Ridge League, Tri-County League and Panhandle Gem League.

Wallace recommended the Idaho Panhandle League.

Those (and maybe other suggestions) are set to be discussed Feb. 7 at the next league meeting — whatever the name of the league is.

“Our biggest challenge is finding a name that doesn’t seem too close to other leagues, while trying to find an identity on our own,” Lakeside co-athletic director Jerel Hight said. “We talked about avoiding words found in other leagues like “north”, “star”, “empire”, “mountain”, etc. or abbreviations close to IML, IEL, NSL, etc., because we don’t want to be similar. I’m hoping we will have a name by time the district tournaments start. It’d be nice to go into those being able to tell people the name and how our district tournament will be set up next year.”

The 1A Division I and Division II girls basketball tournaments are less than two weeks away. The boys basketball district tourneys begin two weeks after that.

IN ADDITION to the North Star League, other league names in North Idaho include the 5A (and 4A) Inland Empire League, the Intermountain League (3A) and the Central Idaho League (2A).

Given the choices listed above, I would probably vote for the Idaho Panhandle League, with the Panhandle Gem League a close second.

Joking around, other ideas might be the Transitional League, or the Up-and-Down League, for teams moving up or down Idaho’s classifications.

For the 2020-22 classification period, 1A Division II is for schools with 84 or fewer students in grades 9-12, and Division I is for schools with 85-159 students.

Lakeside is at 123 students, Genesis Prep 96. Wallace is at 145.5 (an average of two enrollment counts taken last school year), and the Miners are always on the fringe of moving up to 2A someday. And Lakeside and Genesis Prep could join them, albeit years from now at their current rate of growth.

Anyway, what do you think of the suggested names for the new league?

Or do you have a suggestion?

Either way, let us (and/or those schools) know.

EVERYBODY ELSE, it seems, has a Kobe Bryant story.

Here’s mine.

One morning in August, 2008, I got up real early to watch the men’s gold medal basketball game — the USA vs. Spain.

This was after the 2004 USA men’s team had screwed things up in the Olympics, not even bringing home a medal.

Coach K was brought in to restore order, and the 2008 squad was known as the “Redeem Team.”

Spain was tough, led by NBA-ers Pao Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol.

The USA indeed redeemed itself with a hard-fought 118-107 victory. Dwyane Wade led the Americans with 27 points. Kobe added 20, hitting big shot after big shot in the second half to help the USA keep its slim lead.

Thanks to Kobe, all was well again in the world — at least, in the world of men’s Olympic basketball.

That night, I met up with family and friends for dinner at a downtown Coeur d’Alene restaurant.

This was an already-scheduled dinner, but it became a victory dinner — at least for me.

I looked through the menu and the choice was obvious.

I ordered a Kobe burger.

And it tasted pretty darn good.

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.