THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: On this day especially, a love of sports

I love that ...

IDAHO TOOK a chance and allowed its high school athletes a chance to have normal sports seasons — or at least as normal as they can be during a global pandemic.

Some states are still balking at playing, while others are slowly coming back with truncated seasons with no championship to play for at the end — essentially wasting an entire sports year for high school kids. Unlike college athletes, who are allowed to come back for an additional year of competition, high school athletes aren't afforded that luxury.

It pained the Idaho High School Activities Association to pull the plug on spring sports last spring, especially seniors whose high school careers ended in fizzle, rather than sizzle.

So kudos to the IHSAA, and school officials statewide, for doing what they could so kids would be able to play this year.

Sure, there have been some bumps in the road — many teams have had their schedules interrupted due to positive COVID tests.

And parents weren't able to watch their kids in person in winter sports for much of the season — and even now, attendance remains extremely limited for wrestling matches.

But we made it through the fall sports season and were able to crown champions. And now — knock on the wood of a gym floor, or knock on a wrestling mat — we'll make it through the winter sports season with minimal impact.

And then it will be on to the redemption tour for spring sports athletes.

I love that ...

EVEN THOUGH you think you know who is going to win a particular game or championship, you don't really know.

The Kansas City Chiefs were all but crowned repeat Super Bowl champions before their game with the Tom Brady Buccaneers.

But then the game started, and the Chiefs couldn't protect their quarterback, and they couldn't stop Brady, and couldn't stop the Bucs' running game.

Last year, the 49ers had the same game plan, but couldn't put enough pressure on the Chiefs' scrambling quarterback, and couldn't put a drive in the fourth quarter to finish the game.

If they had, K.C. would still be looking at a title drought stretching back to the 1969 season.

And maybe someone else would be doing insurance company commercials.

Same thing happens in high school.

Just because you beat the supposed best team in the state earlier in the tournament doesn't mean you are assured of winning the title.

Just because you beat a team X amount of times during the season doesn't mean you will beat them in the game that matters.

Look at the Zags.

There are no doubt some bandwagon fans already clearing their schedules to attend an NCAA championship parade in early April.

And, no doubt, it could happen.

The Zags are an offensive juggernaut in any era — but especially so in this watered-down, early departure era of college basketball.

The Zags could win the NCAA title game by 30 points — like UNLV did to Duke in 1990.

Or they could run into a team along the way, one that's not quite as talented, that simply outworks or outplays them — think North Carolina in 2017, Florida State in 2018 and Texas Tech in 2019.

So you never know.

UNLV had a more talented team the next year, the championship core a year older, but was upset by Duke in the national semifinals. The Runnin' Rebels have not been the same since.

Georgetown returned the core of its national title team on 1984 the following year, like UNLV a year older and better. But in the national title game, some team whose name escapes me shot 78 percent from the field and denied the Hoyas their rightful repeat title.

Georgetown, too, has really not been the same since.

I guess, sadly, that is one of the dangers of love.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.