THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: The games were a lot different in 2001
The stoppage of sports was a little maddening in the spring of 2020, with nobody having any idea of when things were going to get going again.
On that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, we were mad for an entire other reason.
FOR A few days at least, the games stopped again.
That day, nobody played. Major League Baseball shut the games down for a week, same with the NFL and College Football.
Nothing.
As a sports writer just three months into this business, you wondered driving to work that day just what might happen next.
For at least the first few nights, none of the high school volleyball games were played. It was a few years before Kellogg started its girls soccer program, so there weren't a ton of local events going on.
The first high school event that week was on Thursday, when Wallace played Mullan in a nonleague game at the Mullan Pavilion. Back then, both teams were often fighting for state playoff bids as Wallace competed in 2A and Mullan in 1A. No divisions, and no league rivalry like now.
An example of just how much things have changed since, on Sept. 7, 2001, Wallace — then of the 2A Central Idaho League — hosted 3A Timberlake, and won 36-18 at Sather Field in Silverton.
The coach of the Tigers that night was Tim Kiefer, who is now in his 19th year at Lakeland.
THE FOLLOWING Friday, things got back to normal — or the closest thing to it — with prep football games getting going on Sept. 14.
Working in the Silver Valley, and the school without lights on its field, the first stop that day was at John Drager Field as the Mullan Tigers took on the Clark Fork Wampus Cats.
As is customary with high school football, the announcer will introduce the starting lineups, and it was no different on this day.
Derik Stanley, then quarterback at Mullan High, took an American flag out of the hands of a cheerleader getting prepared to do the national anthem and took it to the middle of the field to meet his teammates. I asked him recently just what was going through his mind as he took the field that day.
“It was in the moment,” Stanley said. “I remember our teachers bringing TV’s into the classrooms so we could watch the news that day.”
The stats and scores really didn’t matter on that day — Mullan won 56-12 and senior wide receiver Josh Elliott (my cousin) had three catches for 198 yards and three touchdowns — it was just good to get the games going again.
A FEW days later, the Seattle Mariners, in the midst of a 118-win season, wrapped up the American League West Division title and celebrated by bringing the American flag out to the mound and waving to fans for their support.
Now, 20 years later, Seattle is right in the middle of another playoff chase, albeit the wild card, trying to get into the postseason for the first time since 2001.
No, the Mariners won’t reach 118 wins this season, and there’s a good chance they still could be out of things again this year.
FOR NOW, it’s nice to just be focusing on the games again.
Something we didn’t really know if we’d have 20 years ago, or even at this time last year.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.