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THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Weather, umps, bus drivers and stalling

| May 15, 2022 1:30 AM

In the olden days, no matter the weather, you dutifully hopped onto your bus on game day and traveled to the other team’s field.

And if the weather was bad, or the field was bad, you hopped back onto the bus and returned home.

Now, games are being postponed or events moved ahead of time, because of how bad the expected weather MIGHT be.

A wise man once told me, “You can find out anything on the internet,” and that was a good thing this past week.

With rain predicted for Saturday, two regional tennis tournaments — the 5As and 4As — were moved up to finish on Friday instead of Saturday.

Sure, that meant the 5As played in the wind and the cold and sometimes the sunshine — and perhaps a little bit of hail — but it was better than getting rained out on Saturday, then trying to figure out how state qualifiers would be determined.

Also, we know of at least one afternoon baseball game where the start time was moved up an hour, hoping to beat the expected rain — which showed up that evening, as predicted.

And now weather isn’t the only thing that affects scheduling.

Dates for one tournament this past week were affected by which day(s) umpires were available, and which day(s) teams had bus drivers that could transport them.

The 4A Region 1 softball tournament was moved up to finish on a Friday instead of Saturday.

Originally, had Moscow beat Lakeland in Game 2 of their best-of-3 championship series Friday in Rathdrum, the Bears would have “stolen the seed,” and Game 3 would have been on Saturday in Moscow.

Instead, Game 3 would have been played shortly after the completion of Game 2, with Moscow being the designated “home” team and getting the last at-bat — which turned out to be a big deal in Game 2.

Ultimately, Lakeland made it a moot point by winning Game 2 — 16-15, with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning — and completing the sweep.

But at least they had a good plan in place if the Hawks hadn’t won.

WITH THAT in mind …

Maybe we can hurry up and get everybody up here and play the state 5A softball tournament, scheduled for Coeur d’Alene and Lake City high schools, and the state 4A softball tourney at Post Falls High, on Monday and Tuesday, instead of the scheduled Friday and Saturday.

Looking at Press meteorologist Randy Mann’s forecast posted on Friday, Monday and Tuesday are predicted to be nice and dry.

Rain is forecasted for Wednesday … and Thursday … and Friday … and Saturday.

Lookin’ like 2019 all over again.

Or maybe you just schedule it as is and hope for the best, relying on the old North Idaho adage, “If you don’t like the weather now, wait 15 minutes.”

Or drive 15 miles.

Or change the channel, hoping for a better forecast there.

(Or, as it turns out, wait for Randy’s latest extended forecast, posted on Saturday, which shows Monday and Tuesday still being nice and dry, but also now, no mention of rain on Friday and Saturday.

Is there a HOLD button we can press on that forecast?)

A READER called recently, after I mentioned covering a boys basketball game in Sandpoint where the visiting Kellogg Wildcats came in and stalled during most of the second half.

He tried to correct me, saying it was Sandpoint who stalled. He was there, a senior at Kellogg High at the time.

Turns out, he was talking about a game from 1956.

I was referring to a game in the 1980s.

Kellogg won that game 10-8 in 1956, he recalled.

In 1956, I was three years from being born.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.