THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Plenty of company, while on the mend

Neck surgeries. 

Hip replacements.  

Ankle replacements. 

Getting drilled by a football while standing on the sidelines. 

Hopping over football players as they flew out of bounds. 

Just to make sure we got the yardage right – was it a 3-yard gain, or 4? 

I APPRECIATE those of you who reached out after I wrote about my broken leg in last Sunday’s column. 

Turns out many of you have been through similar experiences, most of which I had not heard about before. 

I felt bad for those who described their own mishaps, but encouraged to hear they came out of it feeling OK. Not exactly a misery-loves-company thing, but you get the drift. 

Or at least, as OK as one can be after something like that. 

Post Falls boys basketball coach Mike McLean and I “reminisced” the other day about the year he guided his team to state while rolling around on a knee scooter, following a gruesome leg injury. 

AS ONE Facebook friend suggested, perhaps I should rub some dirt on it and get back in the game. 

So I did, stopping by Lake City High on Saturday for Game 1 of the best-of-3 boys basketball series between the Timberwolves and Post Falls.

The parking lot was fairly full — especially for an afternoon game. It wouldn't have been a particularly far walk from the car to the school entrance — unless you were trying it on crutches.

"You should have parked there," said a fan, as we walked by a space reserved for the handicapped. 

I never thought to pack a placard. 

A kind man offered to hold the door open for me — as fate would have it, it was Bill Bopp, my friend from Sandpoint, who could feel for my pain — he once missed a season of officiating after suffering a dislocated hip.

How rusty was I? I forgot a pen. Usually, I pack an extra one or two.

Thanks, Jeff Malcolm, for loaning me one of his.

Lake City football coach Byron Hout fetched me a chair so I could sit and watch, trying to position myself where I could see but be out of the way — until one of the Post Falls players went racing by in front of me during the action.

Flashback!

Some nice girls held the doors open for me on the way out.

MEANWHILE, BACK on the internet ... 

Another Facebook friend advised I not take the show biz phrase “break a leg” literally.  

And yes, hopefully, my footwork will be better the next time. 

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.