Back in the day, when Ricks College of Rexburg still fielded athletic teams, whenever its men's basketball team played at North Idaho College, several NIC students would stand prominently near the court, dressed as Mormon missionaries.

OK, whether that was really funny or not depends on your perspective. But the point is, a visiting team coming to town elicited a response from the NIC crowd.

Will Columbia Basin elicit the same response when it rolls into town in a couple of years?

Remember when NIC cut its baseball program after the 2002 season? There was a big uproar over that, but a little over a decade later, many people wouldn't know there was once a nice baseball field just north of the student union building. Now, there's just another building there.

I'M TORN on this NJCAA vs. NWAACC debate. Facing massive budget cuts, NIC wants to move its teams from the National Junior College Athletic Association, where Cardinal teams can compete against better players and teams and for national championships, to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, a collection of schools in Washington and Oregon, where the conference tournament marks the end of the season for its teams.

Another option could be to stay in the NJCAA, and whack a sport or two. But NIC officials don't want to cut any sports.

I CAN see the emotion for both sides.

Staying in the SWAC means seeing better ball. Fans like seeing better ball, almost no matter who is playing it. Some say more local players means more fans, but I'm not sure if that translates at the college level - obviously it does at the high school level. Now, the simmering NIC-Community Colleges of Spokane rivalry - the regional team trying to knock off the boys from all over the country - should get even more heated, now that the games would mean even more.

But as for working up a good passion for the rest of the NWAACC ... well, that could take a while.

While some boosters will be on board with supporting a team in the NWAACC, others have said they might not be as interested.

And some businesses in Coeur d'Alene could feel the pinch.

Take basketball, for example.

The NWAACC is a bus league, with games on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Teams bus in the day of the game, play, then maybe grab a quick bite to eat on the way out of town.

When a pair of SWAC teams travel to NIC on a typical weekend, the team playing here on Thursday stays in a motel here on Wednesday on Thursday, before heading out on Friday. The team playing here on Saturday stays here Friday night and Saturday night. Throw in meals, shopping, etc., and ... you get the picture.

IN REALITY, NIC has become somewhere between an NJCAA school and an NWAACC school in recent years. NJCAA schools can offer more in scholarships than can NWAACC schools, but NIC's athletic budget isn't as much as it is at the College of Southern Idaho. Or Salt Lake. Or Snow. Or Utah State-Eastern. Those are just their four main counterparts in the Scenic West, and NIC isn't on a level playing field with them.

The days of packing the gym when CSI came to town have long passed - there are too many more options for sports fans these days.

NIC will always have its diehard fans, but whether the casual fan will still want to come and see what Yakima Valley's got this year remains to be seen.

So, we'll see.

Maybe the uproar from the anti-NWAACC crowd will fracture the otherwise tight-knit NIC community, and support for its athletics will suffer.

Or perhaps any hard feelings will be smoothed over eventually - much like the baseball field being paved over with a building. And a string of NWAACC titles will make people forget whatever NIC did in the SWAC.

"Now we just have to change our sights, and be the premier team in the NWAACC," NIC athletic director Al Williams said. "And I think we will be.

"As much as we need them (the NWAACC), we improve them," he added.

Of course, school officials occasionally float the idea that someday, this move might eventually bring back baseball to NIC - kinda like when you hold out hope that the girlfriend you broke up long ago with might want you back.

But with NIC and the NWAACC, if the Cardinals leave one league for the other - well, the SWAC isn't going to take them back.

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 at CdAPressSports.