As yet another fall season comes to an end, we in the office - and those in the schools and at home - like to analyze and reminisce about the season that was.
Four local football teams in the playoffs, one of which I picked to win state (Brodhead-Juda).
Monroe ended an 8-year run of not being playoff-eligible, but still was left out of the postseason. As an alum, it gives me great pride to see a team overachieve so much from what nearly everyone anticipated. I did not expect three wins, let alone playoff-eligibility.
But it happened.
I was honored to be on the sidelines as the kids celebrated, and after the game I called an impromptu huddle with the seniors voicing my appreciation for them and what they accomplished. I had never done that before, and in a way stepped over the line as being an "objective" media professional.
But prior to that fateful Friday, I had something else on my mind.
As a man who looks to movies, TV shows and music to give wise lines of inspiration, I turn to "Awake My Soul" by Mumford & Sons.
"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die; where you invest your love, you invest your life."
With that one lyric I have continually, day by day, for the past year-plus, been analyzing my life more than any sporting event. In it I found something I deemed important:
I love sports. I love journalism and chronicling history. I love inspiring and promoting the youth of our time. I love my hometown and the surrounding communities. But there is something I love even more than that - my family.
My daughter is in kindergarten, and my schedule at the Times has left little time to spend with her. I feel I have become almost a stranger in my own home. My family needs me, and I need them.
And so, readers, I have resigned my position as sports editor.
I will look back fondly at my stay at the Times - from all the wonderful memories (Cuba City-New Glarus boys basketball; Monroe and Black Hawk state hoops, etc.) to the people I met and worked with. Some coaches were more than helpful to me, and some of the athletes incredibly talented.
There is so much I would like to say in a good-bye column, yet there is nothing I feel is needed. Which makes this one of the more awkward, personal looks into my life and work that I have ever experienced. So while I am not as inspirational as a peaceful revolutionary leader, or a self-made billionaire like the late Steve Jobs, or any number of other influential people of Earth, I offer my own advice to the youth of today:
Life's tough, and you pay the consequences for your actions and other's. Nothing is fair. Nothing is free. But through teamwork, self motivation and enduring inner strength great things are possible. Whether it's reaching the stars, being a star, changing the world or just being a part of the world - find your happy place and be kind to it. Cling to those you love. When in doubt of the future, open your heart and dream. Maybe, just maybe, you will awake your soul.
- Adam Krebs has been the sports editor at The Monroe Times since September 2008. You can follow him on Twitter for nuggets of professional, college and high school sports information, as well as other happenstances at @CheezChronicles.
Four local football teams in the playoffs, one of which I picked to win state (Brodhead-Juda).
Monroe ended an 8-year run of not being playoff-eligible, but still was left out of the postseason. As an alum, it gives me great pride to see a team overachieve so much from what nearly everyone anticipated. I did not expect three wins, let alone playoff-eligibility.
But it happened.
I was honored to be on the sidelines as the kids celebrated, and after the game I called an impromptu huddle with the seniors voicing my appreciation for them and what they accomplished. I had never done that before, and in a way stepped over the line as being an "objective" media professional.
But prior to that fateful Friday, I had something else on my mind.
As a man who looks to movies, TV shows and music to give wise lines of inspiration, I turn to "Awake My Soul" by Mumford & Sons.
"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die; where you invest your love, you invest your life."
With that one lyric I have continually, day by day, for the past year-plus, been analyzing my life more than any sporting event. In it I found something I deemed important:
I love sports. I love journalism and chronicling history. I love inspiring and promoting the youth of our time. I love my hometown and the surrounding communities. But there is something I love even more than that - my family.
My daughter is in kindergarten, and my schedule at the Times has left little time to spend with her. I feel I have become almost a stranger in my own home. My family needs me, and I need them.
And so, readers, I have resigned my position as sports editor.
I will look back fondly at my stay at the Times - from all the wonderful memories (Cuba City-New Glarus boys basketball; Monroe and Black Hawk state hoops, etc.) to the people I met and worked with. Some coaches were more than helpful to me, and some of the athletes incredibly talented.
There is so much I would like to say in a good-bye column, yet there is nothing I feel is needed. Which makes this one of the more awkward, personal looks into my life and work that I have ever experienced. So while I am not as inspirational as a peaceful revolutionary leader, or a self-made billionaire like the late Steve Jobs, or any number of other influential people of Earth, I offer my own advice to the youth of today:
Life's tough, and you pay the consequences for your actions and other's. Nothing is fair. Nothing is free. But through teamwork, self motivation and enduring inner strength great things are possible. Whether it's reaching the stars, being a star, changing the world or just being a part of the world - find your happy place and be kind to it. Cling to those you love. When in doubt of the future, open your heart and dream. Maybe, just maybe, you will awake your soul.
- Adam Krebs has been the sports editor at The Monroe Times since September 2008. You can follow him on Twitter for nuggets of professional, college and high school sports information, as well as other happenstances at @CheezChronicles.
