Despite the cold temperatures and inconvenient weather patterns, March is one of my favorite months of the year. In the sports world, we call this time March Madness.
While the term generally refers to the NCAA basketball tournaments, it also ties into high school sports. For anyone who has been paying attention to our local teams, there is a lot to hope for.
Monroe and Black Hawk girls basketball teams are headed to state this week at the Resch Center across the street from Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
The Cheesemakers will be seeking revenge on Beaver Dam after last year's semifinal loss. However, this year that revenge will have to wait until the state championship. Monroe will face New Berlin Eisenhower in the semifinal first. Earlier this season, the Cheesemakers topped Ike by 18 points on a neutral court in a Thanksgiving shootout. Throw that game out of the car window and into the potholes of U.S. 151, because state is a whole new atmosphere.
Black Hawk is a team on a mission in Division 5. The closest game all season was 18 points, and if the Warriors had chosen to keep their starters in for much of the second half in any game this year, you could add another 10-20 points to their total per win. This team is legit, and their defense is tenacious and menacing.
On the boys side, New Glarus keeps finding ways to win. Slow shooting night? Defense steps up. Down 19 with 10 minutes to play? Hit eight straight 3s or something else ridiculous. This team has the shooting and speed to run with anybody, but what I love most about them is the pure endurance of the whole team. The starters rarely leave the floor and only seem to get better late in the second half.
Those are the local teams still in it. Unfortunately, all the others are out.
One of my favorite parts of covering prep sports - and please do not take this the wrong way - is watching as a player realizes they are playing in their final game, and that game is ending in a defeat. I completely understand that feeling. I've been there. So has pretty much everyone that ever played a prep sport. There are only so many state champions.
The tears, the pain, the realization that the end is now brings out such raw emotion. Sometimes we enjoy seasons so much we forget that they end. We enjoy watching certain players so much we forget someday they will play their last game. Sure, a few of us go on to play at the next level, but that only temporarily pushes back the inevitable.
March is maddening because in all of these games, we see both emotions at once - one team is celebrating, getting one step closer to immortality on the hardwood, while the losing team tries to hold back as many tears as possible as their dreams stay only dreams. It's the yin and the yang of sports.
And I get to capture these moments. I get to hold a camera, a recorder for an interview. I get to meander through the crowd on the court in the postgame and feel the emotions emanating off of the players, coaches, parents, classmates and fans. It's the part of the job that I love the most. I'm literally sitting in the front row of the best local reality show. My love of it is not nefarious, however. I love seeing the raw power of emotion in those moments. The teaching moments of sports extend further than anything else I've witnessed in this life - and that includes the death of a spouse. Sports offer a litany of life lessons - hard work, teamwork, preparation, on-the-fly adjustments, perseverance, respect and how to handle defeat. If I've learned any lesson in this life, it's that life is simply not fair - but you have to find a way to move on, to continue. Life doesn't end when your prep sports career is over - it begins.
Many high school athletes have heard that phrase, but they really can't understand it until it's over. And once that process begins - sometimes in the middle of a game - they grow from a child to an adult. And that is what is most beautiful. That is what I love most about sports and the end of each season.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and his tears in defeat were the front-page art of the Times on Nov. 3, 2003. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
While the term generally refers to the NCAA basketball tournaments, it also ties into high school sports. For anyone who has been paying attention to our local teams, there is a lot to hope for.
Monroe and Black Hawk girls basketball teams are headed to state this week at the Resch Center across the street from Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
The Cheesemakers will be seeking revenge on Beaver Dam after last year's semifinal loss. However, this year that revenge will have to wait until the state championship. Monroe will face New Berlin Eisenhower in the semifinal first. Earlier this season, the Cheesemakers topped Ike by 18 points on a neutral court in a Thanksgiving shootout. Throw that game out of the car window and into the potholes of U.S. 151, because state is a whole new atmosphere.
Black Hawk is a team on a mission in Division 5. The closest game all season was 18 points, and if the Warriors had chosen to keep their starters in for much of the second half in any game this year, you could add another 10-20 points to their total per win. This team is legit, and their defense is tenacious and menacing.
On the boys side, New Glarus keeps finding ways to win. Slow shooting night? Defense steps up. Down 19 with 10 minutes to play? Hit eight straight 3s or something else ridiculous. This team has the shooting and speed to run with anybody, but what I love most about them is the pure endurance of the whole team. The starters rarely leave the floor and only seem to get better late in the second half.
Those are the local teams still in it. Unfortunately, all the others are out.
One of my favorite parts of covering prep sports - and please do not take this the wrong way - is watching as a player realizes they are playing in their final game, and that game is ending in a defeat. I completely understand that feeling. I've been there. So has pretty much everyone that ever played a prep sport. There are only so many state champions.
The tears, the pain, the realization that the end is now brings out such raw emotion. Sometimes we enjoy seasons so much we forget that they end. We enjoy watching certain players so much we forget someday they will play their last game. Sure, a few of us go on to play at the next level, but that only temporarily pushes back the inevitable.
March is maddening because in all of these games, we see both emotions at once - one team is celebrating, getting one step closer to immortality on the hardwood, while the losing team tries to hold back as many tears as possible as their dreams stay only dreams. It's the yin and the yang of sports.
And I get to capture these moments. I get to hold a camera, a recorder for an interview. I get to meander through the crowd on the court in the postgame and feel the emotions emanating off of the players, coaches, parents, classmates and fans. It's the part of the job that I love the most. I'm literally sitting in the front row of the best local reality show. My love of it is not nefarious, however. I love seeing the raw power of emotion in those moments. The teaching moments of sports extend further than anything else I've witnessed in this life - and that includes the death of a spouse. Sports offer a litany of life lessons - hard work, teamwork, preparation, on-the-fly adjustments, perseverance, respect and how to handle defeat. If I've learned any lesson in this life, it's that life is simply not fair - but you have to find a way to move on, to continue. Life doesn't end when your prep sports career is over - it begins.
Many high school athletes have heard that phrase, but they really can't understand it until it's over. And once that process begins - sometimes in the middle of a game - they grow from a child to an adult. And that is what is most beautiful. That is what I love most about sports and the end of each season.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and his tears in defeat were the front-page art of the Times on Nov. 3, 2003. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
