As summer turns toward fall, the sports season at both the local level and national level are picking up steam. Here are the five things I’m most looking forward to:

Monroe Cross County’s Bruess Invite, Monday, Aug. 27

While some teams get off to the races the week before, I’ve grown accustomed to Monroe’s Bruess Invitational as the unofficial opening to the cross county season. Twining Park is a fun location to shoot as a photographer, because you don’t have to go very far to see all the runners multiple times from three or four different vantage points. Not only that, but the competition is pretty strong — several local schools participate, as do schools from Iowa and other southern Wisconsin counties.

It’s also a chance to see where the local runners stack up early in the season — it also helps you appreciate the progress they make in such a short time with the state meet just eight weeks from today.

Conference football slate picks up, Friday, Aug. 31

Monroe hosts Milton and Darlington goes to Cuba City in the same night. New Glarus-Monticello welcomes Columbus to America’s Little Switzerland, Evansville-Albany travels to Jefferson and Brodhead-Juda invades Edgerton. 

Conference titles won’t be won this week, but they surely could be lost. Adding to the drama is the outcome of the Black Hawk-Potosi/Cassville Week 2 matchup Aug. 24. Both teams received votes in the first Associated Press poll of the season, and if Black Hawk can get by the P/C co-op, the annual rivalry game against Pec-Argyle in Week Four gets even more juicy.

Milwaukee Brewers road trip, Aug. 28-Sept. 2

We’re coming down the home stretch and the Brewers have a road trip with three games against Cincinnati and another three at the Nationals. While Cincinnati is sitting in last place in the NL Central, they are nearly .500 as a team when Homer Bailey doesn’t pitch. Being in Cincinnati, it means baseballs will be flying out of the ballpark and into the Ohio River. I just hope they are coming off Brewers bats and that Milwaukee can not only stay in the playoff hunt, but regain a comfortable lead in the Wild Card race.

Washington was a team with World Series hopes, but have gone into full-on fire sale since the trade deadline. The Nationals are 6.5 games back in the Wild Card race as I write this, and while that is still close enough that a hot stretch can bring them back, instead they are selling off veteran parts left and right — just to the Brewers’ in-division rivals. A 6-0 or 5-1 stretch would be ideal, but anything less than a 4-2 stretch before returning home against the Cubs would make it a difficult start to September.

Cleveland Indians homestand, Aug. 28-Sept. 2

Yes, I know I am a bit of a loner in the Cleveland baseball fan club in southern Wisconsin, but my other favorite team is hosting Minnesota and Tampa Bay — two teams out of the playoff chase. While the Rays are above .500, and the Twins are division rivals, Cleveland has gotten hot over the past two weeks to run away from a division that was already theirs from the start of May.

The Windians are 15-5 since the start of August and just got hard-throwing lefty Andrew Miller back from the disabled list. Now if only their outfield can get healthy before October the AL playoffs are going to be as exciting as any in recent history — Boston, New York and Houston all could win 100 games, with Cleveland and Oakland in range to finish with over 95 wins each. 

Fantasy Football Draft (pick a day)

The next two weeks are when every fantasy football league will hold their draft. I’m in a couple different leagues, two of which have been around for more than a decade.

The draft is my favorite time of the season. No one knows who will win or how the draft will go. Will Brandon pick three tight ends? Will Adam draft five players with the name Jackson? Which sixth- or seventh-round rookie running back will Clinton pick as his “sleeper”?

And what should my team(s) be nicknamed? Finding an apt pun for the season is arguably the most important part of autumn.

— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and is the defending fantasy baseball champion in his auction keeper league. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.