Our local basketball scene is basically second to none, and that was on full display the past six weeks. 

We saw New Glarus win the schools’ first-ever gold ball in stunning fashion on the floor of the Kohl Center, which came one week after Black Hawk’s girls basketball program cemented its status as the state’s top Division 5 team up in Green Bay.

We watched Monroe fall in the Division 2 girls basketball state title game to one of the top teams in the country, and in that game the Cheesemaker faithful said goodbye to the best tandem the program has ever seen — Sydney Hilliard and Emily Benzschawel. 

Watching this past winter sports season develop — and these three teams in particular — I felt like something amazing was unfolding before our eyes. I think I was right.

So as it developed, I wanted to make sure every issue of our sports section was a keepsake, because I understood that players, families and coaches would want to look back and relive those memories someday. I know that in 10, 50 and 100 years from now, a couple of readers or media people will look back to our coverage of these individually momentous events in our little corner of the state again, whether to relive the moment, or show it off as a time capsule piece, or simply to smile and put it back into the binder. 

Our entire staff put in countless hours to make sure the pages for each state preview and game recap looked as pristine as possible despite a lack of time and resources. I think we did a pretty good job.

But there was no break in the transition out of winter to spring in the prep sports world. We immediately jumped into two full weeks of previewing our local spring sports scene.

Let’s just say that the first chance I got to sleep, I hit it hard. I pulled in a full extra hour of Zzz’s before coming into work 60 minutes later than usual this past Tuesday.

Now it is the spring, and the weather has thankfully acted the part as well. The opening days of baseball and softball have kicked off, with track teams also already competing at indoor meets held on regional college campuses. Soccer, tennis and golf all begin competition in the coming weeks, and despite it being spring break for my children, I couldn’t enjoy much more than a short walk to the park to hit some grounders for an hour here or there before getting back to work.

But that’s fine with me. I can see the light at the end of the prep sports season tunnel — it’s just a short 11 weeks away.

In the meantime, Major League Baseball has wrapped up its own Spring Training and begun the regular season. National storylines abound.

March Madness hardly lived up to its name, and I stopped watching after the first round. Maybe it was the lack of upsets. Maybe it was a flat showing by Bucky. Or maybe I just got burned out by watching so much basketball in the last two weeks of February.

I hear the Bucks are good. I’ll wait until July to see how that season turned out. Hopefully, by the end of the Bucks season, it will be deer hunting season — or at least pretty close to it. 

Then football practices will start and — oh no, I’ll stop there. That’s too close to fall. Which means winter. And we don’t need any more of that.

— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Times and is saving up money to buy a bullpen car to pick up batting practice balls around the yard. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.