Mehring Monday: The end of one season

I have had the privilege of announcing high school basketball for Time Warner Cable SportsChannel for the past several seasons. The most recent season came to an end on Saturday in Sheboygan.

It was a fun day for a couple of reasons: The first being that the game was in Sheboygan. That may not mean a lot to you, but back in 1992, Sheboygan was where I got my professional start.

I was hired as the sports director at WKTS, AM950 on your dial and spent nine months cutting my teeth there on the morning show, announcing Sheboygan A's baseball from Wildwood Baseball Park, hosting a sports talk show, and covering high school football and basketball in the area.

I had the chance to work with a lot of great people and those with whom I am still in touch commented on the photos I took of the building that used to house the radio station. (It is the home of an accounting business now).

Plus, the bar in the photo at the top of the page is located about a block from where the station was located. It goes by a different name now, but when it was Lotzo's they had great burgers, better chili, and the best fish fry. I only wish I had gone back there after my basketball game was done.

Unfortunately, there were some ownership issues at the station and it went out of business at 5pm on a Friday in January of 1993. Most of us met at the unemployment office the following Monday to wonder what the next step would be.

The second reason it was a fun Saturday was that it was a great high school basketball game. The teams were Kimberly and Arrowhead in the Sectional Final with the winner going to the State Tournament in Green Bay.

Kimberly was up eight to start the fourth quarter, but Arrowhead came back to take a lead. Kimberly tied the game. Then, they took the lead with nine second left. Arrowhead had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but the shot didn't fall and Kimberly won.

The reason that is a neat end to the season for the Papermakers is that Arrowhead beat Kimberly in the Sectional Final last year on a buzzer beater to go to state. This year's game played out almost exactly the same way, but Kimberly held on and they'll be playing this week at the Resch Center.

I had a lot of fun this offseason. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel asked me to cover high school football playoffs, college volleyball, and high school basketball. WNAM asked me to cover Neenah's game against Mukwanago at the Kohl Center for the Division 1 State Semifinal Game and my first trip to cover the Boys' State Basketball Tournament was everything I hoped it would be.

Now, the real fun is about to start. I'm heading down to Arizona on Thursday to cover the Timber Rattlers at Spring Training. I'll be filing reports starting Friday night with reports on games against Dayton, Beloit, and Fort Wayne. Plus, I'll take a look at how last year's Rattlers are doing and what the possible roster for 2014 looks like.

Play ball!