ONE EXCITING SATURDAY.

ONE EXCITING SATURDAY. (Frazer Chronicle)

I'll admit it, I was glued to my easy chair, complete with my chair-side soft drinks, ash tray and cigars, ready to assist any way that I could with the job at hand, coaching multi basketball teams from boys high school, to women's and men's college N.C.A.A. tournament games.....and I must admit, I was successful in almost every decision that I made, every move I implemented and my teams responded to every shouted command I uttered, from my east side Green Bay La Z Boy.

The very first thing that I must continue to remind myself is that these players are just kids, babies, just beginning their journey through life. The experiences that they gain through athletic competition will remain for the rest of their lives. In some cases the experiences will help, while in others, the experiences might actually hinder, but growing experiences non-the-less.

One game in particular between high schoolers Milwaukee King and Germantown was as exciting as high school basketball can get. The game went back and fourth, the end was in doubt until, well the end. To me the winner didn't matter, how the play went in a flow up and down the court, the rough and tumble effort, yet no pushing, no hot dogging and no "in your grill" crap you see so much of today.

Both Milwaukee King and the Germantown Warhawks had their share of hero's, nobody needed to bow their head in defeat because, like the old line goes, "there were no losers, just participants."  The final was 72 to 69, with Germantown claiming it's first state basketball title. But the final, although significant, wasn't the bottom line, the play, the fans, the players and me, all rooting for their favorite was the winner, no losers in this game, this late March night in Madison, Wisconsin.

I have watched, "on my trusty television" the University of  Wisconsin at Green Bay's women's basketball team 5 times now and, for their size and athletic abilities, they are magnificent. They play as a team, are unselfish and share a common goal, to score more points then the other team. Saturday night in Ames, Iowa, they shot the lights out in the first half, taking a 42-23 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

Although things got a bit closer in the 2nd. half, the G.B. women prevailed by a 14 point margin that really didn't tell the real game story. G.B. simply wanted to win more the Iowa State, it showed by the intense play and the final score. How far they will go.....hey, this arm chair coach is unwilling to guess, but I'll be watching tomorrow night.

Both Wisconsin's other basketball teams, "the men," Marquette and the Badgers of Wisconsin pulled out entertaining victories to extend their season. Marquette, to me, looks like a superior athletic team, albeit a little undersized, while the Badgers are a product of their coach, the tough minded Bo Ryan.The Badgers, like always depend on their defense and some great big 6'-11" guys to get the job down.