By Bob Brainerd Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Feb 15, 2010 at 9:06 AM

Moved by the spirit of Valentine's Day, here are some Wisconsin sports things that I love, in no particular order:

  • Steve Stricker coming back from the dead to become one of the best golfers in the world
  • The Packers Hall of Fame
  • Wisconsin Timber Rattlers mascot Fang and his Bratzooka
  • Racine St. Catherine's gymnasium
  • Bo Ryan's sneer
  • Buzz Williams' tireless effort and sweat
  • Rob Jeter's sportcoats
  • Milwaukee Admirals human hockey puck bowling
  • The Wisconsin Badgers marching band
  • When they called it the Greater Milwaukee Open (GMO)
  • Lambeau Field's halftime chili in the press box
  • Mike Kelley college basketball color analysis
  • The Marquette basketball history montage on the scoreboard before introductions.
  • Jump Around!
  • Powder blue Milwaukee Brewers throwback road jerseys
  • Robin Yount
  • The Admirals logo
  • Milwaukee Panthers big man James Eayrs three point shot
  • Al McGuire
  • Matt Lepay's radio call "TOUCHDOWN, WISCONSIN!"
  • The new UW-Green Bay Phoenix logo
  • The first legit warm temperature tee time in the spring
  • The throwback Packers logo ... the one with the player running, arm extended, over a crest of a football and the state of Wisconsin
  • The WIAA State Summer Baseball Tournament in Stevens Point
  • The view from the UW-La Crosse football press box
  • Sieve! Sieve! Sieve!
  • Dick Basham winning the WIAA State Football Championship, retiring, finishing on top.
  • The Sausage Race
  • Bart Starr
  • Timber Rattlers Thirsty Thursday's
  • The smell in pit row at the Milwaukee Mile
  • Marquette's bumble bee uniforms
  • Cactus League nachos at Miller Park
  • The Brewers barrel man logo
  • Saturday night Bucks games
  • Bernie Brewer's old slide and beer mug at County Stadium
  • The old Arena Football League's purple and teal uniforms of the Milwaukee Mustangs
  • Grills fired up in the Miller Park tailgating lot
  • Eddie Doucette clips
  • Friday night prep football ... anywhere!
  • The slow-motion shot of Cecil Cooper in the 1982 ALCS
  • The drive to a UW-Platteville sporting event
  • High school nicknames like Flying Dutchmen, Crickets, Mounders, Popes, Castle Guards and Oredockers
  • Jon McGlocklin
  • Earl Gillespie doing sports on WITI-TV 6 with a Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer logo mounted to the desk
  • The Bucks old warm-up music "Green and Growing"
  • Moonlight bowling
Bob Brainerd Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Born and raised in Milwaukee, what better outlet for Bob to unleash his rambling bits of trivial information than right here with OnMilwaukee.com?

Bob currently does play-by-play at Time Warner Cable Sports 32, calling Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games in Appleton as well as the area high school football and basketball scene. During an earlier association with FS Wisconsin, his list of teams and duties have included the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and the WIAA State Championships.

During his life before cable, Bob spent seven seasons as a reporter and producer of "Preps Plus: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel High School Sports Show."

And the joke is, Bob has a golf shirt from all four Milwaukee television stations. Sad, but true: Bob has had sports and news anchor/reporter/producer stints at WTMJ, WISN, WDJT and WITI.

His first duty out of college (UW-Oshkosh) was radio and TV work in Eau Claire. Bob spent nearly a decade at WEAU-TV as a sports director and reporter.

You may have heard Bob's pipes around town as well. He has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Milwaukee Iron, and UW-Milwaukee men's and women's basketball. Bob was the public address announcer for five seasons for both the Marquette men and women's basketball squads. This season, you can catch the starting lineups of the UW-Milwaukee Panther men's games with Bob behind the mic.

A Brookfield Central graduate, Bob's love and passion for sports began at an early age, when paper football leagues, and Wiffle Ball All Star Games were all the rage in the neighborhood.