Summers With the Brew Crew

OK, so my blog entries have been a bit intense lately. Sorry, I'll admit I spend a fair amount of time thinking about deep stuff. Let me tell you about another one of my concentric circles: hanging out with Bob Uecker, Ryan Braun and the rest of the Milwaukee Brewers.

I enjoy the relaxed pace of baseball. I think that means I'm getting old, but I'm OK with that. My Grandpa Sam used to enjoy the lengthy, conversational stride of major league baseball, so I feel connected that way too. Grandpa liked the Yankees, but I think that was mostly about the classy pinstripe look and perhaps a bit about the winning swagger as well. Grandpa was pretty classy guy. Then there's me, cheering on the other end of the sporting food chain...for the Brewers. They've got, oh, maybe a quarter the payroll of the Yankees, but they're our team.



My philosophy of sports includes the idea that a lot of people cheer for the team where they feel home is. So if you're living in Green Bay and cheering for the Red Sox, perhaps you wish you were back in New England. Granted, I never grew up as a boy with a regional Major League Baseball team on the Canadian prairies...so I adopted the Twins while in college and gradually warmed up to Milwaukee as the years wore on. What a great pastime! I'm always thrilled when I'm driving home on my dinner-time commute and realize that they're in the 5th inning at Miller Park, leaving the prime innings for my listening and cruising pleasure. I like rooting for the home team, feeling at home with my neighbors. I like water cooler "Hey did you see that last night?" conversations at work. I like to win, but hanging out with my team is even better. Gentlemen's leisure. Grandpa Sam liked that.

Meanwhile, the Brewers and Cubs are just getting back from a 15-minute lighting problem delay at Miller Park tonight. RBI double for the Cubs' Hauffpauir. Arghhh! (If I spelled it wrong, GET OVER IT!) We're still up 9-6. Shut 'em down, crew! Send their sorry backsides back to the hotel crying tonight! Strikeout! Inning over! Ha!

OK, I can get a wee bit competitive. But what a great combination of adrenalin and anticipation! And I'm a stats guy, so that's a big part of it. I'm alway hovering over the player names on my web browser to catch batting averages, odds of getting caught stealing, fastball speed, stuff like that.

Will we ever have playoff success? When you've got a relatively lame payroll, you've got to catch lightning in a bottle or land a lucky punch somehow. Odds are long, but if we only get 162 games this year, that's pretty good too. Oh, and Jason likes JJ Hardy because we've called Jason "JJ" all along. Yeah, I like summers with the Brew Crew.