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Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Baseball Evolution: Glab: I Hate Milwaukee; I Hate The Brewers
Glabba Glabba we accept you, we accept you one of us?
This brings us to the question of why a silly suburb like Milwaukee even has a major league franchise. It has been one of the most futile franchises in the history of Major League Baseball. It has a fairly small fan base. It has a cold, unfriendly stadium, although the seats are pretty close to the action on the field. From what I can tell, the only point of the franchise is to give Cubs fans a cheaper alternative to atttending Wrigley Field games, but the Brewers are now increasing ticket prices to the point where that is not even an attractive option.
The fact that MLB hasn’t made a motion to move this struggling franchise to an area of the nation that could use it makes you wonder whether there won’t soon be an expansion franchise in Gary or Joliet. That’s a joke, but then, so are the Milwaukee Brewers.
I hate the Brewers.
Everyone was so excited about the Brew Crew when the 2007 season began. They had all of these young, exciting players that were ready to take charge of a weak NL Central. For the first month-and-a-half of the season, that’s exactly what they did. I was one of the skeptics that didn’t buy it. I was exceedingly correct.
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The Red Sox have won seven of them, so...1908. Surprised the Cubs haven't run out a patch..one hundred fricken years.
He might want to stop patting himself on the back and check the standings. The Brewers finished two games out and weren't eliminated until the final week. He was "correct" in that they didn't win the division, but "exceedingly correct" would imply that they weren't in the race, which is false.
Well, the Brewers may never have won a World Series, but it's been an even longer wait than that for the Cubs.
I've never been to Milwaukee...is it really like a big suburb? Is the beer as good as advertised or it that a lot of Miller hype? My brother lives in Chicago and I wouldn't mind taking a quick road trip up there to see a game.
Wait - Milwaukee's a suburb? Double wait - Milwaukee's silly?
It has been one of the most futile franchises in the history of Major League Baseball.
. . . uh, this isn't the sorta line any Cubs fan should be throwing around unless he his life insurance policy contains double indemnity for boomerang-related incidents.
From what I can tell, the only point of the franchise is to give Cubs fans a cheaper alternative to atttending Wrigley Field games]
Spellcheck your blog posts next time, and it's only cheaper if you can get to Milwaukee without expending any gasoline.
The Brewers exist because Milwaukee is large enough to host a major league team. It's on the border, but if it ddn't have a team, it would be one of the towns people spoke of putting a team in. It's the Portland of the Midwest.
Wait - why am I bothering? This is tripe.
No, it's not a big suburb. Sure, it has many of the same issues that a lot of Great Lakes cities have, but Milwaukee has an identifiable center, distinct neighborhoods with a rich history, and a surprisingly vibrant nightlife if you know where to look. This idiot doesn't know what he's talking about.
The beer: ah, well, your mileage may vary on quality, but the culture of beer -- as in appreciating that beer is a wonderful drink that should be enjoyed in all manner of settings -- is fabulous there.
OK. I'm sold.
Not even close to being a suburb.
If you're interested Miller Park has the most extensive tailgating facilities I've ever seen at any park.
While I would have no idea whether there is a direct route, why the hell would you expect to find one in the middle of winter?
They did have 1957.
If I recall a winter in Omaha, they push snow towards the center of the street even when there's no median, try turning left. Every other large city outside the upper midwest has a nervous breakdown when it snows.
Certainly you have heard of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves?
Well, if you are familar with the Illinois/Wisconsin or Chicago/Milwaukee "rivalry" then you are certainly allowed to invoke the Milwaukee Braves 1957 World Series Championship. And why not? This is a legit championship for the city.
Milwaukee Baseball has indeed won a World Series more recently than the Cubs and it was over a dominant Yankees run where they won 9 AL titles in 10 years and 7 World Series. In the context of Keith crapping on Milwaukee, this is certainly fair game.
In fact, Chicago used to BOLD MILWAUKEE in the standings of the Tribune. Pathetic.
Reprinted 7/18/07 in the Tribune:
Chicago couldn't get a winning team of their own during this time, they have been jealous of Milwaukee Baseball long before the White Sox drew more fans in Milwaukee then they did in Chicago, during the 68-69 seasons.
If you are familiar with Wisconsin sports, you know that the demise of the Braves coincided with the rise of Lombardi's Packers. Will the Favreless Packers give way to the Brewers?
Wisconsin/Milwaukee sports fandom is as high as, or greater than, any state/city, if their focus moves to the Brewers, I can see a repeat of a Braves type era with a string of winning seasons.
Oh--are they part of the same franchise as the Brewers? Guess that means the Brew can claim the 1995 world series title as its own.
Hyperbolize much? I don't think the team's exactly in panic mode about opening the season with Pie and DeRosa at those two positions.
I'm thinking that jealousy's been pretty well tempered by the last 40 years, the Cubs' lack of a championship during that time notwithstanding.
The notion that "Chicago" is collectively jealous of Milwaukee as to, well, anything is kind of absurd.
And the worst post-game egress I've ever seen anyplace. You park in the middle of the economy lot east of the park for a sold out game, it takes 90 minutes to get from your space to the lot's exit. Without exaggeration.
Chicago isn't much better
Untrue. Chicago mayors are quite diligent about clearing the streets ever since Jane Byrne beat Michael Bilandic on his perceived weakness of not having cleared the streets after the 1979 storms paralyzed the neighborhoods.
Pretty much. Really, what is there to hate about the Brewers?
This is where it helps to actually be from Milwaukee. Don't follow take the road named after the stadium (Miller Park Way); rather, get off on Mitchell and park in the lot north of the stadium. If you go right through the little tunnel out of that lot instead of following everyone else out the way you came in, you can get be on the highway in less than ten minutes.
As you said, though, the east lots are really terrible.
Really, what is there to hate about the Brewers?
In my experience, there is still a lot of residual Selig hatred that the Brewers unfortunately glom onto.
Idiot.
Oh, he knows all about that, I assure you, as I've been cluing BTF Cub fans in on it for years. But when his friend insists that the tailgating is better in the east lot, well, I wash my hands of it.
Likewise for the BTF Brewer contingent. Off the top of my head, I can only recall the one ####### Brewer fan here, and we all know who I'm talking about. The rest of you guys are class acts.
You mean Pie or Fuld. Both fantastic supposedly, but still there is talk of signing Coco Crisp.
And neither of us really know what is going on behind the scenes.
Retro-Shiite, you are kind of being an idiot about this. 2 clicks later I see you are from Chicago. Figures.
Yes--when I go to Miller Park, that's what I do now, thanks to Weeks T. Olive's suggestion (hat tip). But before I was aware of that, man. That sucked. Took longer to get from my space to the freeway than it took to get from Milwaukee to Chicago.
Thanks.
Well, we can't all be enlightened as you. I see you still haven't gotten over your eating crow after having trolled Cub threads during the entire stretch drive last year with your "the Cubs're gonna lose this race 'cause they're the Cubs" nonsense.
"Diligent" is an understatement. Whatever else might be said for Chicago's public services, I think "obsessive" might be a better description of the city's snow removal. It's kind of amazing, actually. The salt trucks tend to be out hours before a major forecasted snow storm.
The other major mistake people coming from the south make is taking 94 instead of the bypass. You can also speed your exit by just heading south on miller park way all the way down to the bypass.
What do you have against Harvey!?!
I take it you're not married.
Best Regards
John
Yes, and this is especially true now with the Marquette Interchange project going on. Coming into a game, folks from Chicago should go 94 -> 894 -> 94 East to the Mitchell exit and park in the North lot.
You can also speed your exit by just heading south on miller park way all the way down to the bypass.
I've never done this - where does MPW meet up with 894? I'm not seeing it on this map. I suppose one could take MPW then take surface streets to meet up with 894, but I think I'd just do the reverse of the above (94 W -> 894 -> 94) if my goal were to just get out and get going as fast as possible and skip MPW altogether.
Of course, my ultimate recommendation would be for everyone to forget about leaving town right away and instead hit one of many possible places for a meetup.
That, I figured out early on. Going on 94 back into downtown, with postgame traffic and the traffic-slowing hard right where 94 turns south, is insane given the bypass option.
And for the record, despite the nightmare that is Miller Park traffic (unless you know the secret spots pointed out to me by Weeks), I like Milwaukee. I've always thought of it as a mini-Chicago (nice neighborhoods, universities, baseball, nicely developed lakefront), and that's not intended as an insult.
Not Harvey. It's that caustic, abrasive pr1ck NTNgod. ;-)
Man, I was starting to think that no one was going to offer at that BP fastball.
My personal opinion of Milwaukee as a native Chicagoan is that Milwaukee is great, but the outlying areas of southern Wisconsin not so much. Then again I don't have a whole lot of positive things to say about Waukegan either so...
And no, there's not a Cubs fan on the planet that has any right to point fingers at the Brewers for their futility. I can remember the Brewers in the World Series. Neither of my parents can say the same for the Cubs.
Mars Cheese Castle.
Lake Geneva may be nice, but to get there you have to go through Richmond: home of the most ridiculous speed trap in the state.
Bastards
Truly lovely behavior by "law enforcement" officials. Willfully violating a law in the hopes of catching people who don't know about it.
Escaping Miller Park east via Canal Street out of the east lot towards the casino is also a great alternative to getting in line with sheep headed for I-94, and largely ignored.
Hey, I've seen the Cubs in the World Series too.
Hey, I've seen the Cubs in the World Series too.
Well, we know in 2015 the Cubs will beat the Marlins, somehow, in the World Series. Patience, Cub fans, patience!
I did that twice. But they sure looked good in the playoffs.
I agree about Milwaukee, but outlying areas of southern Wisconsin are varied and assuming you are talking about Racine, then yes, I understand a resemblance to Waukegan. Although, Kenosha has more going for it in general than Racine, other than danish kringle.
Mars Cheese Castle is a dump. Unfortunate that there is a dog track, adult toys, fireworks and the Mars Cheese Castle just when you cross the border. MCC isn't even what you think it is. It is dumpy.
There are better places in the area of Wisconsin between Milwaukee and Chicago. There are a few good, cheap golf courses down there. There is even championship pie.
Unless I'm mistaken you can't park in the north lot if you are reaching the ballpark from the west, you have to go past the park, loop around and come back from the east, no? I've always been curious about this.
Also, why is there only one footbridge to the east lot? Its fine when there are only 15,000 people for a Wednesday game against the Pirates, but it completely fails when there is a big crowd. You can stand on that stupid bridge for a long time.
And have I mentioned that St. Louis is a cesspool?
I have no idea what he's talking about regarding walkability downtown and snow removal from sidewalks. Maybe he mistook downtown Glendale for downtown Milwaukee or something. And although I have never done it, there are special bus routes that run to Miller on game days. And even in Milwaukee, you are pretty much never going to have to trudge through "a foot of snow" to get to a Brewers game.
Whatever. How'd that crow taste?
No, but that does remind me of last year's BTF meetup at Miller; let's just say we were all glad for the roof. It was 19 degrees that morning when we showed up to tailgate. April baseball in the upper midwest can be kind of unpleasant to sit through.
Speaking of which--whose bright idea was it to set the Cubs' home opener for March 31?
You can access the parking lot from the city streets, off of Blue Mound.
They pour the drinks tall, strong, and cheap in Milwaukee, Gentlemen. Although, I think the Manhattan(s)? I had at Elsa's were $14. I don't remember, and with good reason. They were huge though (12oz if I had to ballpark it). I was hammered before dinner.
Actually, there are two options, one over and one under the road, but if you are standing by one, walking over to the other is not worth it.
Drunkeness is part of the slowdown.
My cousin and her partner (who writes the blog fourblockstomillerpark.blogspot.com) lives up that way right by Kelly's bleachers. You can actually walk to the ballpark from there place, something I thought was completely impossible.
What about East Troy? I used to love concerts at Alpine Valley. A Pearl Jam show there was one of the best I've ever seen.
I have no clue about snow removal in Milwaukee, but my memories sadly confirm that the Chicago area does it extremely well. I had more snow days during college in the South than in 13 years of school in the Chicago suburbs.
Stevie Ray Vaughn died there.
And the outlying areas and suburbs aren't good enough. Gak. What about Chicago's suburbs? Is there a greater concentration of tacky and overpriced anywhere on earth? What about rural Illinois? Good grief.
Its all about The Elegant Farmer. They have the best Black Forest ham I've ever had. The interuban rides are cool too.
The apple pie in a paper bag is fantastic, too.
How could I forget that? My local grocery carries their pies now, but it really isn't the same.
You can access the north lot from any direction, you just have to know where to get off the freeway (off US-41 a/k/a Miller Park Way via Bluemound exit, I-94 to US 41 via Bluemound exit, or Hawley road to Bluemound, Mitchell exit north to Bluemound turn east to get to North lot entrance.)
I don't think so at all, frankly. When I've driven to Milwuakee, I'll go through long stretches of greenery. It's like driving to Rockford, only with trees in place of farms.
Well, except for the part where the destination is... Rockford. Ugh. Rockford makes Racine look fun.
It disappoints me that the two states/cities haven't collaborated on a high-speed commuter train. I think it would be a real positive long- term for numerous reasons.
I would advise my Cub fan counterparts that some posters are more intent on hurling invective at fellow posters than of mocking that which deserves to be mocked, namely Lou's haircut and Ned's facial expressions.
Yost's empty gaze onto the field as the bullpen implodes is a personal favorite of mine. I always wonder what exactly is passing through his thoughts.
Well, sure. I meant the trip, not the destination.
Actually what I did was take MPW south to Forest Home Ave.
Agreed. There is no good reason for there not to be a Madison/Chicago/Milwaukee network of highspeed rail. Especially given how many Chicago kids seem to be at UW these days.
people went go-go gah over them 'cus ESPN did ..
people watch fishing, 'cus ESPN says too ..
people watch logs being sawed, cus ESPN says to ..
people watch dogs jump into a lake, cus ESPN says too ..
people flooded to poker rooms all over the country, cus ESPN said too ..
ESPN simply figured out what women knew long ago ...
American men, age 18-49 are the biggest bunch of ####### sheep you will ever meet in your life.
they are gullible dumb neanderthals, that can easily be led around by their wallets
..
Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.
We’re gonna do it!!!
I kinda like this.
Anybody else watch the weird dog competitions they have on Animal Planet? I get a kick out of the experts back in the studio. It's good hangover watching.
Do like I do--start in Woodstock and take 47 due north. It's a snap. ;-)
Yost's empty gaze onto the field as the bullpen implodes is a personal favorite of mine. I always wonder what exactly is passing through his thoughts.
"...stick with the plan, Ned...it got you this far...stick with the plan..."
I'm pretty sure he's trying to figure out what cavalry swords have to do with bullpen management.
I think the Milwaukee area has a lot to gain with a hi-speed rail from Downtown Milwaukee to O'Hare, in order to link the metro area with international business.
Of course the Amtrak in place now takes 90 min, so this hi-speed rail would have to cut that in half, at least. I used to be able to drive to O'Hare in under an hour from souther parts of Milwaukee anyway.
Good luck getting the local communities to sign off on that without a single stop along the way, slowing the thing down in the first place.
I don't see Chicago with much to gain from this, so it is unlikely you could get the political muscle needed to happen.
Cripes, all that time in Palo Alto has me sounding like a Google stooge.
Point remains though...
If you were a 12-year-old Seattle Pilots fan in the spring of 1970, as I was, you hated the Brewers with a passion. And while I wouldn't use the world "hate" to describe my feelings now, I'm certainly still pissed off that Bud Selig stole my team, and that I didn't have a major-league team in my city during my high school years...
-- MWE
We'll see what we can arrange.
-- MWE
I kinda like this.
Things routinely shown on ESPN that are less entertaining than dogs jumping into lakes (not an exhaustive list):
Around The Horn
The seventeenth rerun of the Razz final table at the World Series of Poker
Automobile racing
The WNBA
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