Posted on Friday, 10th April 2009 by Bruce
Well, we have defied the odds, the best efforts of Mother Nature (and, for some of us, the latest technology in medical testing) and have somehow lived through another long Wisconsin winter.
Our prize? Yet another Milwaukee Brewers Home Opener.
Every city has something it does really well. In Milwaukee, that thing is Opening Day.
I think one of the reasons those of us who make an annual ritual out of this day, sparing you the “Rite of Spring,” “Spiritual Rebirth,” and “Resurrection” cliches (although, the latter might be appropriate, as for Christians, this is Easter weekend) is that so many who’ve been around this city for far-too-many years remember what this day was like in the pre-lid days of County Stadium.
Game ticket in hand, for what seemed like months in advance, all we could do was hope and pray that we got a decent April day for baseball in Milwaukee. While it would have been nice, we weren’t asking for 72 and sunny, with winds out of the West at 5 MPH… We’re Milwaukeeans, we’re realists. We’re used to making the best of bad situations. We just wanted a day in which you didn’t have to struggle from the upper deck to see the field through the snow; where over-served bleacher creatures could exchange high-fives (and often, clenched fists) without the fear of slipping on a patch of ice.
In the end, what kind of day you got for all this splendor was entirely in the hands of God.
Today? Sure, it can be hard to keep your cans of Sterno lit in the Miller Park parking lot on a blustery Opening Day. The good news? It’s probably the most challenging thing you’ll have to face all day. When the last brat is taken off the grill, and the cooler goes back in the trunk, you’ll walk through that turnstile to see your team, ready to take the field in the brilliance of its greenness, in a dry and roughly 70 degree world-class stadium.
And to think, for all those years, we debated and gnashed our collective teeth over whether to tear down that old gray monstrosity that used to sit on the dirt where Little Leaguers now play. Sometimes, you just don’t know how much better it can be until you actually have a measure of comparison.
Happy Opening Day, Milwaukee. Please celebrate it by swearing at a Cubs fan.
Posted in Home | Comments (5) |
5 Responses to “Can you smell the charcoal? You do smell it, don’t you?”
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April 10th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Woah! What a great come back win in the bottom of the 9th!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
great game, great to see it mostly brewer fans at the game. I was walking home from the stadium well after the end of the game and happen to walk in front of prince fieler as he was leaving, I got him to give me a thumbs up and then Corey Hart almost ran me over. not made, it was really cool!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Good teamwork…persistance pays off…and a lazy tag by the Cubs catcher doesn’t hurt. Home plate ump was in perfect position to make the right call. Gotta love a home opener WIN against the Cubs!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
not mad, typo
April 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
God, Family, The Milwaukee Brewers, and Guitars.
To paraphrase Vince Lombardi.
I was driving home, as I entered 94 West at Hwy 100, I thought…..HELL, a 1-3 start and the Cubs are 3-1. Then I got REAL. I thought HELL NO, we only need 1 to tie. I drove home to my palatial Summit Wisconsin home as my cell phone rang non-stop.
I called my youngest bro, who happened to be a G.W.BUSH’s Dallas home. (some of you will know why) and he said….”what’s up DUDE I’ve got 3 other calls?” I told him the Brewers scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th and made his day!!!
I love the Brewers, and I love baseball. In fact, I’ve got a close friend named MICKEY.