Yes. The picture you are looking at is real. I have not photoshopped it. It is a Milwaukee Brewer player drenched in champagne at the end of the season.
You can see, it says "Milwaukee Brewers" on his shirt. And it is Prince Fielder- he currently plays first base for the Brewers. And he has champagne all over him and that means they are in the playoffs.
The last time this happened I was in Hustisford, WI in October 1982, managing my brother's football team. As I carried water out to Dave Olson and the rest of the Wlliams Bay Bulldog offensive line, a murmur went up from the Hustisford faithful. The Brewers had beaten the Angels to go the World Series.
I think I went to five or six games that year with my Dad.
When the Brewers won last night, when J.J Hardy turned that double play, it felt like Robin Yount in that Angels game.
I think I went to five or six games that year with my Dad.
When the Brewers won last night, when J.J Hardy turned that double play, it felt like Robin Yount in that Angels game.
But it's not the baseball game that makes this special. It's that Hustisford game, and the trips to County Stadium with my Dad in the eighties and then Ben in the nineties. It's big Dave Valley waiting for an autograph from the players in 1996. It's spring training with Chris and Ben. It's Don Rowe's walk. It's the rookie photo I have of Robin Yount in the sport loo in my basement. It's the light blue polyester uniform that gets really smelly when I wear it to games. It's my "Magic, Miracles, and True Believers" VHS- the story of the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.
I love the Mets. But I've only loved them for about ten years. And I'm sure I'll love them more after I take Henry and Elsa to Citi Field in the coming years.
But you know, I spontaneously started singing WTMJ's 80s anthem, "Come See What's Brewin" after Braun hit that homerun yesterday to take the lead. I couldn't help it. I'm a hard-wired Brewers fan.
