Had a great time at the game yesterday, the only thing that sucked was the final result. I took a bunch of pics, but don't have my camera cord with me to upload. But here are the two I took with my cell phone for your enjoyment:
The first is obviously my Racing Polish Sausage Bobble Head (although he's really more of a bobbling torso), and the second is the t-shirt I bought in the gift shop. I got 10% off because it was Sausage Sunday!
First let me say that I could totally hang with Brewers fans. They are awesome. I know a couple of you warned me about the tailgating, but I wasn't prepared. I've never seen so much hardcore tailgating at a baseball game before. There were SO many people tailgating. They were playing games, drinking, there were tents and vans painted in Brewers colors. It was great.
Walking in we got good nature heckling from a few Brewers fans, but they were all super nice about it. We almost bonded with a guy in an O's jersey before we noticed he was also wearing a Yankees cap, so we steered clear of him. There were definitely some O's fans in the house, though certainly nothing over powering. I high fived an old dude in a Wild Bill giveaway t-shirt and after the game commiserated with a couple decked out in O's gear, the dude telling me, "We'll get them in Chicago!"
Miller Park is beautiful. It looks nice on TV but it really is very nice. I don't know how many people it seats, but it appears that almost all of the seats are pretty close to the field. I've never been to a stadium with a roof but have to say that it didn't bother me in the slightest. I was bummed when they closed the roof (as were a bunch of you in the game thread, I saw) but it started pouring rain not long after and didn't stop until we were almost all the way back to Chicago. The funny thing about a stadium with a roof is you forget it's raining, but then after the game you have to walk all the way back to your car. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got to the car.
The only thing I didn't really love about the stadium was the constant interfering of the announcers and such. They played a lot of music clips after pitches. Like if a guy hit a couple foul balls in a row, they'd play a clip of Hangin' Tough or some other type music. Every time they made a pitching change they said, "This pitching change brought to you by Chevy" and a car would drive the entire outfield warning track. They had all kinds of promotions "If JJ Hardy hits a home run section 315 wins pizza!" It was a fun atmosphere, but I guess I'm just used to my baseball a little more au natural.
The game was pathetic. It looked good in the first inning but as you all know the O's couldn't capitalize. Losing is fine, it's gonna happen. But it's so frustrating to watch them throw opportunities down the drain like that. Although I really enjoyed watching the Brewers play. They're just good. A good young team. Lots to be excited about in Milwaukee these days.
Next stop, Chicago! I'll be there Thursday afternoon. Hopefully I'll get to see one win on this trip!
The thing that stuck out to me about this is the part about how much advertising there is at Miller Park.
I assumed that was everywhere, but maybe not. I really hate that pitching change stuff where they announce the pitching change is brought to you by Chevy.
Then again, we're the smallest market in baseball. I suppose any way we can earn some dough we gotta do it.
We're seriously considering going after the number one prize before the trade deadline, C.C. Sabathia. How huge would that be?