So much has been written about this incredible Brewers team and their World Series win that I know my words will not compare. However, so many emotions have filled my heart that I feel the need to get them out there in the world.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge sports enthusiast. However, I have to admit that I have not been a die hard Brewers fan like a lot of people I know. I have always cheered for them. My college roommate and I went to spring training while in Arizona for spring break and got our picture taken with Jim Ganter and Rob Deer and I remember all of those players on that 82 team. We brought our girls to several games as they were growing up and they would recall players like Ricky Weeks, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Corey Hart.
I was always a fan of the team but not really the sport. I thought it was a very slow game. Don would watch almost every game if we were home and I always would be doing something in the background. When he wanted to go to a game, there was at least once when I asked if I could bring my book. During the past 5 years, we found the Bingo game on the Ballpark App that would hold my interest during the game. I always questioned why the game had to be 9 innings. I thought 6 or 7 would be much better. Again, always loved going to games–the tailgating, food, drinks, atmosphere was awesome but the game itself–not my thing. There was one time that my friend Sue and I were at a game sitting in the bleachers and a woman yelled at us for talking so much and not watching the game! I explained to her that we weren’t in a movie theater.
All of that has changed. It first started when the Brewers started making the post season again. I would jump on the bandwagon usually around the middle of September. My friend Beth, who is a huge baseball fan, would quiz me on the Brewers names and positions and just as I would have them all memorized they would lose and it would be back to my Green Bay Packers.
With each year, I began jumping on the band wagon sooner and sooner. Now I knew all the players and positions by the All Star break. I don’t really know when or how it all changed for me but I do know why. I am a player and team person. I started getting to know these players and started seeing the bond this team was starting to have. I was angry when Craig Counsel left us for money. It broke my heart when Caleb Durbin and Freddy Peralta got traded last year. I am going to be so sad as players of this incredible team leave us during this off season.
The last two years, I officially came off the bandwagon and became a full fledged fan. I watched games pitch by pitch, inning by inning with Don and he didn’t have to convince me to go to a game. We went to at least one game each month if not more. Now, I was that woman who scolded me for talking during the game–”why are people leaving their seats when there’s a batter up?” was a constant complaint of mine at the games. There were tears in my eyes when Ueck explained “that one had some sting on it” when we gave up the lead and lost to the Mets knowing that Ueck wasn’t going to be around forever and I really wanted him to see this team make it to a World Series. Last year we drove back from Chicago during Maddie’s Marathon to watch the Brewers take the Cubs out of the playoffs just to feel the heartbreak the next week when the Dodgers swept us. It seemed like we were never going to get past them. Similar to how I feel about the 49ers and our Green Bay Packers. They always seem to be a team we struggle to get through during the playoffs.
During this past off season, Don was disappointed with our lack of moves and the amount of moves that the Cubs and the Dodgers made. He was convinced at the beginning of the season that we weren’t ever going to get through these big market teams. I LOVE an underdog story so I was completely in now. If we didn’t watch a game this season, I was checking my phone to see what the score was. I even went to a game by myself when I was offered last minute tickets behind the Brewer dugout and couldn’t find anyone to go with me! I started paying attention to pitch counts!!! My girls came home for visits and were surprised to see me in front of the TV not only watching the Brewers but cheering or screaming depending on the play, commenting, “so you’re a Brewers fan now?” Again, I want to reiterate—Always a Brewers fan, just not always a baseball fan. The girls really knew I was in when in late September/early October I wasn’t just watching Brewers games but I was watching other baseball games to see who we would be matched up with.
Then the post season happened and what a post season it was. Every game except the 10-1 win over the Rays came down to the wire. Even if we were in the lead in the 9th like we were in game 5 against the Rays we were holding our breath until the final out. So exhilarating, so stressful, so exciting. . .
As a sports enthusiast I get upset with the money that players, owners, organizations receive. I wonder why I watch a sport like football that is obviously harming men. After watching the movie Concussion, I thought of not watching football anymore. I hate that men like Ben Roethlisberger and Josh Jacobs who harm women get to still play their sport (Man, I wish the Green Bay Packers would side on what’s right and cut him loose). I sometimes wonder about my own morals that I still pay money and waste my time on sports but then a team like the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers comes around and it reminds me of what is right with sports. That teammates can truly be friends. That egos can be left at the door. That a team can love their fans just as much as the fans love them. That a small market can overcome the challenges that are set before them. I remember why I love sports so much. Sports can unify as we saw 750,000 people come together last Friday to celebrate this team. Sports can heal as we heard so many stories of people they were missing during this championship run. And man can sports make us smile. I’m still smiling. . .Now, I just hope they get a chance to defend their title next year because I am ready to jump back on this ride!
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