My God, it certainly was worth it.

This is unfamiliar territory and we're not sure how to act. But, we are awfully glad to be here.

All the agony is forgotten. All we remember is the ecstasy.

Who got swept by the Red Sox way back in May? What's May?

Who lost four in a row at home to the hated Cubs? No problem. Nothing we can't overcome.

The passion and patience for a baseball team are unlike the fandom for any other sport. And baseball is unlike any other sport.

In football, you have a whole week between games to either get over a loss and get ready for the next team or enjoy your victory and get ready for the next team. In basketball, the game moves so fast and with such magic intensity that you hardly have time to greet the person sitting next to you.

Baseball is like your favorite old pair of blue jeans or that sweater with the hole in it that you just can't throw away. Baseball is comfortable.

You're pulled up at a stop light and the guy next to you rolls down his window and hollers, "How they doing?" You don't need to hear anything else. You know what he's talking about.

There are things that we learned about the Brewers during this unbelievable season. Some of them were surprises. Some were expected. All of them are interesting.

One thing we learned is that this owner has an abundance of courage and not much patience. It was unheard of to fire a manager with 12 days left in the season and an 83-67 record. But, Mark Attanasio said he thought the Brewers were better than they were playing at the time. He was right.

Another lesson is that solving bullpen problems may be one of the most difficult tasks in all of sports. You can go with big money (Eric Gagne) or the scrap heap (Salomon Torres), but it's still a puzzle with pieces that are almost impossible to fit together. Just when you think you've got it, the pieces fall to the floor.

We also learned that young people are tougher than you think. This team was written off at several points in the season, but always found a way to scratch its way back into the middle of the fray.

We learned that there are at least a few players who probably ought to find another place to play, despite lots of high hopes for them. People like Tony Gwynn, Russell Branyan and Rickie Weeks are good trade bait.

We learned, as if we needed to learn, that pitching is more important than anything else in baseball. Way more important. And since both Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia will be gone next year, trade bait becomes an important issue for general manager Doug Melvin.

One more thing we learned. Give Milwaukee a winner, and fans will turn out in unbelievable numbers to give your our support. More than 3 million people proved that this is a great sports town, especially if your team is winning games.

Now, and I know this sounds strange, on to the playoffs!