(NOTE: I write this column with no journalistic integrity and that is, no doubt, unsurprising to many people. I am writing this from the most blindly biased angle possible because I am a huge Brewers fan and that is a fun thing to be right now.)

I am excited about the 2006 Milwaukee Brewers. Why?

Well, I am almost 30 years old and have never had the opportunity to witness a Brewers team that I believed could contend. I believed this for good reasons and, in the end, they didn't completely disappoint me.

I was 5 years old in 1982 when I attended all of the ALCS and the World Series games. My only recollections of any of the games, however, were:

1. I had to cover my ears when the starting lineups were announced.
2. My brother gave me the bag of candy that didn't have the Starburst in it.
3. I couldn't figure out why the guys sitting in front of me came back with a pan full of dirt.
4. I had a blast honking the horn in the VA Hospital parking lot.
5. Reggie not only sucks, but he also eats quiche.

In the late '80s, the Brewers made a few runs. It was fun watching "Team Streak" in 1987 and chanting "MVP" in 1988, but those teams were constantly chasing a giant that they couldn't catch (although I still think that if Dale Sveum didn't break his leg in Detroit late in the '88 season the Crew would have won the division.)

Only years later did they figure out what the giant was: Money.

The 1991 team was fun to watch, but as we all know that was a fluke -- just ask Pat Listach.

It was also the end if winning baseball as we knew it.

Before I go on, I realize some people think all this hoopla is premature. They might say that this team hasn't accomplished anything but finishing .500 so far -- and they are right. The must keep in mind, however, that most pundits believe that the Brewers could be the sleeper team in the National League. I am here to tell you that the Brewers are as good if not better than every team in National League Central and have no reason not to scoff at winning in the future and breaking their 24 year post-season drought this year.

Yes, I said it. The Brewers are going to make the playoffs. Not in 2007 or 2008, but in 2006.

This team is the real deal. They do have their weaknesses and will need to stay healthy (especially Ben Sheets), but name another team in the National League that can take on a bunch of injuries or doesn't have certain holes to fill.

Three years ago I wrote a column titled, "There is light at the end of the tunnel." Well folks, we're there. Doug Melvin has done a masterful job of following the script of the Minnesota Twins with patience, diligence and the uncanny knack of un-earthing diamonds.

What makes this period in Brewers baseball so exciting is that we have talked about these prospects for years. The likes of Billy Joe Robidoux, Joey Meyer, Antone Williamson, Todd Dunn, Kevin Barker, Chad Green and Kenny Felder have all come and gone. They all had something very important in common -- they couldn't play.

Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, Prince Fielder and Bill Hall also have something in common -- they are all studs. We have finally come to the time where the fruits of the labor will be producing in Miller Park, not in Huntsville, El Paso, Denver, Stockton, Vancouver or New Orleans.

This is the reason why the Brewers can contend. For once and for all they finally have the players.

What a novel idea!

The Brewers need some things to go well for them to accomplish this lofty goal, but there isn't a team in the NL Central that has improved (unless you want to count Pittsburgh, but we shouldn't have to concern ourselves with them).