The Brewers' hot start this season once again focused attention on the city of Milwaukee and our image.
There is more talk now, just as there always is when one of our sports teams is doing great things, about how the city benefits and how we can build on things to become a first-tier city, big time in every way.
Sports have always been in the mix of those discussions over the past several decades.
We've had task forces and committees and government and private agencies all look at it. We've had slogans and logos and all manner of catchiness designed to spread the word about Milwaukee.
I've been alive and watching (and, in some cases, participating) in these efforts for a long, long time. One of the most important tasks has been to identify the things that keep us from being as big or exciting as we think we should be. It's always been part of these discussions to be honest about our faults, something that has not come easy in Milwaukee.
But, we have come up with long lists with all kinds of things that seem to be the problem. Last week I saw something that I think is an example of what may well be the biggest problem we've got. It occurred in the world of sports and I call it "The Milwaukee Complex."
The Brewers got off to an incredible start. Last week they started a period of games on the road against good teams. The road trip started in New York, against the Mets, and with all the attendant hoopla that goes along with being in New York.
As the team arrived in New York, The Milwaukee Complex raised its head with a clarity that can't be denied.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, our local daily newspaper, sent its only sports columnist along on the trip. That is unusual. But, the marching orders were clear. Go out to New York and see what they think of our team.
So, this columnist was reduced to talking to players and coaches on the Mets, asking the question, "Are the Brewers for real?" Then, he wrote a column that said, in essence, "The Mets like us and think we're good, so we must be good."
This, my friends, is a big, big part of the Milwaukee problem. This is The Milwaukee Complex.
We weren't all that excited about the Calatrava at the Art Museum until art and architecture writers from London and New York raved about it.
Decades ago, we didn't think too much of our zoo, until some zoological magazine ranked ours second in the country, behind the fabled San Diego Zoo.
And now, it seems, we can't really, REALLY get excited about the Brewers until someone else validates our excitement. Why else would you wake your columnist up, tell him to get out of bed and drag his butt to New York to ask that stupid question?
Do you think that the citizens of Green Bay think it's OK to cheer for their team now that the fans in the big metropolis of Milwaukee love them, too?
I can guarantee that artists in Chicago aren't waiting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's art critic to bestow a blessing on their work.
As a city, we seem too grateful for the good things that happen. When the Wisconsin basketball team climbed to the top ranking in the country for a moment, you could hear how proud people were. It was another case of outside validation.
What this really is about is self-confidence. When you continually need somebody else to tell you how good your are, or how neat you are, or how cool you are, then you are neither good, nor neat, nor cool. You are only a doubter.
Perhaps the guiltiest party in this whole equation is our newspaper. It used to be a great newspaper. But then they began to have their own doubts and now they are beset by a lack of confidence and they've become a lousy paper. They should set an agenda for aggressive leadership for our city, but instead they send their sports columnist, who looks like he just fell off a turnip truck, to New York to ask stupid questions.
When young people today, the people who are beginning to take charge of this city, in sports, the arts and in business, ask me what needs to be done to make Milwaukee great, my answer is really simple.
Shake The Milwaukee Complex and let your self-confidence shine through. We don't need other people to tell us how wonderful our team is. We know that ourselves.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
