Ah, Opening Day. Here are four quick observations for you, my loyal Brewer brethren.
- Brewers' jerseys are everywhere. It wasn't long ago that you had to pay someone to wear a Brewers jersey. Today, it seemed the blue and gold were everywhere. T-shirts, hats, jackets, sweatshirts, tank tops (yes, tank tops) and more. It was great to see everyone from businessmen and women to drunken college kids sporting the authentic team apparel. For the record, the lines were super long at Fan Zone too.
- Beer bongs in the concourse? This was a first for me, I'll admit. While beer bongs are somewhat typical in the sea of asphalt that is Opening Day's tailing bonanza, I had never seen one used in the middle of a Miller Park concourse. Until today. God bless Milwaukee!
- "Day-O?" With all due respect to Harry Belafonte, "Day-O, the super annoying Banana Boat Song" isn't meant for modern day sports. The Bucks, sadly, also use it at their games. To be fair, I've heard it at other sports venues in America too. Frankly, I don't understand it. Sure, it "makes" the crowd react and generates noise, but seriously how un-cool is it!? Get rid of it, now! And, while I'm at it it's also time - before the Brewers Djs even go there -- to ban "YMCA," " Mony, Mony," "Crazy Train," "Cotton Eye Joe," and "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)." Sure there are more too, but that's enough negativity for now.
- Canal Street rocks! I was involved, as a consultant, during the "stadium debate" in the 1990s. At the time, I couldn't fathom why the City and the Brewers could not agree on a logical Downtown stadium site. While I wasn't completely sold that our Downtown needed a stadium (they hd helped revitalize many Downtowns, at least for a few years), I did think there was a greater good mentality needed and really just wanted any ball park to get built, anywhere. Turns out that Milwaukee's Downtown has grown and succeed without a ball park and with a soccer stadium hopefully coming soon (new or expanded Bradley Center too, cross your fingers) and endless retail and residential growth, baseball that's only a 5 minute drive from Downtown is fine with me. This is where Canal Street comes in (read more here). What a wonderful drive it is from Downtown! Easy in and easy out. Pretty along the way, too. Once the Harley Museum is done, Canal will connect it to the casino and Miller Park. Ignore the freeway, take Canal to your next Brewers game. And remember, please drive home safely!
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
