{image1} It was supposed to be one of the highlights of our trip to the Brewers game on Wednesday night because you are always looking for a silver lining when going to see a team that lost more than 100 games last year.
But instead, the infamous sausage race at Miller Park will now forever be known for the sausage whacking" or sausage gate" incident that took place at the end of the sixth inning. The fans sitting next to us behind the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout were quick to label the villain, Pirates reserve first baseman Randall Simon, calling him the brat beater," the Italian dunker" and the wienie waster."
You know its hard to tell those sausages apart anyways. They all look, and sometimes taste, alike.
The incident has taken on many names (sausage beating, Italian mugging, wurst beating) and thrust Milwaukee into the national spotlight for the wrong reason. Thanks to the Simons antics, Milwaukee is now known nationally for its racing wienies and the one that got whacked. He might want to have someone else start his car for the next several weeks.
This is the most national attention the Brewers have gotten in years for anything that happened at Miller Park, except for the weird tie in last years All Star Game, but dont get me started on that.
I dont know about you, but the question running through my mind as I watched Simon hit the Italian sausage was, "what the heck are you thinking?" Or better yet, why arent you using the thing on top of your shoulders to figure out that nothing good can come from hitting a seven-foot Italian sausage in the head with a bat?
Quickly, Simon became the enemy of Brewers fans and sausage fans (you dont have to be one to be the other). In fact, one radio station was quick to hold a Simon pinata beating contest at an Oak Creek park and ride Thursday afternoon. The station said listeners got a chance to get some excess anger out on the Simon pinata because booing him just wouldnt cut it. No word yet on if they let their listeners spray the pinata with ketchup, mustard and relish.
The bottom line for me was it was a stupid, juvenile prank by an oversized kid trying to impress his teammates. But it went badly for him, very badly.
Look at how he reacted. Did he help her up? Did he apologize? Did he even look remorseful about possibly hurting the girl? No. Not until the next day when he was thrust into the media spotlight and realized he could face jail time, a substantial fine and national public humiliation for whacking a racing wienie in public.
After the infamous swing, he laughed it up with his teammates, even showing them how he swung and then told everyone he could (including the umpire when he went up to pinch hit a couple of batter later) about the great prank he had just pulled.
It was an embarrassing act of juvenile behavior that he should be held accountable for. He shouldn't be sent to jail, but he should pay a fine, be suspended for a game or two and have to apologize to the girl.
I think he should have to take a lap in the sausage costume and let all of the sausages led by the Italian, take a swing at him. Then maybe he will know how it feels to have one of your wienies whacked.
