A friend of mine used to say, after listening to my rants and raves and daily attitude adjustments when the Brewers or Bucks won or lost, "and, that affects my life how?" I understood his point, of course. Whether the home team wins or loses truly doesn't affect our lives. In reality and sadly, wins and losses sometimes don't even affect the moods of many professional players. They get paid, win or lose. But, this Brewers team does seem to want to win. Doesn't it?
The Brewers do affect my life. They are advertisers on OnMilwaukee.com, we cover the team and I spend a ton of money at the ballpark. Plus, Brewers games are about the only live television I watch these days (just not as good on TIVO). I'm invested; heavily -- not too mention we all help pay for Miller Park.
But this pennant race -- it's driving me crazy. Crazy good, but crazy, nonetheless.
Last night's 10th inning loss was tough, very tough. I had my laptop monitoring the Cubs and, like everyone, knew that a win was needed. When it didn't happen, I yelled a bit and then the remote suffered a violent throw into the side of the couch.
But, did the loss affect my life?
Yes. Think about it. Sports are about the only thing that bring communities together. You can argue all day about the financial impact a team has on a city, but wins, championships and even losses help Milwaukeeans bond and come together for a common cause. Need an example. Look what the Saints did in New Orleans.
I want the Brewers to win this thing. Badly. If they don't, I'll survive and so will you.
But, when they DO take the pennant we'll celebrate together and help our city unite.
In the meantime, though, I just might go crazy. Go Brewers!
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.
