Hi, my name is Andy. I've been an insane, helpless, delusional and obsessed Brewers fan for 13 years.
Up until this week, I didn't think I had a problem. I now admit that I do.
While watching the Brewers come oh-so-close to a playoff birth this season, I've been unable lately to think of anything else but baseball. When it's not being played, I imagine the next game. During a game, I sit, transfixed, treating every inning like the bottom of the ninth in game seven of the World Series.
When the Brewers win, I feel elated and bubbly. When they lose, like they did last night, my bad mood radiates until the next pitch is thrown. I shouldn't kid about being addicted to the Brewers, but as I reread this, it sounds an awful lot like I'm talking about crack.
And I'm not alone. Everyone I talk to is swept up in this whirling dervish of mass Brew Crew hysteria. We're all furious at Ned Yost for getting "punked" by Tony LaRussa last night. We're way more angry than we should be for a team that's not even supposed to be really good until next year. I'm publicly calling for the head of the first manager to lead the Brewers to a winning season (God willing) in 15 years. What is wrong with me?
All week I've been complaining to anyone who will listen -- and anyone who won't -- that I'm not ready for the season to end. In previous years around this time, I was just waiting for the Crew to be put out of their misery so I can finally turn my attention to the Packers and start daydreaming about Spring Training.
But this fall, I've watched some stunning Milwaukee baseball. And the fact that it's almost a sure thing that they'll finish in second place is absolutely driving me nuts.
Maybe I am ready for this whirlwind season to be over. Frankly, I'm not sure I could handle the stress of October baseball. Maybe, just like the players, this season was a warm up for better things to come next year and beyond.
Or maybe not. Wishful thinking aside, I'm not making any promises that I'll be any less rabid in 2008. I've got Brewers Fever right now, and I'm not sure I'm looking for the cure.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
