This weekend, as is often the case, Miller Park will be full of "enemy" fans when the Brewers play host to the NL Central Division rival Chicago Cubs.
Cubs fans are notorious for outnumbering, out-cheering and even (gasp) out-drinking their Brewers counterparts when the two teams meet here in Milwaukee.
While a good number of those fans are making the trek north across the state line, just as many Cubs fans call Milwaukee home. These people bleed blue and red, drink Old Style and "wait 'til next year," year-round, despite living right smack dab in the middle of Brewers country.
One would think it easy to locate an establishment that would openly welcome these creatures -- much like many bars cater to Bears fans during football season -- but it seems such places keep their loyalty (or sympathizer status) under wraps.
During football season, Bears fans often congregate at Champps Americana, 1240 S. Moorland Rd., in Brookfield. When the Bears and Packers play at the same time on Sundays, Chicago games are shown in a special area reserved for Bears fans.
Baseball season brings lots of Cubs fans to the adjoining hotel and business at Champps is good, but the restaurant doesn't go out of their way to do anything special, the manager says, "other than hope they lose."
The closest place to a "Cubs Haven" our investigation found was, surprisingly, Comet Cafe, 1947 N. Farwell Ave., where co-owners Adam and Val Lucks are big-time and die hard Cubs fans.
The siblings don't spend as much time on-site anymore, general manager Andy Menchal explains, but their North Side loyalty has a lot to do with Comet's Old Style sales.
"It's our 'cheap beer,'" says Menchal, making sure to emphasize that he is a loyal and vocal Brewers fan. "We go through a lot of it and sell more Old Style than anyone else in Southeast Wisconsin."
Cubs and Brewers fans alike -- or just beer drinkers, for that matter -- can sip a cold, krausened Old Style for just $2 any time and for just $1 during Happy Hour. Comet used to sell it for $1 during Cubs games, but that practice, Menchal says, has gone by the wayside.
Not long after Comet transformed from a coffee shop into a bar and restaurant, the owners purchased the baseball packages and featured a lot of Cubs games. As business shifted more to the restaurant side of things, the baseball package went away.
"They did it, basically, so they could have Cubs games on," Menchal says. "We still have a decent contingent that comes in to watch games. Not a ton, but a decent amount."
The 2008 season, during which both teams went to the playoffs, was the high-water mark for in-house tensions between the Cubs and Brewers fans on the staff.
"Smack-talk was at an all-time high," Menchal says. "Our staff was divided evenly between Cubs and Brewers fans. It got pretty heated."
Things have tamed down over the last few years and though the $1 Old Style specials and Extra Innings packages are no longer available at Comet, Menchal still welcomes Chicago fans.
"We're still very Cub-friendly," Menchal says.
