hawing

I imagine that's the decision of the Brewers Radio Network, and isn't that corporately WTMJ/Journal Sentinel? Because Braunwashing the radio intro would certainly be consistent with the JS' editorial stance.

Sweet! Is the red balloon on that creature's torso supposed to be a heart?

The Brewers have been running a "Tail-Gate" pet photo contest this season, where at some games they show a photo of two pets and the crowd votes with applause for their favorite. My brother's dog (my dog nephew?) made the videoboard last night (Tuesday 7/24), beat out the other dog in the applause contest and we think that makes him a finalist for July, with a $150 team store gift card at stake. If you are attending the Wed 7/24 or Thur 7/25 games, and Cooper is shown again, please consider cheering for him, and please let me know whether he appears. He's a big, friendly, goofy 1-year-old Goldendoodle (and duh, his name is Cooper, what's not to love about that?). He and his family would make good and enthusiastic use of a gift card. Thanks for considering it! The photo to watch for is in my tweet below: https://twitter.com/hemming_hawing/status/360075733755891712/photo/1/large Finally, if one of you is the owner of Dixie, the little dog who did not advance Tuesday night...sorry.

Oh, and now everyone who entered the Kwik Trip contest to win lunch with Ryan Braun is out of luck! [sarcasm]The unkindest cut of all.[/sarcasm] Link

I did find it kind of ironic that the WTMJ pregame intro was Uke calling a Braun HR... I noticed the same last night. It made me wonder how soon that'll be edited out. Along that line, I will be watching to see what (if any) changes the Brewers make to their stadium signage, highlight clips, etc. They'd remove all traces for a guy who was traded, but Ryan's not totally *gone* from the franchise. They probably wouldn't remove all traces for someone who is out for the season due to injury. Maybe they could conclude that RYAN BRAUN'S MORALS/VALUE SYSTEM ARE INJURED. (I didn't say that to be incendiary; it's just my reaction to the tidal wave of anger/hatred/general ill will washing over Ryan, and by association the Brewers' organization and fan base.)

I don't know where to start putting my thoughts down, but I'm going to anyway. It probably won't be organized. Since the news of the failed test broke in the 2011-2012 season, I've been hoping it wasn't true and trying to prepare myself for it being true. Yet tonight I don't feel like I prepared myself at all well for the allegations being true. I don't think I posted it here, but when people asked me what I thought of the whole situation, I had the same general response: Either Ryan's a remarkable player or a remarkable liar, and we don't have enough information yet to know which. I didn't want to insist on innocence or condemn without proof. I remember thinking late in 2011, "well, dude was banged up and taking something to heal faster would be plausible in that scenario." The (apparent) using is disappointing. To me, the repeated insistence that he was clean from fall 2011 to today is more disappointing. Initial shock aside, I think I'd have been less irritated overall had he just fessed up at the outset. As a Brewers fan, I felt somewhat "on trial" in the court of public opinion when the failed test news broke, and tonight I do again. I'm uneasily counting the hours until my STL fan friend (who is a solid friend in all facets of life except baseball) gets going on Facebook - as if I have anything to do with the damn case. It feels like a black mark on all of us, in a way. Like a recent poster above, I wonder what kind of a hit clubhouse chemistry will take from this. (I say this not yet having seen the clubhouse reaction after Monday's game.) I wonder what kind of a hit the fanbase will take from this. Look at how Brett Favre's actions polarized the Packers' fanbase - and that is a bigger and stronger fanbase than the Brewers'. I think of the Brewers employees I've gotten to know over the years. Marketing will be harder now. Ticket sales will be harder now. If attendance declines enough, it'll hurt our guest relations and usher friends. Between Brewerfan and Twitter and just being at a ton of games, I've seen how much work all these people put into making the organization a success, and I'd hate to see them take too many steps backward. Of course, the Brewers' fortunes are always driven by on-field performance and a zillion unpredictable factors. But Ryan's issue was 100% preventable. I don't have a Braun jersey to burn or trade in or anything. Actually, the only Braun gear I have is a Birrai shirt I got at TJ Maxx for $9.99, and that was just because the S.O. is part Italian and I wanted to honor that with the Birrai name. But I'm still disappointed, and I hope the ripple effect is less than I fear.

Not much beyond 'reporting the facts.' But I'm following by radio on purpose tonight in case anyone expounds.

Use the blue text!

Like the series in Miami, this was a nice Florida holiday. Thank goodness Caleb had that hit, as I was frankly unsure how the Brewers would ever drive in a run other than with one swing.

For those not watching live, Giancarlo Stanton helped a Lucroy drive over the picnic area wall for a 3rd inning home run. Hilarity ensued. I'm sure one of you handy internetters will get a GIF up once it's available.

Hm. There is some precipitation to the west, but it just doesn't look that close to MP. Some weather people I follow on Twitter were all, if you'll pardon the pun, a-twitter about a couple of games in the last homestand when the Brewers closed the roof for little/no precipitation. It made them (the weather people) wonder what source the Brewers use for their weather information, and I looked into it a bit and got a contact name. I just haven't emailed him yet, but maybe now I will.

D'oh, I don't know if pretendastronaut didn't realize this was an earlier start or what. Better late than later? The Miami Marlins (wearing 1956 Miami Marlin throwback unis) SS Adeiny Hechavarria 3B Ed Lucas RF Giancarlo Stanton 1B Logan Morrison CF Marcell Ozuna 2B Derek Dietrich LF Justin Ruggiano C Jeff Mathis P Nathan Eovaldi Your Milwaukee Brewers (sporting the black and white Bears throwbacks) RF Norichika Aoki SS Jean Segura LF Ryan Braun C Jonathan Lucroy CF Carlos Gomez 1B Juan Francisco 2B Rickie Weeks 3B Jeff Bianchi P Yovani Gallardo

They totally set him up for failure on that Prince hit by placing him in RF. I haven't decided how blue I want to make that sentence. And I sort of get the Rivera worship, but I don't share in it. I don't wish him any specific harm, but OK, dude's retiring, I get it.

We happened to turn on Sunday's Futures game just in time to see most of Jimmy's 7th inning, which was nice. That got me to wondering out loud who played in the 2002 Futures game - the one in Milwaukee which the SO and I (and no doubt some of you) attended. We had no memory of any of the participants, but here's the roster. Have a look.

One of my student employees recently left for a "real" (post college) job. I'm now realizing how minutiae-based email communication skills were not that person's forte. Fortunately, the new job should include plenty of face to face communication, at which this person is quite good. I'm going to have to remember this for future hires, though, because my office does a LOT of emailing, and most of the correspondence is minutiae-based.

Bryce Harper's brother's mustache was kinda creepy-looking.

Well, except that Monday begins the all-star break. Nice birthday present the Brewers collectively provided for Tom Gorzelanny.

Geez, maybe in slow motion did the Gomez reaction take "quite a while." Has anyone complained yet about his kneeling and crossing himself? [sarcasm]How disgraceful![/sarcasm]

I'm closer to 50 than 40 (gulp, first time I've written that out), and I do some tweeting, texting, and fact checking at ballgames. Some games I score instead (with a scorebook). My phone isn't robust enough to keep up with the Tapatalk updates, otherwise I might cruise Brewerfan as well. I will look at email if new messages arrive while I have the phone out, but I am absolutely tuned in to the game. Last season a woman sitting in front of us was scoring the game on an iPad. I almost wanted an iPad right that minute. She had a pretty sweet setup. But on to what's bugging me: One of our cats is recovering from a urinary blockage that presented on July 4 (on a holiday. Of course). He will be OK, but he has to wear a fabric cone collar for two weeks, which is making him mad, scaring our other cat and making the SO and me grumpy.

It looks like quite a few of the responders above already follow me, but I'm @hemming_hawing. Awesomeness not guaranteed.

John Buck trotted out just as the sausages were approaching. He had to juke around a bit to avoid a collision, especially with Chorizo. His comments later (mlb.com link) suggest that his interference was unintentional. Once he'd settled in behind the plate, I noticed him give kind of a fist pump with his right arm. It could have been for any of a zillion reasons, but it was enough to make me wonder for a moment whether it was intentional.

I suspect for an increasing number of media outlets, professional language use costs too much.

This is the third day I've entered the same 1-8 lineup for the Nationals. I'm kind of envious of their relative stability.

"Left hamstring tightness." Hopefully this isn't something that lingers. Since up/downgraded to a left hamstring sprain. Yet THIS is the game the Brewers win. Can't predict ball.

Two people who worked for me when they were in college and now live in the DC area are going to this game tonight (not even together!). I sent them an advance apology for the lineup. Maybe that'll reverse-psych the Brewers to respectability.