FIPS133

Monty, excellent post. You are absolutely correct on the marketing aspect of the Brewers. They have taken a moribund franchise and turned it into an admired entity that even tertiary fans spend their money on games and gear. This is all without having ever won a championship. Take for example the recent Braun issue, a decade ago I believe the majority of the Brewer following public would have immediately assumed the worst in this situation and been thinking same old Brewers. The fans have been suprisingly tame on Braun, almost to the extent of deference given to the Packers in Wisconsin. I don't believe the front office & marketing team lead by Rick Schlesinger and Tyler Barnes have been given enough credit in this regard. They have created an aura of institutional competence that trumps individual players which equates to loyalty to the brand of the Brewers. It similar to the Packers in how the team separated from one its greatest players (Favre) and still managed to thrive (even with a short term split in the fanbase). We on this site rightly focus on the on field product, but the success of the branding with the Brewers gives me much comfort in the long term financial competitiveness of this team.

Boras' comments on the Brewers and Prince are interesting. I believe Boras calculated that AT LEAST the Brewers would make an offer to Prince and have it in his back pocket to use as leverage with other teams. This is a combination of shrewdness and necessity on the Brewers part. Unlike the CC sweepstakes the Brewers don't need the false PR and to be used to drive up the contract price because most fans counted Prince as gone at the end of the season and we're coming off an NLCS appearance. I don't believe the Brewers will make an offer to Prince unless they believe they have a real shot and it is right around what they offered 2 years ago. Obviously I believe because of the skill of both Boras and Prince another team will make a great offer for Prince, but the Brewers not participating is throwing a small wrench in the Boras strategy, nice to see.

Anybody shocked by this? I certainly am not...if he doesn't get this it provides all we need to know about his committment to the Brewers. Is it an move upwards, you bet, but the end of the line with Uke is certainly in the offing, why not wait it out or wait for the next Cubs opening? http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/133030398.html

I've been wondering for a while regarding Fielder if the Marlins might be interested. Aren't the Marlins moving into their new ballpark next year? Prince has his permanent home down there. I know this goes against the Marlins cheap ways but you'd think moving into a new publicly funded facility they might be interested in making a splash? I don't follow this stuff too closely, but thought this might be something to consider.

Great beginning to the article talking about Nyjer introducing himself to the team after the late acquisition... "The other Brewers had introduced themselves early in camp, revealing little more than their names, hometowns and previous career stops. Morgan planned to be equally cautious, the respectful and deferential newcomer. But as he fidgeted, he thought about what the team's cornerstones, outfielder Ryan Braun and first baseman Prince Fielder, had told him when he walked through the door: "We want you to be yourself." Morgan could be genuine or he could be polite, but he could not be both. He sweated some more. Finally, he flexed his arms in front of his chest, scrunched his face into an exaggerated scowl, and shouted the first words that came to mind: "What's up f------!" Some of his new teammates sat in confused silence. Others laughed awkwardly. They weren't sure whether to hug or pummel him. "Everybody kind of looked at each other," says John Axford. "It was like, 'Who is this?'" Even if the Tony Plush stuff is getting a little tired, you have to love a character like this that is actually contributing to the success of the team.

How many games until Houston is officially eliminated from playoff contention?

I agree. Growing up in the John McCullough era he was and continues to be my paragon of television journalism. Perhaps it was my perspective as a child and young adult but McCullough made the Milwaukee of that time seem larger and more significant. Frankly the transition from McCullough to Gousha spoiled and insulated our market from the dramatic changes to television journalism that were occurring throughout the nations newsrooms. Gousha also allowed John McCullough to slip easily into private life without the constant pull from the viewing public asking for his return although it would have been welcome. By the time Mike Gousha left TMJ4 - because he could no longer stomach the direction of the newscast - John McCullough was long retired but not forgotten. I say thank you John McCullough for the standards you set and the impact you had on my developing critical thinking skills.

I've been a DISH subscriber for 2 years after moving to an area that does not offer cable service. I previously subscribed to Time Warner. If you're a Bucks/Brewers fan that enjoys watching games in HD I would not recommend going with DISH. Unlike Time Warner and DirectTV Dish does not carry Fox Sports Wisconsin as a Regional Sports Network (RSN) it carries Fox Sports North as the local RSN. So any locally produced Fox Sports Wisconsin programming is not carried and there is no set channel designation for Brewers/Bucks telecasts - it floats in a certain range of channels. All this is OK but the frequent and inconsistent carrying of the HD feed for the Brewers/Bucks games is frustrating. Certain games are carried in HD others aren't without any rationale and absolutely no interest on the customer support end in caring about it. Again, I would not recommend DISH because of this if you are a big Brewers/Bucks fan. Outside these factors and DISH does not and will not carry MLB Network anytime in the future I really like the price point, picture quality, channel offerings and DVR. Personally I'm moving soon and switching back to Time Warner.

Wow, if this comes to pass our rotation looks great. Who now wants to take a chance on keeping Prince around through the All Star break to see if we can contend?

I'm not sure Witrado doesn't like the Brewers as much as he's trying to play the "role" of a salty beat writer like Haudricourt. Unfortunately he's substituting baseless salacious opinions for experienced rational analysis.

Caught a lot of the ceremony on line and it was outstanding. If you can find the time and ability to watch this I would recommend it. Just seeing the parade of former Brewers was really cool. Uecker was awesome, even though we know a lot of his stock lines he's still halarious.

Guys, here's my quick opinion on Macha and the organization - I believe we are in the last days of the current baseball management team. I believe Attanasio started this process with the termination of Yost in 2008. Since that point I believe Melvin and company are on an increasingly short leash. With a two year deal, Macha was basically put on notice from the get go. The whole "feel" of the operation right now is uncomfortable. I believe Attanasio is close to the point of blowing up the major league operations side of things. Attanasio's comments about the salary structure earlier this year lead me to believe he is coming to grips with the fact that increasing the payroll is really not an option going forward unless he wants to "invest" in daily operations. That isn't going to happen. He truly wants to win a championship and to do so is going to require shrewd innovative management. Doug Melvin is a gentleman and solid baseball man. He has presided over the Brewers and brought them to the point of being competitive and if everything breaks the right way we have a small shot at the playoffs. However I do not see a championship strategy from Melvin that would work for our franchise. The talent in the minors is OK, but not something I can point to right now and say that in 3-4 years we're going to have an amazing crop of talent. Folks this is not the strategy for this team to win a championship and Macha just doesn't strike me as a key piece to retooling or winning a championship. He's gone, Melvin's gone and Attanasio truly puts his mark on the franchise.

I'm actually encouraged Attanasio is speaking to this topic. He's obviously a very intelligent businessman and he realizes the MLB payroll system makes it difficult for his team to field a consistent championship caliber product. The only solution is to change the rules. I'm sure he has ideas on the changes he'd like to see but will probably keep those amongst the owners as to not tip his hand to the union. I really think this is good news, he's not defeatist, rather realistic about the challenges of the current system and the need to fix them to be able to field a champion. I wonder how many other owners are with him on this.

Just went to Disneyworld with a 5 year old at the beginning of March. First time for our family. We stayed at the Baylake Tower Villas which was great as it was about a ten minute walk from the gates of the Magic Kingdom and next door to the Contemporary Resort with a Monorail stop making transportation especially easy throughout the grounds. I would recommend trying to stay at this location if a deal presents itself. The location is outstanding and for a younger child the Magic Kingdom is likely to be the park you'll spend the most time. Being able to walk back and forth eliminates the lost time in waiting for transportation and gives you a ton of flexibility. Plus staying at the Villas gives you a few more in room amenities such as kitchenette to full kitchen with separate bedrooms. We got a great deal on a package that included the room, admission (w/park hopper) and a meal plan for what you'd pay for a level between a value and moderate resort. Disney has a number of promotions and following advice from www.allears.net I signed up for virtually every possible way Disney could contact me with deals. As a result of this I took a package that would have been about $4,500 (off peak) and paid $2,100. Finally I would echo what people said about visiting during late February/early March. We rarely had to wait in line for any attractions and when you add in Extra Magic Hours during this period it's almost like you own the park because things are so accessible. All the previous advice is very good. Since this is something you're not planning on doing frequently I would say you should try to stay on the grounds to maximize the time you have at all the parks. Let us know how it progresses.

Fear the deer, from what I understand, just made its debut on Sportscenter on Saturday night. It's gaining traction, but there are the too cool for school detractors as well. Me, I think it's awesome. Spread the word!