BuckyBrewer61

Any particular category of questions? Milwaukee/Wisconsin based? Baseball? Very broadly all sports/teams? And how many do you need? How difficult? If you have some guidelines, I bet a few posters here could come up with a fair amount of questions to help you out.

Brewers Record: 70-92, offense produces but starting pitching continues to disappoint Playoffs: No Brewers MVP: Thames Brewers CY Young: Davies Brewers ROY: Hader First player traded: Unless someone somehow offers more than a sack of baseballs for Garza - someone in the bullpen. Feliz. Surprise player: Thames - .270+, .850-.900 OPS, 30 HR Disappointing player: Shaw (side note: Maybe others know this already, but Baseball-Reference has his nickname listed as "Mayor of Ding Dong City." Hopefully I'm wrong on this and we can use this frequently) World Series: Cubs over Indians, part II (barf)

And the re-departure of Jabari

Just unbelievable to me that guys can't lay off this when they know without a doubt that it will be tested, and can cost them games, potentially huge amounts of money or even a career. I like beer, but if you told me to lay off it for 15 years in order to make millions playing sports, I wouldn't touch the stuff. There are only two possible explanations - true drug addiction or utter stupidity. Either way it is very sad.

I also have no recollection of the 1982 team, and really don't care much about them. I do care about one of the best logos in sports, which we had and ditched for an ugly one, and now have just about as generic a logo as possible. This has nothing to do with nostalgia, and everything to do with a simply great logo.

This. Only upside is now the Cubs are no longer special. They are now just a big market team with lots of money and loud, annoying bandwagon fans. Also I now no longer have to hear people my age claim they are long suffering because they hadn't won a World Series in 100+ years. You don't get credit for suffering the years you did not exist.

Didn't miss anything...they can (and often already do) do that now - and keep the commercials too. It's an interesting idea, just don't get your hopes up about MLB removing a major source of revenue, even if the idea is to replace it with something else. People complain about length of games now, but what will they say when "that home run is brought to you by Cialis! Up, up, and away with Cialis!" I think you underestimate how much in-your-face advertising it would take to replace a HUGE source of MLB revenue in commercials.

There are a number of ways the game could be sped up...just don't expect that eliminating a source of revenue is one of them. MLB's goal is not simply to shorten games - the goal is to make watching games as appealing as possible so as to attract the largest audience, and thus increase ticket and advertising revenue. In the end, as much as we'd like to think differently, it's all about the money. If they could make more money by making games 12-hours long, they'd do it.

So when does this team start to Own the Present? For years we get to hear how good they are going to be, and based on what I've seen tonight it looks a lot like the same old mediocrity we've seen since for about 15 years... I keep trying to get into this team, but the combination of mediocrity and the style of NBA basketball makes it tough. Thank god for college ball.

I am generally against instant replay and automation, but this I can get behind. Yes, getting the calls right is great and I am all for, but not if it is at the expense of the rhythm, drama, and fun of the game. Instant replay in multiple sports is currently ruining that IMO. But if balls and strikes can be called instantaneously like this, and you still have an umpire there calling them out to preserve the tradition of the game, I'm totally for it. Also, in the first post, there's mention of the Cubs winning on a walk-off walk on a pitch that should've been a strike. I believe that was against the Brewers, wasn't it? I vaguely remember losing on a pitch that was right over the middle of the plate, not even a borderline strike. EDIT: Nevermind looks like it was a Cubs-Cardinals game this year. But I swear something like that happened at Wrigley to the Brewers like 5 years ago...

A hot dog at Miller Park costs $3.50, so not far off from what you consider reasonable. But let's do some math. Let's say it costs the Brewers $0.50 to sell a hot dog. If they sell it for $1.00, then they make $0.50 on every hot dog sold. If they sell it for $3.50, then they make $3.00 for every hot dog sold. So, by selling it at the current price, they stand to make six times more profit. So even if you and your brother got 10 hot dogs on dollar dog night, they'd actually make more money by selling you each just got one on any other night. Seeing as most people don't buy 10 hot dogs even on dollar dog night, I'm sure they make more money on hot dogs at regular prices...which is why they are the regular prices. As has been stated there are people better at business than us that are analyzing every penny that goes in and out of the park, and the prices are set to make the most money.

Playoff baseball is awesome

Completely understand this sentiment, but as far as I'm concerned if you're not the best team in your division/conference/league, on principal I'd say you shouldn't even get a chance at winning a championship. At the same time, I have no problem giving that team a chance (i.e. wild cards) because in the end sports aren't about who is best. It's about setting a competition, then letting the teams go out and compete for the title. Often times, the best team doesn't win, and that's one of the great things about sports.

On principal I'm not a fan of a one-game series in the playoffs...but it sure is entertaining. And no one has even gotten a hit yet.

I enjoyed watching some of the guys develop like Broxton, Arcia, Perez and Villar, am glad Braun and Carter had relatively good years, liked seeing Guerra and Davies pitch well, and am hopeful for the future. But man, I'm tired of looking for moral victories and hope for the future. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that we are rebuilding and with the progress thus far and don't expect or want them to stray from the plan. But I really miss meaningful baseball, miss feeling like a tight game matters more than just "well that was a nice game" or being pleased with a good month from this group or decent half a year from that guy. I went to around 15 games this year and they were nice, but I for one miss the excitement of a game that matters. Hopefully we get back to competing soon, those years have been sadly few and far between.

As much, if not more than anything, an organization like the Brewers needs to be able to develop young players. Particularly in the pitching department, I don't think it's hyperbole to say through it's nearly 50 year history this organization has been nothing short of pathetic in doing so. Hard to be optimistic that will change with news like this.

This so much. Replay has the potential to be great...if the time limits were adhered to and "indisputable video evidence" actually meant anything. If the point of replay is "get every call right," then every single play should be reviewed...but that obviously would be an incredible waste of time and ruin the game experience. And right now, we are currently wasting time and ruining the experience. I no longer get excited on close plays, I sit down and wait for the actual call to come 5 minutes later. Replay should be quick and reverse clear mistakes. If a call wasn't clearly wrong after 60 seconds, even if it looks like it is probably wrong but you can't say for sure, then the call stands and move on. This would also decrease the rate of overturned calls and, in turn, the number of reviews being done.

This is true, but I would think that high SB total and leading the league in SB carries more weight than his caught stealing percentage. That said, I certainly don't know. I'd be curious as to how that actually factors into contracts, particularly in arbitration hearings.

Agree to disagree. Maybe I'm not qualified to comment because I'm not a baseball manager. To me, there's a reason you can project the standings fairly accurately before the season even starts based purely on player stat projections. Not saying there aren't a number of decisions to be made by a manager that matter, just that they are much less influential than having good pitchers and hitters in the lineup. If Craig was the greatest manager in history, the Brewers would still be bad this year.

Let's also be honest here. Playing team baseball at this point, where an extra run or extra win for this year's Brewers means absolutely nothing. Zero. But winning a SB title will influence Villar's future arbitration hearings, contract negotiations, etc. This isn't little league, this is his career. If you could do something at your job that was considered risky, but would have zero negative effect on your company while potentially netting you a raise, would you do it? Don't mean to say players should be purely selfish, but I don't blame Villar one bit if he is just trying to accumulate stats. If we were in a pennant race I'd feel different, but at this point stats = $$. Wins = nothing.

This. I get frustrated with bad baserunning as much as the next guy and yes some of his gaffes are just dumb, but you take the good with the bad when the net result is a positive. See: Carlos Gomez. To me, Villar is the baserunning equivalent of Adam Dunn or Russell Branyan. Hopefully he can learn more discipline and you certainly work towards that, but until then you don't tell him not to swing for the fences or choke up with 2 strikes because you're worried about strikeouts.

Baseball manager, while easiest to scrutinize, I believe is also a position that has relatively little impact on wins and losses compared to other sports. Calling football plays against a blitz, or blitzing against the right play, substituting a lineup that creates mismatches against the opponent in basketball or playing a pace to your advantage, etc I feel has more impact on the outcome of a game. In baseball, you set a lineup and let the guys play. There are certainly differences in strategy, but the influence of calling a hit-and-run, giving a guy a green light to steal, calling the infield in, etc pales in comparison to simply having guys that can hit and pitch in the lineup in the first place. We love to scrutinize every little thing, but really over the course of a year a great manager is probably worth a couple wins. Not to say that's a reason to give the manager a free pass by any stretch, but after the lineup is set the game is more on the shoulders of the players than in any other sport IMO. I think Craig has done a pretty good job putting a mediocre-to-bad roster of players in position to succeed, for the most part.

Counsell isn't going anywhere, he will be around at least until the first wave of prospects gets to the MLB and he has a chance to manage a team that's actually expected to compete in some capacity. I know Stearns didn't hire him, but he is the Brewers' guy, no questions. I think baseball manager is the toughest coaching/managing position in sports from a fan scrutiny perspective. Yes I would like to see Villar reigned in on the base paths and Broxton play every day. But in general, I think Craig has been the best manager the Brewers have had in some time, maybe since old Scrap Iron? I think he puts together a good lineup, doesn't pigeon-hole his players/positions like RRR and many managers do, and IMO the players seem to play hard for him. I'd take him over Roenicke, Macha, Yost (I know he won a WS but I loathed him when he was in MKE), and the other recent jokers that came before them. Not only has he been good with a bad roster, but he is a local boy and beloved by fans, so he is the perfect face of the rebuild. Things will be different once we get back to competing, but I for one am optimistic.

I thought this trade deadline was going to be a bit emotional with Lucroy going, and I was right...but not because of Lucroy. Loved him as a Brewer, but it's been tougher to see JJ go. A passionate player who was fun to watch and always easy to root for, and the more I read about his sincere love for Milwaukee and our team, the easier it gets. Will be rooting for him hard in Texas and hope he makes his way back to us someday, somehow.

I'd second some more of Baldkin's comments in that case. For shuttles, O'Lydia's would be a bit of a walk from the Hilton but definitely doable, and you can stop in the Third Ward on your walk to and from if you desire. Steny's is a popular Milwaukee sports bar that's another 5-10 minute walk south - may be a bit of a rowdier crowd but will definitely be plenty of Brewers fans before and after the game. If you're grabbing a beer before you go, make sure to get your last one in a plastic cup and they'll let you take it on the shuttle with you. I'd also definitely recommend, once you get to the game, to take a walk around the parking lot - as you may know tailgating is a Brewer tradition and the lot will be full of people drinking, grilling, playing games, etc. If for no other reason to take in the scene, but I'm sure if you walked up to a group and told them you came all the way from England for the Brewers you'd have a cold beer and brat in hand and a group of new friends in no time. For both food and pub scene, the Third Ward is a good area that's not too rowdy, and a beer on the river at the Ale House sounds like a good call - they locally brew their own beer and it's good stuff. Benelux also has a huge beer list and nice upstairs patio for good American food, same for Wicked Hop (minus the rooftop patio), and as mentioned Smoke Shack has very good BBQ. Rustico is actually closed now. If you have time during the day there are tons of food options of different varieties mixed in with a little local flair at the Milwaukee Public Market. For other Third Ward bars, Swinging Door is real close to the Hilton and a nice laid back kind of bar, Irish Pub is usually packed - for better or worse, Bugsy's is a speakeasy themed bar that is kind of interesting, Rumpus Room is in the opposite direction from the Third Ward but definitely walkable from your hotel, and Ale House as mentioned. Let us know if you have more questions, I know I always love talking about Milwaukee!