The rivalry continues

Never mind another frustrating day at the office. My mood was lifted the moment I set foot in my car tonight and started driving home ...

Kates and I were heading to the Brewers-Cubs game.

This one was about two months in the making since Kates came home in early April with the news that her school staff was planning an outing to the game. We wasted no time buying our tickets and tonight was the night ...

When the Cubs and Brewers get together at Miller Park, it's always raucous. The Cubs fans come up to Milwaukee in droves -- Wrigley Field North, they call it -- and the Brewers are almost guaranteed a sellout every time Chicago comes to town. The fans for both teams get into it. It's like the Red Sox-Yankees -- although a tad friendler. Take the Brewers strong start and the Cubs high-powered offense, this week's series could not have been more intriguing ...

For once Kates and I were on schedule tonight. Both of us got out of work in plenty of time and we were leaving for the stadium a little after 5. We dodged the rush hour traffic on the I, made a short pit stop at Cousin's Subs (where we decided that yes, even expensive ballpark food is more appetizing than a Cousin's sandwich), stayed patient in a slow-moving parking line and were walking to our seats shortly after 6. Plenty of time to chow our pizza slices and take in the last minutes of the Cubs batting practice. Soon enough her "schoolmates" started filtering in and good conversation would be paired with great baseball ...

On this night, to Kates' and her colleagues' amazement, I had decided to leave my Cubs allegiance at home and wear my Brewers gear. I had to side with the home team, I told 'em. Besides, dare I say it, I'm finding my heart more with the Brewers this year. And it's telling me this really could be their year ...

The Brew Crew proved me right, tonight at least. Add to that, we got our money's worth ...

Alfonso Soriano led off the game with a double, but that was all the Cubs would get for awhile. In the meantime, the Cubs scored in each of the first three innings, thanks to solo homeruns by Tony Graffanino and Corey Hart in the second, and then doubles by Prince Fielder and Kevin Mench in the third. Then the Brewers added another one in the fifth and went up 6-1 on a homerun by recent addition Ryan Braun ...

Still, at one point in the middle of all of this, Kates actually muttered: This game is boring. I looked at her, laughed and noted the scoreboard. In her defense, the first five innings were moving pretty slowly, offense or not.

Then the Cubs started coming back! ... In the sixth, Cliff Floyd launched a homerun and Michael Barrett scored after he singled and Ryan Theriot put up a double.

In the eighth inning, it only got better. The Brewers tried to get by with Derrick Turnbow, but he failed them again -- with Aramis Ramirez already on, Turnbow walked Barrett, and both of those guys scored on singles by Theriot and Mark DeRosa. The crowd was roaring -- Chicago fans for the Cubs to keep scoring runs; Milwaukee fans for the Brewers to shut the door.

... I had joined the thousands of fans who were on their feet, and yeah, I might have given a slight impression that I was suddenly cheering for the Cubs. "Hey, who are you cheering for!?" Kates sneered ... "Hey, I'm just cheering for good baseball!" I said. My typical answer in such a situation ...

Alas, the Brewers did shut the door. Ned Yost brought in closer Francisco Cordero to face Soriano with two outs and two on in the eighth and Soriano struck out on four pitches ... In the ninth, Ramirez singled with two outs, but that was it. Brewers win 7-5.

And we went home happy.

A couple other notes: Sitting a few rows in front of us were a quartet of fraternizing Cubs fans, three beer-bellied guys and their hot female sidekick, actually. Throughout the game, no matter what the Cubs were doing, the three boys were repeatedly compelled to take off their shirts, stand on their seats and swing their shirts over their heads in mocking the Brewers fans behind them. But these guys were acting so drunk and retarded, even the Cubs fans sitting around us were rolling their eyes ... By the eigth, the foursome had moved to some vacant seats at the front of the section. And not only after that we noticed a cup of beer go flying over the railing and the foursome standing over the railing yelling at the victims below. A couple minutes later, security was escorting the foursome out of the stadium to everyone's cheers ...

... On a lighter note, also sitting a few rows in front of us was an elderly woman who was wearing a large bucket cap that looked almost like a sombrero and was laced with Brewers garb. The hat was royal blue and dotted with white baseballs that said "Go Brewers." Hanging from the brim of the hat like keychains were a series of small baseballs and bats. Throughout the game, I caught several people sneeking down the aisle with cameras and cell phones to snap pictures of the illustrious hat, but the woman never flinched and watched the game intently all night long.