Mill-A-Wah-Kay

My solo trek to Milwaukee went down Monday and Tuesday and it was awesome. Milwaukee is nothing like what any of you guys are picturing.. The Downtown area is amazing, the riverwalk is really smooth and kind of trendy, and GASP, the riverwalk accentuates the positive things going on in their city! Get this idea Buffalo, a cool, entertainment and shopping based area with tons of nice restaurants, anchor stores, breweries and historical and architectural landmarks all based around the strong point of the city...it's waterfront. What a crazy idea! Couldn't happen in a city like Buffalo though right, our winters are too cold. THIS IS A PLACE THAT BRAGS ABOUT BEING CALLED THE FROZEN TUNDRA!!! I think it could work in the B'lo.

Kristin texted me that Ralph needed his seatbelt on, so there's the proof. I went to lunch at this really nice Irish bar and had the most ridiculous Ruben sandwich ever. It was so good that I contemplated going back today before leaving town (but I devastated the hotel's breakfast instead). The bartender was also a 9 at the Irish bar, Elisha Cuthbertish, so that NEVER hurts. I had 2 Miller Lites, and I gotta report no ill effects with the beer and the meds, but it's not like I had a RoPo bender on the meds. Plus dude, I was in Milwaukee, I don't know that they let you leave town without at least having one Miller product. The 'tender said I just missed Mark Grace at the bar (he does TV work for the D'Backs). We could have gone slump-busting together.

Checked in at the hotel at around 3, showered, chilled for a little then went down to the park stupid early. You guys all need to get to Miller Park on a gameday. You don't even have to go to the game, the tailgating is incredible. It's as good as any NFL situation, maybe even better because baseball fans tend to be a little more respectful and intelligent then NFL fan. Plus, the weather permits better clothing selections for the female fans. There's seriously nothing better than a girl with the player jersey t-shirt on at a baseball game...as long as she doesn't LOOK like Prince Fielder.

As I said, I arrived stupid early, SO, I walked pretty much every inch of the stadium. This is my stadium money shot.

The woman in the ticket booth hooked me up. She got me a seat on the fence right next to the bullpen. It was very different to watch the game from there, but also to be able to see the clowning around guys do in the 'pen, plus, HOLY SHIT do they drink a ton of coffee out there.

Prince Fielder ended up hitting the go-ahead HR in the bottom of the 8th. I texted Kristin in between the top and bottom of the 8th and called it. Prince was amazing the whole game. The D'Backs loaded the bases in the 9th but failed to tie it and the Brew Crew ended up with a 4-3 win in what ended up being a good game. They also drew 30,000 fans on a Monday night. Milwaukee is an awesome baseball town, and the fans know their shit, just don't tell them you're a Cub fan.

As parks go, Miller Park is great, but it's lacking something. Maybe it's my dis-interest in the Brewers (though I do man-crush the Prince), but I think it's more that like you see in the other pic, the big mint green dome feels very sterile. I'll rank 'em real quick because I am bored:

#1-PNC Park, It's just the best

#2-Comerica Park. I'm biased.>

#3-PacBell in San Francisco

#4-Camden Yards

#5-Turner Field

#6-Miller Park

#7-Wrigley Field

#8-Coors Field

#9-Kaufmann Stadium -- SUPER Under-rated in KC

#10-Jacobs Field. Would be higher if I didn't hate Ohio so much

#11-Fenway

#12-Comiskey

#13-Yankee Stadium

#14-SkyDome

#15-The Coliseum in Oakland

#16-Tropicana Field