Despite my general ambivalence towards the Brewers organization as a whole, I still have to acknowledge that the existence of baseball in Milwaukee is pretty much a big part of the existence of today's Atlanta Braves. Much of the Braves' lineage stems from Milwaukee, especially being notable for being essentially the birthplace of the legendary career of Hank Aaron, where he proceeded to club 398 of his record* 755 home runs, before the franchise moved to Atlanta. Even with such knowledge considered, I just didn't really care much about Milwaukee, or the Brewers.

* Yep, you know what this means.

Part of my ambivalence, leaning towards negative, I suppose stems from the fact that it's pretty well known that the Brewers are incompetent MLB commissioner, Bud Selig's pet franchise, and regardless of what is said to the public, is given a preferential treatment, in non-outcome-altering factors. When it was decided that the AL would ship a team to the NL, it was the Brewers. Miller Park is a fancy, modern marvel of a park that has a retractable roof that can open or close within a swift ten minutes, so that baseball can never be affected by the weather. When the Cubs and Astros had a game canceled due to Hurricane Ike, the "neutral" park chosen to play the make-up game was played in "neutral" Milwaukee (which is 80 minutes from Chicago (The Cubs also no-hit the Astros that day)). And so on, and so on.

Regardless, while on my Chicago trip, there was ample time to make the small drive up to Milwaukee, and catch a Brewers game and see Miller Park for myself.

Upon arrival, one of the most impressive traditions of the park is the tailgating culture outside the park. Now obviously living in Atlanta, I've seen my share of tailgates from the massive college football culture of the SEC-crazy Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida fans, but they really have nothing on the Midwestern style of tailgating that amps itself up for a baseball game, which I'm implying is the fact that baseball games are on a fairly daily basis, instead of a predictable weekly Saturday schedule. The grills were out, folding chairs, beers, and smoke and burning meat smell permeated throughout all parts of the parking lot for a Sunday day game against the Washington Nationals.

The park itself is certainly an architectural marvel, and especially in the city of Milwaukee, which is kind of dated, and a city built on blue-collar and a lot of factories and warehouses, tends to stand out. But from the outside, I can't really say that it much resembles a baseball park, since the way the roof is, tends to make it always look like a dome first, even when it's open. And to me, domes are not the way baseball is meant to be played in.

Inside Miller Park, has to be the most spacious series of atriums, lobbies, hallways and corridors I've ever seen. There's a fat joke in here somewhere, given the stereotypes of those from Wisconsin and the necessity for such excess space, but in all seriousness, it's very easy to never have to bump shoulders with anyone, unless actively trying. As a result, along with the technological ventilation systems, is a very comfortable interior.

That is, until you get to your seats, and you're seated in the lower bowl. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the roof was open and the sun was pouring in, and the worst part of it all was the fact that the way Miller Park is designed, there are hundreds of windows and glass walls on the top part of the structure. On a day like the game I was at, such structure turns Miller Park into somewhat of a greenhouse, where the open air is certainly getting into the park through the open roof, but all the sunlight is being magnified through the glass and making the park a bit hotter than it should be.

After a while, I had to get away from the heat and sun, so I began walking around the rest of the park. And as magnificent Miller Park is from an architectural standpoint, I just get the impression that the venue as a whole is kind of missing the point. Scattered all throughout the park are all sorts of campy kids distractions, from ball pits, hamster tunnels, netted or padded rooms or walls, and for the first time in my travels, I have found arcade machines inside of a baseball park. From the ground levels all the way up to the upper decks, there is a large variety of ways to distract one's children from the point of coming to the ballpark in the first place.

Overall, Miller Park is a nice park. Maybe it had a lot to do with the Robin Yount bobbleheads available on the day I was there, but the truth is that the Brewers still sold out a game against the unpopular Nationals, and a very high percentage legitimately stayed all the way through the end. But fans that do attend are still in a way good fans, and that is what it very much seems like Milwaukee has. I do say it is a nice park, because it is true, but I do take a lot of imaginary points from it for being kind of a soul-less place that seems to put baseball on the second stage instead of the main hall. I understand the necessity of integrating the kids in the experience, but I'm afraid Miller Park is simply put, too kid-friendly. If I were a parent, I'd certainly want my kids watching the game with me, learning about what makes the sport as great as it is, not playing arcade games, or getting diseases in ball pits, or worse off, whining about wanting to do such, while a good baseball game could be being played on the field at that same time.

Panoramic photo edited by Danny Hong, July 2010

Noteable performance(s):   If there is anyone who had themselves a day, it was Casey McGehee, who went two-for-three, with a walk, and both hits being of the extra-base variety, including one mythical three-run homer in late innings that I pretty much called, the moment Prince Fielder was walked, and pretty much was the nail in the coffin for the Nationals.

Game Result:   Despite a weak 0-for-4 performance by Ryan Braun, the Sunday lineup for the Nationals which saw Ryan Zimmerman being replaced by Willie Harris of all people, was no match for the home team, who won by a final score of Brewers 8, Nationals 3. Eventually, I'm going to put money on the home team whenever I travel.

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