It was the double whammy of all double whammies.
Not only was Monday Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day, it was also my buddy’s 29th birthday.
A die-hard fan of the Brew Crew, there was no way he was going to miss the opportunity for the perfect birthday present.
While I once went to 10 straight opening days, I hadn’t been to Miller Park for the official start of spring since the 2011 season.
You know, the one when the Brewers were two games from the World Series. Back then, I had a 10-game season ticket package. I even had the privilege of attending my first playoff game, a victory over Arizona.
Oh, how I miss Prince Fielder and Zack Greinke.
Whereas I’ve been fortunate enough to catch multiple Opening Days (my mom would take me back in grade school and high school), the birthday boy was experiencing a first.
Though he’s been to hundreds of games in his life and could probably tell you the team’s starting lineup from 1996 without Google, Matt had never been to Opening Day.
So without hesitation roughly two months ago, Matt said screw it and bought four really good tickets, $80, Section 230, aisle seats.
Normally, the seats would go for about $40, but the seller on StubHub took advantage of the national holiday-like appeal of Opening Day.
We picked up Ben on the south side of Burlington and were off, with me behind the wheel and a trunk full with chairs, water, age-appropriate beverages and a game of bags.
The game was at 1:10 p.m., so the lots opened at 10:10. Luckily, we were on the road by 9:20 a.m. in hopes of a good spot.
We had to meet up with some Milwaukee friends and took our chances on parking near them in the same parking lot, even though that could get tricky.
Traveling down 43rd St., or Miller Park Way, conjured up great memories of attending games last summer. The sun was shining, it was 60 degrees out and we were jamming out in the Altima.
By the time we passed under I-94 and exited onto Wisconsin Avenue, it looked like summers.
There were cars everywhere. Traffic to get into the parking lots was 100 cars deep. The sweet aroma of grilling out filled the air.
We entered the Bluemound Avenue lot around 10:20 a.m., right on time. We set up the chairs and bags, grabbed something to drink and just enjoyed the promise of summer.
Brewers tents and flags filled the area, and people blared music and fired up grills. All you could smell was brats and burgers. It was heavenly.
Our Milwaukee buddies showed up a few minutes later. The lot was huge with hundreds of cars, but they just so happened to park roughly 100 feet from us.
It was perfect.
We hauled our cooler and bags game over to them, where they already had the grill blazing some tasty brats and burgers.
Doritos, brats, hot dogs and burgers made for the ideal, nutritious breakfast.
We even got into some man-sized Jenga after eating. While the average size of blocks in the board game are tiny, my friend actually cut up foot-long pieces of 2×4 wood for an oversized version.
It was pretty sweet when the block tower finally fell, because it crashed with the thud of a bowling strike.
We were having so much fun, game time rolled around and we didn’t care about catching the first pitch.
We casually strolled up to the stadium around 1:30 p.m., and we proceeded to take a few more selfies after meeting our fourth for our seats.
We even coaxed a stranger to take a picture of the four of us, and even though the photographer’s friend randomly joined in our photo, it was all love.
After all, it was Opening Day, and every single Brewer fan had the hope that this could be the year. All things seem possible on Opening Day, whether it’s making the playoffs or even winning the World Series.
So we finally sat in our seats in the third inning, and the game was tied at 0-0. Nobody really paid attention to the game. We were all just catching up, cracking jokes, eating, drinking and being merry.
It’s a fun and dangerous feeling knowing you could, and maybe even should be at work, but the Brewers are just too darn must-see. My buddy even brought up that people have petitioned to make baseball Opening Day a national holiday.
I don’t know if I would go that far, but it’s certainly an experience.
Ryan Braun, who returned to the lineup after serving a 65-game suspension last year for performance-enhancing drugs, was littered with a standing ovation of cheers every time he came up.
In the fourth inning, he singled and then scored on Aramis Ramirez’s two-run double.
I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive Braun for what he did because of how he lied for so long, but if he returns to his MVP form and leads us to a World Series, all will be forgotten.
Staying in our seats was a chore to say the least. We each had to use the restroom, and those lines took a good half hour. Concession lines were consistently 10 to 15 people deep, and even walking wasn’t easy. The place was packed, and people were rowdy.
We were even hassled by a girl in front of us. It was her 21st birthday, and she couldn’t help but have a good time. She was a little too inebriated for her own good and had to leave the game early.
Another example of classic Opening Day shenanigans.
Milwaukee eventually won the game, 2-0, and we decided to keep the party going. We hit up TGI Friday’s behind left field at Miller Park and checked out the music in the beer garden.
A rocking cover band played Sublime, Rage Against the Machine and other hits and had my birthday friend dancing with a complete stranger in absolute bliss. It was entertaining to watch.
We slowly made our way back to the parking lot, busted out the lawn chairs and did a little more tailgating with our friends.
Impromptu dancing, loud talking and occasional misunderstandings highlighted the postgame festivities, but it was all in good fun.
Opening Day brings out the best and worst in people. For every carefree Michael Jackson moonwalker, there’s an angry, drunk instigator who lets the alcohol do the talking.
Luckily, we avoided the latter and kept it mostly about having a good time. Matt, the birthday boy, got a little crazy but had one heck of a time, and Ben brought home a Jean Segura souvenir cup for his travels.
Not too shabby.
Baseball season is back, and hopefully the warm weather will follow. Opening Day blessed us with warm weather, good food, good friends and better baseball.
For one day, Milwaukee can say it had the best record in baseball. But Tuesday’s loss erased that dream.
Oh well, we can still finish the season 160-2.
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