On WIN-sconsin

The wife is in her absolute glory: she is in sports nirvana, thanks to the Cheddarlands sporting world.  For those of you not paying attention to the great state of Wisconsin and/or to the world of manly-men playing games in polyester uniforms, the Packers won the Super Bowl earlier in the year and are off to a tremendous start this season; the Badgers are crushing other teams like bugs; and, the Brewersare in the playoffs.  Three teams, three delicious opportunities for victory. Suffice it to say, the wife spends much of her time watching sports news on TV, listening to sports talk radio in the car and watching game scores on her iPad or iTouch.  Every once in awhile, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night (usually to pee or to slap one of the dogs because they are licking loudly and it’s disgusting) and catch her reviewing stats on her iTouch.   

Seriously.  I wake to a subtle blue light of the box scores.

At times, she isn't sure what to do.  It is quite stressful when two sporting events are on at the same time; for instance, last Sunday featured both a Packer and Brewer game at the same time.  Talk about trauma.  Thankfully, the wife was able to flip back and forth between channels.  Had this not been possible, I would have lost the wife to the world of the sports bar.

I am very glad that the Packers and Badgers will never over-lap each other, as there is not even a remote chance of their schedules overlapping.

Deciding what to wear is also rather traumatic.  Should she wear one team uniform at a time? Combine them? Change clothes several times a day?  You know someone out there has designed a shirt/uniform/jersey that featured all three of the colors/logos.  The color scheme is a bit over the top, but this is the state where you can wear camouflague to a wedding, so I don’t think many Cheeseheads are going to worry about color schemes. 

I’ve been to three Brewer Games this year and I went to one Packer game last year during their Super Bowl season, so I feel I’ve done my part.  I do love a good veggie dog at Miller Park and I must say there is nothing like going to Lambeau Field.  I enjoy watching a game or two in person.  I don't mind a road trip to the various corners of the Wisconsin universe. I own and wear team gear....

Side note: Did I ever talk about my last visit to Miller Park, where we had free seats in the “Beer Pen?”  The bleacher seated-beer-fest where you get a free t-shirt, free beer and the chance to sit with 300 of your closest, drunken friends?  Talk about the place to watch a game.  People my age were so drunk they were falling out of their clothes (well, actually women falling out of their team jerseys).  Beer spilling, swear-word hurling 40 year olds, that's who surrounded us. The wife turned to the guy sitting next to her and asked how he got tickets for the “Beer Pen.”   He slurred out that “I’m here with the Tavern of the Year.”  Says it all.  But, I digress—back to the victors of the north.  I’ve got a 2011 hot dog bobble head doll and some kind of player-related terry-towel to swing around the room.  I’ve got my Beer Pen t-shirt.  I’ve got ticket stubs.  I guess I am ready for the Win-sconsin World Series.  

Side side note: I met the when the Brewers were last in the World Series.  For those of you who don’t have any reason to know what year that would have been, it was 1982.  They didn’t win but they were at least in the World Series. Can’t say that about the Cubs.  She proudly displayed her Brewers pennant in the dorm like the true cheesehead she is and proudly wore her powder blue jersey for any and all occasions.

Things are out-of-control in a good way for Win-sconsin-ites.  I’ve never seen the wife quite like this.  It’s overload.  I am so afraid her head is going to explode or that she will need anti-depressants at the end of the seasons.  This is a lot of excitement for her.   This is a lot of excitement for Wisconsin sports enthusiasts. This is a lot of cheese, a mountain of green & gold and red and blue. 

Too bad the wife is being held hostage in the flatlands, where no one truly understands her giddiness.  We in Illinois are bitter people when it comes to sports.  Just listen to Chicago sports radio--FIBs (as they call us in Wisconsin) are always disgusted with the teams, the coaches, the games.  There is no home field advantage in the flatlands.  We don't own our team like the Cheeseheads do with the Packers.  Hell, we don't even have parking at Wrigley Field.  

Here's to the wife during her year of sporting glory. Here's to the stress of being in the Super Bowl, World Series and Rose Bowl all in the same year.  Here's to cheese, beer and brats.  Here's to finding "her people" while suffering through the trials and tribulations of living south of the Cheddar Curtain.

Here's to green and gold and red and blue.