Life & Leisure
When It Rains, It Pours (27-18)
Dear Ken Macha, Since I last wrote to you, Ken, there’s been a bit of a cloud hanging over the team. First, Rickie Weeks’ wrist injury sidelined our perpetually on the brink — and finally turning the corner — second basemen for the rest of the season, dealing a significant blow to our offense. Then, J.J. Hardy became a prime candidate for a backiotomy. All of a sudden, the marginal reserve players that you thought would be sharing the bench with you all summer long are actually needed in the field, leaving you all alone with Willie Randolph and your handy Palm Pilot 1000. To top it all off, Doug Melvin traded away our beloved Tony Gwynn, Jr. for an outfielder named Jody. It was unfortunate that this wave of injuries occured during a particularly rough road trip through St. Louis, Houston and Minnesota. What started out so promising in St. Louis slowly devolved into an exercise of extreme torment in the TerrorMetrodome. If it’s any consolation, Ken, the Twins scored 20 runs against the White Sox the day before the Crew served up 11 to them. Considering Twins’ phenom Joe Mauer is making Ryan Braun’s hot streak from a few weeks ago look mediocre in comparison, holding them to 6 runs the next two games surely was a moral victory if there ever was one. Nonetheless, you were swept in particularly ugly fashion. Fortunately, the week that was did provide a few rays of sunshine. Mat Gamel was recently called up from Nashville and in his first start provided an impressive 3-run home run and made an amazing play at third. Sure, he followed up that play by making an error on a more routine ground ball, living up to his legend as the second coming of Ryan Braun. Even though he cooled off a bit during the Twins series, his presence on the team gives the Miller Park sound crew a reason to play “Camel Walk” every time he walks. In fact, there hasn’t been a more appropriately related song for a player since the little known “Rixey Jig,” named for Cincinnati Red’s pitcher Eppa Rixey’s provocative (for the 1920’s) strikeout dance*. Yovanni Gallardo also provided a ray of sunshine for your already nicely tanned face. After a very un-Yovanni like outing in Houston, Gallardo once again looked sharp in a Memorial Day pitcher’s duel against the Cardinals, leading to this letter’s deep thought (Ken, imagine The Wonder Years’ Daniel Stern is reading the following): Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the recent losing streak was the poor performance of our usually potent pitchers. Two thirds (10) of the team’s victories (15) in May have been in games where our pitching allowed 3 runs or fewer. This takes pressure off the offense, which tends to push too hard when it’s behind early in games. While it’s unreasonable to assume we’re always going to get a quality start from our starting pitchers, it’s important to realize how beneficial our pitching […]
May 25th, 2009 by Rob Vosters
May 25-31
This week: Memorial Day Parade, beer tastings, cheap eats downtown and an evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. Yay!
May 24th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Battlestars vs. Paper Dolls
The Brewcity Battlestars, a B-Team of skaters from the four teams that make up the Brewcity Bruisers league, play their first bout in Appleton against the Paper Dolls.
May 21st, 2009 by Tea Krulos
Who was that woman in the minivan?
What was it about the driver's morning that made her accelerate so quickly? What was it that made those men crossing the street seem invisible to her? And why would she blame them for making her late to a job she probably doesn't even like? Or was it possible I was just misreading the situation?
May 20th, 2009 by Michelle Sieg
Meerkats, sand dollars, 8 tracks and PROM
Our escapades in Racine continue with the zoo, a mad dash for kringle, the best thrift shopping on the I-94 corridor, and the main event: the 2009 Racine Prom.
May 18th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
RACINE: Jellyfish, biscuits and Marvin Gaye
Economic catastrophe got you down? Sad that a luxury vacation to an exotic locale isn't in your cards for at least five years, or possibly eternity? We know how you feel ... but we also know how to have fun, wherever, whenever and however. This summer, TCD and VITAL Source are proud to launch our SUMMER TRAVEL SERIES, featuring regular old people taking exceedingly uncommon day trips, staycations and adventure escapes to unexpected destinations in Wisconsin and (only slightly) beyond. To kick start the series, Racine native and all-around foxy lady Erin Petersen took Senior Editor Amy Elliott and Cultural Zero DJ Hostettler on a whirlwind day trip to Racine, WI, for art, prom and kringle.
May 18th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Ransom! (23-14)
Superb job, Ken! The number of losses in the subject line of this letter hasn't changed from 14 all week. That's quite the impressive fact considering the Pirates were the only team you'd swept until the Marlins came to town.
May 18th, 2009 by Rob Vosters
May 18-24
This week- buy local and save, Museum Day(s), Animal Collective, Barbeque and the beach.
May 17th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Decision making 101010
Awhile back I came across an article about author and commentator Suzy Welch, who recently published a book on her new10-10-10 Rule. The idea behind this decision-making trick is to ask yourself a series of questions: Will this decision matter in 10 minutes? Does it matter in 10 months? How about in 10 years? And what is the impact of this decision within these time frames?
May 17th, 2009 by Michelle Sieg
Save Us From Favre! (18-14)
No, the other Favre… Dear Ken Macha, Another series, Ken, and another victory — against the Cubs, no less. The bullpen shut down hitters when it mattered most and the offense perpetrated the most heinous form of mockery in modern baseball: the Craig Counsell homerun. It’s starting to look like the beginning of the season was just a terrible, late night cheddarwurst induced nightmare. But don’t put those TUMS away just yet, Ken. There’s something far worse than a Ryan Braun brushback pitch to the helmet coming your way. Brett Favre! You’re new around these parts, Ken, so you may not have heard about the yearly local news orgy that is “Favre Watch! 200_.” You have been hiding in the bathroom a lot since Trevor Hoffman rejoined the team. See, what happens is every year we spend way too much time worrying about whether or not Brett Favre is going to play football. Sound silly? Well, it is! But that’s what we do around here — cling to our past moments of greatness, never letting them go until each of our fingers have been individually pried away during the Sturm und Drang of recognizing that we can’t be what we were. Favre is just the largest manifestation of this feeling ever felt by the state’s baby boomers. In terms you might understand, it’s kind of like when in 2005 your contract with the Oakland A’s ended and GM Billy Beane didn’t resign you, but then six days later you were rehired. Now imagine that scenario happened annually for eight years! Why does this matter to you, Ken? Because if it happens again, and it looks like it might, you’re going to be competing for precious fan attention with The Gunslinger. If the Crew starts an ill-timed losing streak during the upcoming week and Favre Watch! continues unabated, you should be prepared to suffer with this monotonous non-story for the rest of the summer, leeching the media attention you rightfully deserve. But, if you can keep the good times rolling along up to and through the looming road trip through St. Louis, Houston and Minnesota you might be able to deprive the Favre media hydra of the attention it craves long enough to keep the focus on your well-playing team. That’ll put even more fans in the seats and a little extra scrilla in Mark Attanasio’s diamond-studded Brewers money clip. To accomplish this, you’re going to need to figure out what’s up with Jeff Suppan. Jordan at Brew Crew Ball doesn’t believe his better than expected outings as of late are a sure signal that everything’s ok. Today, it only took one bad inning to turn an acceptable outing into a loss. Suppan’s starts aren’t inconsequential and every win he earns the team will be well worth it as the pennant race starts heating up. You’re also going to have to protect Ryan Braun from sassy announcers. Ryan’s mammoth home run off on Saturday unleashed the fury of Cub’s announcer Bob Brenly, who […]
May 11th, 2009 by Rob Vosters
May 11-17
This week: free concerts, comfort food, fundraisers and the BEST RUMMAGE EVER.
May 10th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
The speed of life
The average person takes in 3000 advertising messages per day. That’s just unsolicited ad messaging; it doesn’t even include texts, tweets, Facebook updates, emails or normal business dialogue. Plus, that stat is from 2007, meaning it's completely outdated. On a side note: Does anyone remember writing papers in high school using a bibliography page? You know the one, filled with books published in 1982 and still thought to be relevant?
May 7th, 2009 by Michelle Sieg
