There could be a breakup

It isn't official but it is close to the end. After many years and many good times, I think it is time to move on and let someone else take a crack at happiness.

I think I am breaking up with going to Opening Day.

Opening Day used to be such a great time. Get together with a bunch of friends, get tickets from a bar, and go get drunk while you watch the Milwaukee Brewers. Times have changed though. It is nothing like that.

This year it was more like paying too much for tickets, handing out in a very crowded bar, dealing with the chilly wind, and taking in a boring game as you stand for 4 hours. At least it didn't rain.

So much has changed with Opening Day in Milwaukee. In the days preceding the game, tents would sprout up from the asphalt, creating a village in the parking lots. On game day, throngs of buses would show up, unloading its happy- in not totally inebriated- passengers to go find their homes in the village. Each bar had their own tent. They were stocked with beer and usually had grills cooking up burgers and brats not too far away. People walked up to the barrels and either showed a wrist band or tapped their own. Like washing your hair it was fill, drink, repeat. As game time got closer you stayed outside drinking as much as you can before the attendants would shepherd you into the stadium. Later you would stumble out of the stadium mostly oblivious to the result of the game, just hoping you didn't miss the bus. You'd climb aboard your Joy Farm and start laughing about the shenanigans you got into during the day. Back at the bar you would drink a couple more before calling it a night and passing out on your couch back home.

But with the building of Miller Park that drastically took a turn for the worse. At first, the bars just got fewer tickets. Then they gave tickets to fewer bars. Now, bars don't get any space on Opening Day. There are no tent villages. Just the round of the mill tailgater. Thus there is no getting drunk in the parking lots with a big group of people. You have to plan to spend many hours in the lot doing your own thing or party at the bars nearby. Partying at those bars isn't quite as fun. Especially when it was cold like it was on Monday.

Of course getting tickets is the first feat of strength. The Milwaukee Brewers package up Opening Day seats with ticket packages. They do not sell them to the general public. Normal $22 standing room only tickets were going for $60 two weeks before the game. There was no way I was spending that kind of money. I could spend like a king in a bar and watch the game on TV for that price. But we got lucky and paid face value through a friend who go tickets from his Brewers rep.

Maybe it was the thought of paying so much for the ticket that had me in a foul mood before the game. I wasn't looking forward to the game but tried to make the best of it. With the way the Brew Crew played though, it sent it all down hill.

Thus I may have gone to my last Opening Day. I haven't broken up with the girl yet but at the very least, we are separated,