Opening Day stories from those who attended?

[BadgerFan]

Just wondering if anyone who went to Opening Day has any stories, comments, annoyances, famous sightings, etc.

 

I always get a kick out of reading different experiences.

[jrodbrewcrew]

Saw a lot of drunks acting very childish. Saw a a guy get knocked out down from where I was parked. Saw 5 officers on horses and 2 officers on Harleys respond to it. Saw myself reconsidering going to Opening Day next year.

[Blancofan1]

jrod-was that near the portapotties by the back of the Uecker/Mets general parking lot? We saw a guy laid out on the ground with someone checking his pulse on our way out after the game and were curious as to what happened.

[Patrick425]

jrodbrewcrew[/b]]Saw a lot of drunks acting very childish. Saw a a guy get knocked out down from where I was parked. Saw 5 officers on horses and 2 officers on Harleys respond to it. Saw myself reconsidering going to Opening Day next year.

It was similar behavior that I witnessed about 15 years ago that made be decide I was too old for Opening Day and it was time to end my streak of consecutive Opening Days that I had attended. Now I usually try to attend the 2nd game of the year...as I will be doing this year.

 

 

[carniesandrubes]

I was shocked at how quickly I was able to get in the lots today. I arrived a little after 12 and was able to take Canal St. right into the preferred lots (had a pass) with no more than 2 or 3 minutes total of waiting in a line of cars. It seemed that they were turning away those without passes far enough away from the stadium that they didn't get in everyone else's way.

[AJAY]

I personally did not notice as many obnoxious drunk people as in years past. My biggest observation was how expensive the concessions have become this year. Maybe I am cheap, but the prices seemed kind of crazy to me.

[danzig6767]

I personally did not notice as many obnoxious drunk people as in years past. My biggest observation was how expensive the concessions have become this year. Maybe I am cheap, but the prices seemed kind of crazy to me.

As high as concession costs are here, just imagine if you were in many other stadiums where they make our concessions look cheap.

 

I don't have season tickets and only attend from 7-10 games a year generally. Because of that, if i go to games, i try to enjoy myself and not fret over prices. If i want something, i buy it even though i'm from from wealthy. That said, it is annoying somewhat to buy say a round of beers for me and two friends and the price is 20 bucks or more for three beers. I took my daughter and her boyfriend to a game last year. We sat in seats that were only 17 to 20 dollars each i believe, but between parking and all the money in spent in the stadium, i had spent about 125 dollars if my memory is correct. On the way out she wanted this Braun t-shirt and i was going to get it until i saw it was 26 or 28 bucks. I'm far from being cheap or a penny pincher type of person, but 28 bucks for just a nothing special t-shirt i had to draw the line at. I left that for her boyfriend to cover the cost. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Maybe if they at least lowered the price for merchandise like say shirts/hats/jerseys etc, more fans would buy them in the stadium instead of buying them at a store for half the price.

[DHonks]

danzig, I remember in college going to Giants/A's games where it was $8 beers. Milwaukee is the most affordable place for concessions because individuals have a viable alternative...increase food/drink consumption in the parking lot

[pretendastronaut]

I have to echo AJAY, this was my 6th Opening Day and it was by far the smoothest. Really no overly obnoxious people tailgating near us, or inside the park. Even the bathroom lines weren't as absurd as they normally are on Opening Day.

[Dragonbait]

First off.... weather couldn't have been any more perfect for the pre-game and game.

 

Was nice to be able to park for the parking I pre-paid for.

 

Best part of tailgateing is looking at how creative people are. Saw a guy who forgot the tongs, use a pitching wedge to turn dogs. (I personally forgot the lighter fluid and matches... but there is always wonderful helpful people for that.)

 

Drunks did seem to be down a bit over years past when I went.. It has been a few years, but still too many for my tastes. I really dont understand why people feel the need to get drunk... but thats for another OT thread.

 

Overall was just too nice of a day.

[Dmiles23]

Yeah, I'll agree with the people that didn't think there were as many drunks as in the past years. There weren't many in my section, I didn't see many in the parking lot. Not counting the loss, I'll say this is the best Opening Day I've been to in quite a while.

[Invader3K]

I wasn't there yesterday; but I'm guessing it was nowhere near as bad as last season, since the Cubbies and their fans weren't in town.

[mtrebs]

I wasn't there yesterday; but I'm guessing it was nowhere near as bad as last season, since the Cubbies and their fans weren't in town.

Of course I had to have a Cubs fan sitting right in front of me. Every time the Rockies would score or get a big out he'd stand up and clap and make sure everyone around him saw. I can't imagine going to another team's stadium when they weren't playing the Brewers and vocally rooting against the home team...but then again I'm not a Cubs fan so I can't comprehend why it seems that many of them think that this is a good idea.

 

 

[Invader3K]

And of course he'd be one of the ones yelling at you to "show some respect" if you were at Wrigley doing the same thing against the Cubs.

[jrodbrewcrew]

jrod-was that near the portapotties by the back of the Uecker/Mets general parking lot? We saw a guy laid out on the ground with someone checking his pulse on our way out after the game and were curious as to what happened.

That is correct! My buddy and I left the park a little early to tailgate a little more and when we got out to the car, that happened about 5 minutes later.

[local hero]

I seem to go every year without an issue. Shocker: there's DRUNKS at opening day?! Bout as surprising as drunks showing up to Summerfest.

 

I find so long as you go with your own crowd and mind your business, it's largely a non-issue. Seeing there's at LEAST 60,000 people floating around the park, what can you expect but a % to act, well, drunk?

 

If you really think its that bad, try a NASCAR race. Those I've gone to make opening day in Milwaukee look like a bar mitzvah.

 

I'm not trying to be the turd in the punchbowl here, but I think the day is overwhelmingly as good or bad as you want to make it. It's good to hear that it appears most here had a problem-free experience this year.

 

And if you really dead-set on taking small children, spend the time to seek out and secure family section tailgating and seats...the world is not going to change because we decide to take our kids out of school (maybe not this year) to go to a baseball game.

 

The vast majority act human in my experience. Planning for the others is an unfortunate but predictable reality.

 

 

I'm not intending to come across as an ******, but I think some are as over the top about the behavior as those actually acting over the top.

 

In a nut-shell I had a great time again this year.

 

respectfully,

James

[burniebrewer]

I have to echo a lot of the comments already made here.

 

--They opened the parking lots well before the announced time of 10 AM. Anyone who goes every year knows that this is the case, but they really seemed to open even earlier this year. When we approached the stadium at 9:30, there were easily 5 full rows of cars in the preferred areas. We ended up being parked by 9:45.

 

--What can you say about that weather? I wore shorts and a t-shirt. On Opening Day? Awesome.

 

--Great people all around us in the lot. One group of girls next to us shared their cupcakes with us and everyone was very friendly and nothing too wild going on.

 

--Lots of good people watching.

 

All told, it was a good time. Only thing missing was a Brewers win.

[Bikeage77]

I had a great time, we walked in so didn't have to worry about parking. Our friends who are always running behind got onto canal street to find the line back to 35th street, it took them about an hour to get into the lot. In the meantime we went to my cousins tailgate and grilled there. I got a picture with LeRoy Butler, he was a nice guy and we had a 5 minute conversation over christmas vs opening day. he choose christmas, i took opening day. wssp agreed with me.

 

the only bad vibe i noticed all day, was walking out through the busses, there were all these 60 year old men trying to fight each other. it seemed like one fight would break up, and somebody else would start one, it was pretty comical overall.

 

great time, glad yesterday wasn't like today's weather, it could've been a different experience altogether

[CreamCity]

i had a great time pre-game, during game, and post game.

 

I did see a T-Bone car crash right in front of me before the game trying to get into the Story Hill lot. Girl was looking trying to go west on Wis Ave. car going east seemed to be driving too fast. BAM!

[hawing]

In the meantime we went to my cousins tailgate and grilled there.

As chronicled by JSOnline!

[gypcasino]

Nothing too exciting before the game. The usual assortment of drunkenness and buffoonery. I didn't witness any fighting this year.

 

Porta potty lines were still probably 40 minutes long at the ones by us. Bring your own and charge people to use it seems to be a pretty good idea as far as making some extra money.

As far as inside the park I was in the terrace box behind home plate and everyone around was well behaved.

 

After the game I was waiting for my buddy on the terrace concourse and "Freeway" came down from the seats and three guys standing next to me started calling him names and getting in his face and there was almost an altercation before a Brewers employee shooed him away . The guys were very displeased with "Freeway" because apparently he was annoying everyone around him during the game. Better them than me I guess.

[pretendastronaut]

I should point out, I saw 1 Jorge Julio jersey shirt and 1 Braden Looper jersey at the park yesterday.

[Crew2323]

I saw a Candy Maldonado #48 Jersey, on a white pin stripe jersey with "Brewers" in cursive. Thought that was pretty sweet.

 

I would have found opening day more enjoyable if I did end up catching the same stomach bug that my kids had the last week or so. I ended up leaving to go home in the 5th inning because I felt so miserable. Seeing/smelling the food people were eating certainly didn't help. So instead of yaking on someone I figured I'd go home. Of all the days to get that, it was yesterday. Of course, today I feel just fine. Looking forward to going again Friday.

[hawing]

If you attended Monday's game and didn't sit in the bleachers, you might be able to find yourself in the photo linked here.

[Patrick425]

If you attended Monday's game and didn't sit in the bleachers, you might be able to find yourself in the photo linked here.

 

3rd Inning... a lot of empty seats in the upper deck. Yet, didn't they state that it was the 2nd largest crowd ever at Miller Park? I was curious about that since it seemed like there were plenty of tickets available at good prices in the days leading up to the game, you could even buy them directly through the Brewers.