Has Brewers-Cubs rivalry gotten too nasty?

Adam Mertz  —  8/22/2008 9:28 pm

No one ought to blow out of proportion the altercation that occurred in the Miller Park parking lot last week during the much-hyped I-94 series, in which a Milwaukee area man tossed a beer bottle at a bus carrying Cubs fans -- some of whom promptly got out and beat him silly.

That was an isolated incident fueled by excessive alcohol, and there were many more examples of friends and even spouses who were able to set aside their differing allegiances and enjoy the four games together.

Even so, the mere fact that Cubs and Brewers fans came to blows that resulted in serious injury and criminal charges -- and that reporters witnessed other confrontations in the stands -- begs the question:

Has the rivalry between the fans of these franchises, separated by just 87 miles and a few games in the National League Central Division standings, gotten a bit too nasty?

Mike Messerschmidt hopes not. That's partly because the Brewers fan experienced first-hand the warm and fuzzy dawn of the teams' co-existence, and partly because he counts among his close friends in his hometown of Merrill a few Cubs fans -- one of whom is so dedicated, he had the theme song "Go Cubs Go" played as his wedding march.

Messerschmidt's first visit to Wrigley Field came in 1997, when the Brewers faced the Cubs for the first time in a game that counted, and the novelty of interleague play kept the mood light.

"It was cool," he said.

The next year, the dynamic changed when the Brewers switched from the American League to the National League to accommodate Major League Baseball's expansion to 30 teams. Suddenly, they were head-to-head rivals with the Cubs.

Yet even games with significant impact in that 1998 season carried a good-natured, bipartisan tone. Brewers fans cheered along when the Cubs' Sammy Sosa belted home runs No. 64 and 65 on a sunny, late September afternoon at County Stadium, then reveled in Brant Brown's three-run error that handed Milwaukee an improbable win and jeopardized Chicago's wildcard chances. (The Cubs recovered and reached the postseason.)

It wasn't until after the Really Dark Ages of Brewerdom -- how long ago does that 106-loss season seem? -- that things began to intensify. Most of those changes have been for the better: notably, that management on each side is willing to spend money to deliver competitive teams to fans, who have responded by producing crowds of at least 37,000 at each of the teams' 10 meetings this season, including sellouts at all four Milwaukee games.

"You'd like to keep it good blood, but it's two competitive teams," said Todd Johnson, a devout Cubs fan who attended Thursday's series finale with Messerschmidt. "Now you're talking that it could be (an) NLCS (matchup). That's big."

Some of the occasional friction between fans is naturally occurring, and some is avoidable.

Start with the most obvious cause: "When you've got Brewers fans and Cubs fans showing up in each others' ballparks, that's going to create a little bit of uneasiness," said White Sox fan Mike Pindelski of Orland Park, Ill., who was on hand for last Thursday's game in Milwaukee and attended an I-94 game earlier this season at Wrigley.

That's especially true in Milwaukee because of the ability of Cubs fans to take over a visiting park due to their sheer numbers and, frankly, financial well-being. The unscientific ratio for the series finale, based on apparel and volume of cheering, suggested a 65-35 split in favor of the Cubs.

As Johnson noted, Brewers fans have to shoulder some of the blame for that on two levels: Not only did Cubs fans plan better and buy up seats, but it was clear that many Milwaukee season ticket holders sold their ducats to Cubs fans in the interest of making a buck.

"If you're a loyal fan like I am," Johnson said, "there's no way in hell I'm selling my seats."

Regardless of the cause of the imbalance, it feeds the stereotype of big-spending Chicagoans running rampant over yet another Wisconsin treasure. And that breeds animosity.

"People like us see Wisconsin as a great place to vacation, and Wisconsinites are so damn defensive about it," said Kevin Kaduk, a Chicago native and University of Wisconsin grad who writes the Major League Baseball blog Big League Stew for Yahoo! Sports. "I dunno. Maybe we do think we own the world. But I think there's a weird defense mechanism."

Before you jump on Kaduk, know that he identified another source of the problem: bandwagoning Cubs fans with big attitudes.

"The fan base has grown so much, to where it's almost a little too national for me now," said Kaduk, who authored "Wrigleyworld," a first-person account of eating, breathing and sleeping the Cubs during the 2004 season. "I always liked the Cubs. They're a part of Chicago that I grew up with.

"But now they're kind of like the Red Sox and Yankees. They've been co-opted by ESPN and the satellite dish. And that's fine. I'm not saying, 'Don't like the team,' but at the same time I feel like I have nothing in common with these people."

In the end, Kaduk said, it's simple math: "With extreme popularity comes extreme number of fans, and with that an increase in the number of idiots."

Which, of course, would include idiots of the drunken variety, and beer is virtually ingrained in the culture of both franchises.

Based on first-hand accounts from the stands, even Thursday's matinee was a bit of a sloshfest. Brewers manager Ned Yost referenced the atmosphere in his postgame comments after his team was swept, noting, "We don't like the fact that we allowed their fans to come into our park and have a four-day party. But that's our fault."

Short of switching the first pitch for all their meetings to 8 a.m., there's probably not much that can be done about the overconsumption. So, the underlying hope is that revelers can keep it friendly.

"Living in Chicago myself," said Pindelski, the White Sox fan, "I know a lot of Cub fans really respect Brewers fans as legitimate fans."

With six showdowns remaining in September, here's hoping it's a two-way street.

Adam Mertz  —  8/22/2008 9:28 pm