Wherein I Meet the Sausages

We've posted previously about the sausage race at Miller Park, and about PETA's quixotic crusade to get them to include a sixth contestant. Well today the sausages came to Oshkosh to appear at the homecoming game, and I got my picture taken with them. Actually only Stosh Jonjak (Polish sausage), Cinco (chorizo) and Brett Wurst (duh) were there; maybe Guido (Italian) and Frankie Furter had another engagement.

I was also in a big group photo with the chancellor of the university today, but really, which would you rather see?

Gastronomic Fandom

It was a terrible day today for Wisconsin sports-- but on Friday afternoon at Pick 'n Save, great hope was witnessed amidst the bakery section.

RIP, Brewers' 2008 season. Your one postseason triumph, yesterday eve, is duly noted. Well done. As for the Packers... we did not see the game due to a Time Warner kerfuffle. Yes, that's right, some of us here in Northeastern WI did not get the Packers' game today. The horror!

At the moment, my beloved Boston Red Sox are in extra innings against the Angels. Let's go Papelbon!

Tofu Dog in the Sausage Race?

One of our great neighbors across the hall, who moved to Wisconsin a year ahead of us, is a vegetarian. Being one myself, I was naturally relieved that another of my unusual persuasion could survive in the land of bratwurst. After all, we've posted before about The Bratzooka at our local minor league park, and about the famous sausage race at the Brewers' Miller Park. I naturally assumed that my arrival would simply double the state vegetarian population, approximately.

Of course I've since discovered that we herbivores are not quite that rare up here; Woodman's has a great selection of vegetarian products (actually most local supermarkets do a decent job), and most restaurants have at least a couple of things on the menu, which is about what I used to find in Boston. In fact the most "local" restaurant in town, the Delta diner, has a whole vegetarian section with about 20 choices for us strange folk.

But if someone had told me that there was a vegetarian player in Major League Baseball, the last place I would have looked would be the Milwaukee Brewers. Nonetheless, Prince Fielder, the Brewers' star first baseman, has apparently joined me in the great cult of the carrot.

Everyone must read this article from today's New York Times.

For one thing, it's just good writing. Hilarious, at least to someone who is a vegetarian (me) and someone who is familiar with our strange kind (Jodi). But it's also a great look at the difficulties even a celebrity vegetarian occasionally has finding something he wants to eat when dining out, and the different reactions of his fans and co-workers.

General Manager Doug Melvin said he had no concerns, then or now, about perhaps his team’s strongest player drastically changing the fuel he put in his tank. Melvin is so unmoved by the situation that he said: “Is he still a vegetarian? I don’t even know.”

...

Several spaces down, [tailgaiting fan] Dan Ricksetter of Milwaukee added: “It was a bit disheartening when he decided to become a vegetarian. Brats are intrinsic to our culture. They’re the breakfast of champions. I’m not sure which sport.”

I will say, in defense of our subspecies, that Fielder may be an unusually picky eater. Personally I'm always up for trying new things; today I ate cactus for (possibly) the first time ever at our favorite local tex-mex place. But sometimes you just want a PB&J sandwich, and there's nothing wrong with that. I hope Fielder has better luck in the future.

One minor quibble with the article: it claims that "a tofu dog has yet to be invited" to the Sausage Race. Had the reporter done his homework, he might have added that PETA actually suggested the idea to the Brewers in 2002. At the time, they said they had no plans to add to the four existing sausage contestants (Hot Dog, Brat, Italian and Polish). In 2006, however, they added Chorizo. Maybe with this latest news about Fielder, it's time to break down another barrier in our nation's long history of sausage discrimination. Only time will tell.

P.S. Apparantly OnMilwaukee.com joked about this on April Fools.

The Mets at Miller Park

A few weeks ago, we spent a few days in Milwaukee attending every single game the Mets played against the Brewers at Miller Park this year [that would be three games]. A splendid time was had, despite the fact that it was quite a heat wave. We were hoping to see Tom Glavine pitch win number 300 on the first night, but alas, that had to wait until a few days later at Wrigley Field [no, we didn't drive down, but we thought about it], which I'll admit was quite a classy place to do it.

Miller Park is a gorgeous new-ish stadium, and the baseball was great, but what's really important there isn't the baseball. No, it's the sausage. As pictured above, we finally saw the world famous Miller Park sausage race. This event, which takes place before the seventh inning of every game, consists of a noble, valiant contest, pitting .... people in giant sausage costumes against each other, as they race around the infield warning track. The sausages represented are: the hot dog, the bratwurst, the Polish sausage, the Italian sausage, and, the most recent addition, the chorizo. And let me tell you, they take this seriously. During one of the races, they actually disqualified the hot dog for straying outside the track. Really.

At various concession stands, you can indeed purchase the represented sausages. I saw very few people ordering hot dogs-- everyone went for the good stuff instead. I sampled the brats and the polish sausage; the kielbasa was definitely my favorite (I've had a taste for the stuff since my youth, when my dad would cook it for the Superbowl; in Prague, where I spent one summer, it's the common street food). There are also veggie hot dogs at one stand on the field level, and kosher dogs, too. Since it's Wisconsin, they also serve things like fried cheese curds, fish fry, and Midwest airlines chocolate chip cookies. And of course, a lot of beer.

[A digression: I realized the other day that it's now been 10 years since the summer I spent in fair Praha. Time flies!]

And boy, do those sausages get stuffed:



You can watch one of many YouTube videos of the sausage race over here, and you can also read a history of the race and biographies of its esteemed athletes.

Another kooky Miller Park thing is Bernie's dugout, which is this spot in Left Field where the mascot, Bernie Brewer, hangs out and-- again, I am not making this up--- jumps down a big yellow twisty slide if the Brewers hit a home run. We used to see this, along with bits of the sausage race, on tv whenever the Mets visited Milwaukee, and say to ourselves, wow, Wisconsin is one wacky place. We gotta see that someday.

And now, we live here.

Also, can anyone tell us why there is a clock tower on the side of Miller Park?



SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most important event of the visit occurred on the last day, when we sat in the fancy seats-- some very good loge seats more of less behind home plate. The walkway behind our seats went right under the press boxes, which had their windows open, and we were literally about 20 feet from Gary Cohen and Ron Darling. So we stood on our chairs like idiots and yelled "Gary!!!!! Ron!!!!!!" From Ron, we got a half-hearted wave; from Gary, M. got a good point and a smile. Ron Darling was, of course, a great pitcher, but it's Gary Cohen who turned us into a shameless fanboy and fangirl. Cohen, an alum of Columbia, is probably one of the smartest, funniest, most intelligent sportscasters ever, and I say this with all due respect for Jerry Remy and many others.

Here they are:



In sum, we really enjoyed Miller Park, the Mets won 2 out of 3, and Milwaukee, what we've seen of it so far, is a fine (if small) city. As always, you can click on the "Curdistan Cam" to link to more images.

As y'all may have noticed, I've been a much less frequent poster as the school year approaches--- tons to do-- but do stay tuned, plenty more is on the way in cyberspace.