The Brewers won their NLDS series against the Diamondbacks last night and shortly thereafter found out they'd be facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.
On the plus side, the Brewers have home-field advantage. On the negative, they have to play the Cardinals.
Tensions between these two teams have been high all season, culminating in the September game where Chris Carpenter screamed at Nyjer Morgan from the mound, prompting Morgan to swear back and throw his wad of chew.
For Brewers fans, things like Tony LaRussa's complaining about the brightness of the ribbon board and Albert Pujols' charging after Nyjer Morgan after the above-mentioned incident with Carpenter have left them with a pretty large hatred of the Cardinals.
And I get that. I'm as fed up with the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa as everyone else.
But I also think that complaining non-stop about the Cardinals does the Brewers no favors. And makes us no better than the whiny Cardinals that we're so fed up with.
From complaining about the umpires to being bad-tempered about start times and the shadows, the Cardinals had pretty much everyone else calling them whiny whiners this week.
But does whining about the whiners make us any better?
The Cardinals whine about many things, but thus far, Brewers fans are only whining about the Cardinals.
Pointing out the Cardinals many foibles just makes us seem petty and kind of insecure.
Yes, the Cardinals have a superiority complex. They don't like the upstart Brewers and their confident fans. They've had control of the NL Central for awhile and this small-market team is daring to challenge them and they're not handling it well.
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Screw 'em.
One of the things that folks across the league don't like about the Cardinals is how they've set themselves up as the arbiters of all that is right and good in baseball. They have an old-school mindset and they like things done a certain way.
So now when Brewers fan say that Cardinals attitude is wrong, aren't we just being arbiters of their demeanor? Is it really any different? Our loose, fun ways are better and anyone who doesn't act the same way, is wrong and should be heckled? Sounds like we're pushing our agenda same as they are.
Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals are often ridiculous. Anyone who watches them knows they're often ridiculous. No one took Pujols seriously this week when he complained about start times. He was a running joke on blogs and nightly sports shows.
There's no need to stand there and point at him and constantly remind people how dumb his comments are. Let the Cardinals ridiculous behavior stand on its own. To jump in and continually comment on it doesn't make us any better. We look like the tattletale in class.
Nobody outside of Cards fans (and even most of them are pretty fed up with his antics) thinks Tony LaRussa is a totally sane man. Let him say ludicrous things and file inconsequential claims and generally be a little bat-shit. The actions stand on their own as questionable - no need to harp on them.
Brewers fans could do themselves a favor by taking a cue from the Brewers players and adopting a little brash swagger. Lose the he said/she said attitude. Quit dropping to their level. Instead of joining in the petty antics and juvenile name-calling, rise above it.
