Saturday, March 29, 2008

Brat takes a beating

I hate it when after you eat Bratwurst you have little pieces of cartilage and fatty nodules stuck in your teeth. I guess this would be one of those times where dental floss would come in handy.

Now that baseball season is in full swing (almost), we're laying on the couch stuffing our faces with said brats, watching the Cubs beat the Mariners. Baseball and brats remind me of the Sausage Races at Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

And who could forget the player assault on the Italian sausage several years ago?? I'll never forget this. We had come back home to Chicago during this time and the News casters on WGN morning news could not get through this story without laughing hysterically. The entire cast was doubled over the desk in tears and one caster tried to read the story while the footage of the "assault" played on the screen. Luckily the person inside the costume was not hurt but the footage of this was one of the funniest things ever seen on tv. I tried to find video of it on youtube but so far, no luck. Here's a little write up about it and this is pretty much how it was worded for the newscaster who was reading this LIVE on the air. How could anyone get through this?

Randall Simon incident:
-On July 9, 2003 Randall Simon, then the first baseman of the Pittsburgh Pirates, maliciously assaulted a top-heavy sausage by hitting it on the head with a baseball bat. The tap didn't hit the human head of Mandy Block who was wearing the Italian Sausage costume, but it did knock her over, and she took the Hot Dog down with her. The Polish Sausage helped the Italian Sausage up and all sausages finished the Race. Simon was arrested and paid a fine, and was suspended by Major League Baseball for three games. He later apologized. Block asked only that the offending bat be autographed and given to her. Simon obliged. Since that incident, T-shirts and other propaganda popped up with the now infamous words, "Don't whack our weiner!"

Simon was traded to the Chicago Cubs later that season (for reasons unrelated to the incident). He returned to Milwaukee with the Cubs for a series against the Brewers. During the first game, Simon's teammates playfully held him back as the sausages raced past their dugout. In a later game that season, Simon purchased Italian sausages for a randomly chosen section of the crowd. He remains unforgiven by the majority of Milwaukee Brewers fans.-

It's really something that must be seen to appreciate and even thinking about it now makes me laugh out loud all over again. If anyone ever finds it, please let me know!!!

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

HA! My husband is from Milwaukee and he's a huuuuge Brewer's fan. I've gotten to see the sausage race, and it is certainly a sight to behold. And BRATS! Aw, you make me feel at home when I read happy midwesterny things on your blog. I love brats. Soak them in beer and onions, and grill the hell out of them! Delish. I'm weird though, I cut the casing off of my brat before it's soaked and grilled. How do you like yours?