Wisconsin is brat country, something I learned too late after my first trip to Miller Park.

While I liked Miller, I was a little bit miffed at the low quality of the hot dog. I believe at the time I declared it to be the worst dog I’d ever had at a ballgame, and I liked Wendy Selig less afterward for it. (This was in 2001 when she still owned the Brewers.) As far as I was concerned, there was no excuse for a ballpark in Wisconsin to have a lousy hot dog.

It…

I live in South Jersey, which is unequivocally Philadelphia sports country. Nobody around here is a Giants or Rangers or Knicks fan, and the occasional Devils fan you find is not very vocal about it. People here bleed Eagles green, Flyers orange and Phillies red, and no one cares too much about the 76ers.

I don’t live and die with the Flyers’ fortunes and care much less about the Eagles, but I must admit that the new, revitalized sports complex in Philadelphia is quite the…

Even in the most comfortable of great seats in some of today’s ballparks, chances are you’re going to be sitting closer to a stranger than you’d like. This, especially for somewhat introverted people like me, can be a source of discomfort. Introducing yourself to strangers, something our parents always told us not to do, is difficult, and we just want to have a good time at the ballgame.

But you’ll likely get to talking to folks a little bit, as I have done many times. And…