Brewers unveil Corey Hart bobblehead

Did somebody say bobblehead? Oh baby! This year of the bobblehead thing has got me even more excited about the upcoming season. Just think, every two weeks Sunday Funday at the ballpark will include a bobblehead giveaway at Miller Park!

Today the Brewers released the Corey Hart bobblehead. It's a little different than the one released a few years ago. This one, the Brewers say, is to honor the 100-year anniversary of the Minor League Brewers first American Association championship, and will be given out May 5.

Early reviews of the bobble are that it looks nothing like Corey. Well, this isn't the first time and it probably won't be the last a bobblehead looked nothing like the person it was representing. Some have noted the tattoos are missing. Well, they're kind of ugly anyhow. Plus, this bobble looks healthy and Corey will not be active when this day comes after his knee surgery last week. That said, it's a different idea to have a player in this uniform. How many times could they have a player that's been with the team longer than anyone in the current uniform and still have people interested in it? I get it. It should be fun.

Bobblehead days have always been a great way to have a draw for the team. When the Brewers announced they were going to have 10 bobblehead giveaways I figured they would have some weekday giveaways to help draw attendance. I know they lost millions last year with payroll and regardless of when these days were scheduled it would draw gate revenue. Sunday is not a hard day to draw until September so a weekday would make sense.

Here is the full schedule of bobbles from Brewers.com and below are the first two released bobbleheads. Pretty sweet!


The Nori Aoki bobblehead giveaway is set for April 7 (yes the first weekend of the season) when the Diamondbacks are in town. This is a great likeness to Nori and maybe one of the closest ones to a player in along time.


The George Scott bobble will be given away April 21 in a game against the Cubs. I love the gold gloves and his gold chain. Totally late 70s and early 80s.

2013 Brewers On Deck redeems itself to this fan

The winter after my Milwaukee Brewers won the National League Central title, I should have been ecstatic about getting back with my summer family and hitting up Brewers on Deck in 2012, but 15,000 people all seemingly not as big a fan as me totally turned me off.

The 2013 edition of Brewers On Deck may have saved the event in my eyes, however. The event still had longer lines than Six Flags with a ride that lasted just seconds watching a player sign a sheet of paper, but got me engulfed in the team I love and motivated me to write this.

After a tad of crazy bad luck both during the week and this morning, I actually went to the event by myself. Crazy, I know, but there were going to be friends there I could check in with and not be a complete loner the whole day, so it worked out OK.

Since I was shut out on the autograph front, I actually made a B-line to one of those long lines I was talking about. After two hours, I got a chance to greet and get an autograph from Carlos Gomez.





Waiting in line for the autograph actually made it easy on me to get in line for what could be the biggest surprise of the event, which is the success of these grab bags the team sells. Basically it's a bag of leftover bobbleheads from the year before. I know we all love bobbles, but I don't need another Randy Wolf, thank you. An Aramis Ramirez one, which I did not get last year, however, I will take! Make that one of the "rare" bobbles and it's an even bigger win. Add to that the 2011 commemorative DVD and a voucher for two free tickets Opening Week of the season, I'm I just found out why they are so successful. That's how you make $25 count!



After that, I pretty much lived at the Main Stage where the team had a Q & A with the newest Brewers, "Milwacky Squares," their play on Hollywood Squares, "Brewers Faceoff," a play on Family Feud and a media round table discussion with the beat reporters from the team (which in Milwaukee is about four guys). This was the one area I always thought the team did very well on throughout the years at their On Deck events. Well, that is if you don't count the inclusion with Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Belding on Saved By the Bell eons ago.

There the storylines for Spring Training and the season were discussed. From Corey Hart's knee surgery and how Mat Gamel will fare at first base, to the revamped bullpen and the "Baby Brewers" starting rotation. I'll delve into all of them in the next couple of weeks as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting on February 12, but as the Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt said, "(GM) Doug Melvin and (owner) Mark Attanasio sat out here and are actually honest in saying they think those guys can get it done" in regards to the starting pitchers. I'm actually on board with the move, too, with the six guys vying for four spots heading to Maryvale ready to duke it out and earn their spot in the rotation. How that will fall, we have to see how it unfolds, but at least one is going to end up throwing out of the bullpen to start the season.

Things look promising for this team and there is flexibility if the team is in contention to make a move with a payroll under $80 million heading into the season. A good talk with my man +Brewer Nation motivated me to stay focused on this writing game and I'll try to focus on the Brewers, especially after the Super Bowl.

Be sure to click below for more of my photos from the day!

Emery, Bears being thorough not frantic, in coach search

Some have called it frantic. Others have asked if Chicago Bears General Manager Phil Emery's head coaching search had any direction. Things had seemed to get so out of control ESPN had a page dedicated to ranking the candidates. But putting the pieces together from interviews around the league and it seems quite the contrary.

As ESPN's NFC North blogger Kevin Seiffert sited in his story up this weekend, Titans GM Ruston Webster said, "I know Phill Emery and Phil Emery is about as thorough a human being as I have known."

NFL insider extraordinaire Adam Shefter took that a step further after talking with two of the thirteen coaches that have been interviewed. They both said they hadn't "interviewed with anyone who was as prepared and detailed as Emery."

That said, the time has to be about up to strike for the best candidate over the course of the next week. It's become public knowledge Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians interviews today (Sunday) with the Bears. He might be the leading candidate and the advantage the Bears have is they are the first known scheduled interview stop.

The main theme amongst the candidates is an offensive mind is likely to get the job. Arians would be a choice that could work as could Mike McCoy the offensive coordinator of the Broncos. McCoy is another guy that has been linked to multiple teams and is a hot commodity.

As a fan, that would be the way I'd like them to go. Will the new coach change the scheme on defense? That is to be decided. It wouldn't necessarily have to be. The personnel is very good at running the Cover-2 scheme and a change would certainly close the window on the aging unit in its final years. Plus, as the Bears' team Web site wrote this week, a change in scheme could mean the certain departure of Brian Urlacher, something I'm not wanting to do.

Either way, stay tuned, the next week could be interesting to see how this thing shakes out!