Fandom in the modern age

Have I told you that I love TiVo? Without TiVo (and Direct TV), I would be unable to watch all of the Brewers’ games. Plus, it makes my watching much more efficient—skipping commercials and dead time really speeds up the pace of the game. I can easily get through the entire game in an hour or less if I need to. The only real downside to not watching live is that nearly everyone else watches in real time (and assumes that you do, too.) By now, most people know that they have to ask if I’m watching live before revealing any details. Take my brother, Nick, for example. Here’s a sampling from our text message exchange from today.

From: Nick

“You watching?”

Aug 1, 2:53 pm

My reply:

“At Science Museum with Alex and Braxton. Whoooo SB?” [SB is code for Summer Boyfriend so “Whoo SB” would mean Ryan Braun hit a HR.]

Aug 1, 2:54 pm

From: Nick

“No it’s a F@ck Hunter Pence”

My reply:

“Man …”

From: Nick

“It got worse.”

My reply:

“Crap. Should I even watch?”

From Nick:

“Yea … its not over.”

If I do watch the game live, I follow the game comments on Brew Crew Ball. The first time I stumbled upon this site, I felt like I had found a group of long lost friends. Living in Minnesota is tough sometimes. Never mind that I was too intimidated to actually make a comment of my own for the first half of the season. After the All-Star game I finally got up the nerve to make a snarky comment or two.

Perhaps because I’ve adopted F@ck Hunter Pence! as a battle cry, my friend Chris suggested I become a friend of Hunter Pence’s on Facebook. I had to check it out. There is, of course, the fake Ryan Braun page, but this page seems to be legit. You can follow him on Twitter, too. @HunterPence9 

I’m sure he’d be flattered if he knew about the whole F@ck Hunter Pence! thing—it is the highest form of flattery. He is going to give away one of his bats once he reaches 5,000 friends. He has around 3,100 friends now.

Pence didn’t apologize to Randy Wolf via his Facebook page, though. What my brother Nick was telling me without really telling me is that Wolf was pitching a gem and the Brewers had a 2-0 lead—until Pence lined one off of Wolf’s wrist and knocked him out of the game in the seventh inning. After that, the bullpen gave up a grand slam and the Brewers were swept.

I soooo did not befriend Hunter Pence. Some lines cannot be crossed.  

Astros 5, Brewers 2

Game played 8-1-10