I'll try and make this a short and sweet Friday Five this week as I have celebrating to do and you surely have your own weekend fun to get to. So here it is, this week's fantastic Friday Five!

1.) Catch that Brewers vs. Cubs game today? As someone who outed himself as a Cubs fan yesterday, even I agree the last at bat was a load of you know what. All four "balls" looked pretty good to me. Like I said though, I feel like I lose either way when these two teams play each other.


2.) Today, I thought it would be a great use of the weather (and a great way to rid a hangover) to go out and shag some fly balls and get some B.P. in. I have to say that after a few summer's away I am a bit rusty. It took a little time to re-learn how to judge the fly balls. I decided to throw a few pitches with the hardball and am happy I still have the control, but I doubt the 50 mph fastball will work on any human batter. So much for my theory of trying out for a spot in the Brewers bullpen to help with my unemployment woes.

3.) Fantasy Baseball: There's a good feeling when you're in Fourth place with a solid pitching staff and Prince Fielder anchoring your lineup and Manny Ramirez comes back from his suspension.

4.) Summerfest's dissapointing music lineup. Where are all the good free stage bands this year? No Less than Jake or Goldfinger was a sad for me to see. The Gufs made their usual appearance but other than them, all I am really excited for is Reel Big Fish and Relient K on Sunday. Oh well, maybe next year.

5.) Tour De France! Tomorrow the greatest bicycle race in the world gets under way. I may be the only American who is interested in this month long event (July 4th through July 26th). Most people wrote off the sport because of all the drugs and blood doping going on, but it's really improved the last few years. Imagine MLB watching it's players like hawks and banning people like Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield for life as punishment. That's how strict this sport has become. A few things that may interest the lay-person... Lance Armstrong is making his comeback after three years out of racing. I'm hoping he does well, but I feel like he's only going to tarnish his own legend. It feels like when Michael Jordan played for the Wizards to me. It's going to be interesting this year as Lance is not on an American team as he will ride for team Astana. I don't even consider Lance as a top 3 rider on his team, let alone the entire race. Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, and Yaroslov Popovych, all Armstrong teammates, are riders who have carried the torch for the past two years, and are considered favorites to win this year's race. Expect my TV to remain on the Versus channel all month!

Brewers vs. Cubs (Jim Gaffigan edition)

Today, the Brewers will head to Chicago for a four game series. For me, this is probably how it feels for Archie Manning to watch his two sons play each other in football. My name is Tommy, and I am a Cubs and Brewers fan.

"What!?" Yes, it is true. I am a huge fan of both teams and this is a very hard time of the year for me to watch baseball. First, Let me explain how this happened to me. I seem to be one of those rare Brewer fans that watched baseball before the year 1998 (I know many of you are also in that group, but I get the feeling there are a lot of current fans that recently jumped on the wagon long after that year). You see, before 1998 the Brewers were an American League team. Back then it made sense to cheer for an American League team and a National League team. When I was a youngster I would come home from school and turn on the Brewers game... unless it wasn't televised. Not televised? Back in the 80's, the Brewers were on channel 6, which was CBS back then, and then moved to channel 24, which was Fox. (In Jim Gaffigan voice, "How old is this guy?") Home games were never televised in Milwaukee so I would turn the trusty Antenna (Jim Gaffigan again, "Antenna, seriously how old is he?") towards the South and tune into WGN for the Cubs. I would pretty much hunt down a baseball game wherever I could find it.

Also, as a child, it was sometimes hard to tell which team you were watching (Gaffigan voice: "Is he mildly retarded?"). The Cubs and Brewers both had the white and blue pin striped uniforms where a normal person could easily tell them apart, but I may have been somewhat on the dumb side. For those of you that are saying, "they are two different teams!"... are they really? Let me show you some interesting facts. There are a total of 71 players and 2 managers that have been a Chicago Cub and Milwaukee Brewer. 43 of those have played for both teams since the mid 80's. Here's a few of those players that you may recognize: Damian Miller, Dan Plesac, Chuck Crim, Jamie Navarro, Eric Young, Matt Stairs, Matt Mieske, Candy Maldonado, Derrick May, Jeromi Burnitz, Chad Fox, and Henry Blanco. Two of your favorite Brewers on this years team were also Cubs.... Jason Kendall and Casey McGehee. One of your least favorite, Jody Gerut was a Cub too. Let's not forget that Don Baylor and Tom Trebelhorn were both either coaches or managers with both teams. Ever listen to a Cubs radio broadcast? If you can get past how bad Ron Santo is, you may recognize the voice of Pat Hughes... a former Milwaukee Brewers radio voice. (Gaffigan voice: This guy knows a lot of useless crap!")

I was basically a victim of being a kid who just wanted to watch Baseball 24 hours a day. If the Brewers weren't on TV, then the Cubs were, and vice versa. Being from Racine County, it seemed to be the normal thing to do (Gaffigan voice: "Racine county? Sounds like a bunch of farm children.") During my college years, which is known to many Brewer fans as the dark ages, my time was mostly spent involved in Track and Cross Country. I didn't have that much time for baseball but the time I did have, I would end up watching the Cubs fight for the playoffs and the infamous Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire homerun chase. When that was over, and I came back to Milwaukee, it was still pretty acceptable to enjoy both teams. It wasn't until 2007 where I noticed that it was unacceptable to cheer for both Cubs and Brewers. I guess sometime while I was in college, I got stuck in the space time continuum and still consider the Brewers an American Leauge team in a way. I worry more about the Cardinals and Reds and can't really think of the Brewers as rivals still. That might explain why I was more passionate about the Brewers playing the Tigers (Gaffigan voice: "I wonder if they make Tiger bacon?")

Now that we have that out in the open, we can talk about the series a bit... but just a little bit. The positive side to this is that I feel I may be the least biased person to discuss the topic without letting my douchebag side come out... and we all know there are a lot of douchebag fans of both teams that come out during this time! (I will save my opinions on the fan situation for later in the series)

So Brewers vs. Cubs (Gaffigan voice: "Finally, I thought he'd never shut up about that other stuff. Where's that tiger bacon?") Seth McClung will go for the Brewers while Ryan Dempster takes the mound for the Cubs. Dempster has had some rough outings recently but has been more successful when at Wrigley (3-1 with a 4.14 era). McClung has been pretty successful against the Cubs in the past so the pitching is pretty much a toss up. Personally, I feel the Brewers bats are going to be more active than the Cubs in this one. It's just a hunch, but I'll give the edge to the Brewers. Sorry I don't have too much to analyze but I figure with this series, anything I could analyze is out the window anyways. Both teams are looking to gain some ground in the division before the All-Star break and I think that says it all. (Gaffigan voice: "Do they make Bear bacon? Beer bacon?")

PS. I can't stand that "Go Cubs Go" song. It makes me feel like I cheer for a cartoon little league team. (Gaffigan voice: "It should be Go Bacon Go. Plus, I don't like this Tommy guy.")

PSS. Don't ever expect me to try this thing out!

This week's edition is being published on Saturday which I do sincerely apologize for. I spent the last two days at Miller Park so I feel that is a very acceptable excuse. And now for the "day-late" edition of The Friday Five...

1.) Dedicated Brewer Fans

While watching the first of the Twins vs. Brewers broadcasts, I noticed some things about a few fans. The first one is this guy. Have you noticed that this guy is at every home game? I'm not sure how I noticed him, but whenever they go to a shot of a right handed hitter such as the way they captured Corey Hart, this guy is in the background. I would think it's fair to give this guy the "biggest Brewer fan" title and maybe some kind of hilarious oversized hat. Watch for him, add it to your drinking game. Each time you see him, take a drink.


2.) Annoying Brewer fans

In that very same game, for the first couple of innings, I noticed a lady on her cell phone waving at the camera. How is it people keep breaking this well known rule of baseball game etiquette? I don't get it. I feel that these people should be escorted out of the game immediately while some stereotypical German guy smashes their cell phones on the pavement. She may have been as I didn't see her after the 5th or 6th inning anymore.


3.) Somewhat creative Brewer fans

Speaking of hilarious oversized things, there was a dude in the front row with a giant baseball glove. Although something like this could get old if in the wrong person's hands (mentally challenged ballhawks), it provided me with a good chuckle when I first saw it. Nicely done giant glove guy.


4.) Entirely too nostalgic Michael Jackson fans

Now I have nothing against Michael Jackson or his music. He was easily one of the most influential and popular musical acts in history. What I have a problem with is that now, when I go to a bar, turn on the radio, or go anywhere public, I have to listen to song after song after song by this guy. We get it, he died. He made good music. Please mourn with his music with your iPod headphones. Personally, I'd prefer to hear old clips of Ed McMahon... Hiyo!!

5.) People that can't decide what kind of weather they are fans of

For the whole first half of June, I had to listen to people complain, or write Facebook updates complaining about how it's too cold for June and it's supposed to be Summer weather. For the whole second half of June, these same people did nothing but complain about how hot it was outside and how much they hated it. I can tell you that I was one of the people who was complaining about not having warm weather the first half, but I love the weather we've been having. I'd gladly sweat while just sitting in a chair rather than walk through two feet of snow in zero degree weather. I'll tell ya, it's a heck of a lot easier to not wear pants in warm weather than cold weather!

A Plea to Chris Smith...

Mr. Smith, could you please bend the brim of your hat? Nobody over the age of twelve or not named Coco Crisp should ever, ever, ever wear their hat this way. That's all I have to ask of you.

G'day. I said G'day, Sir.

Bucks Not Done

If this is true, I love it. John Hammond appears to know what he's doing, doesn't he?

That Explains It...

As it turns out, Dave Bush doesn't just have arm fatigue right now, but rather a micro-tear in his triceps.

Bush suffered the injury on June June 4, after he took a Hanley Ramirez liner to the arm. Since the time of the injury, Bush has gone 0-3 with a 10.39 era. I knew Dave Bush couldn't possibly just suck overnight for no reason. Name one guy with a beard that sweet (until he shaved it off) that sucked at anything.

Mike Burns has been re-called from AAA and will likely start in place of Bush on Thursday. Bushie's expected to be out until after the All-Star break.

So Long RJ

According to Chad Ford, the Bucks have reportedly shipped Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen.

The move clears up $15M in cap-space for next summer, and assuming they cut Bowen, it will save the Bucks roughly $7M this year, giving them a greater chance at re-signing Charlie Villanueva.