Hey Brewer

What does “Hey Brewer” mean?

When my group of friends started using this as a greeting, it was met by curious expressions from people not familiar with the term. We were often asked what the term meant exactly and where we came up with it.

I used to share the story of how it came about:

In the summer of 2003 I was living in Los Angeles. During Memorial Day weekend I decided to get together with a large group of friends from LA and San Diego. We thought it would be a great idea to attend the Dodgers v Brewers game at Chavez Revine. Being poor college students, we all bought the $5 “family section” tickets. Little did we realize that the family section would be filled with characters that fall into a culture/group commonly referred to as “cholos.”

The game itself was played without much fanfare, there was some activity in the stands, but nothing outside the norm. To be honest, I don’t remember much from the game, nor do any of my friends, the only thing we do remember is the guy taunting the Brewers relief pitcher.

Sometime around the 6th inning we all got up to get some food and walk by the fence overlooking the bullpen. Standing over the fence was an extremely drunk cholo trying in vain to get the pitchers (Leo Estrella) attention. The interaction went something like this:

Drunk Guy: “Hey you, peet-chur”
Leo Estrella: No response
DG: “I’m talking to you peet-chur…I know you hear me”
LE: No response
DG: “ESTRELLA!! Look at me!”
LE: No response
DG: “Come on Estrella!!”
LE: No response

–1 minute of silence, drunk guy clearly trying to think of a new taunt–

DG: “HEY BREWER!”
LE: Looks up and can’t help but laugh

The timing of this taunt, the reaction, the excitement of the drunk guy getting a reaction and the reaction of the people sitting around watching this intearction (us included) created a perfect storm. Everyone within earshot immediately began laughing and repeating the phrase.

For a period of at least a year, this became the greeting of choice between us and to this day it will still occasionally come up. I never gave it more thought than that.

As time has passed though I realize that there was more to it. The use of this term really captures a big part of the reason I love sports. It relates to the unexpected outcome of a sports game, little did we know coming into this game that we were going to leave with a comedy nugget we would be sharing for years to come. It captures the idea of friends and fans, this stupid comment created a small subculture between a group of people, all because we happened to hear at the same time at the same event. Lastly and maybe most importantly, it was an inside joke, something we shared in public that no one else outside of our circle was privy to…and that’s how I feel about sports conversations.

When you talk about sports with someone who understands the topic and is obsessed with it, you feel like you are part of a secret club. People on the outside listening in have no idea what you’re talking about, but to you and the other person it makes perfect sense. You use terms like WHIP and ERA, talk about the AP and BCS, mention a players PER rating and talk about rumors and stories related to your favorite team or player.

That’s what I want this blog to be. I want it to be me and my group of friends talking about sports to other people just like us. People who get the inside joke and revel in the fact that there are people who don’t. There are no censors here and we encourage hate and shit talking.

Enjoy.