To The Champions

 Brewers Win World Series

I found the World Series to be especially enjoyable this year for a couple of reasons.  One, it pitted the the Milwaukee Brewers against the Tampa Bay Rays, the two teams with the best records in their respective leagues, and two, neither franchise had ever won the World Series, so you knew that whichever team won, you would be seeing something that had never been done before, and you were going to see, regardless of who won, a team and a fan base that was going to be deliriously happy.  Plus, both teams were small market teams with small payrolls.  It can be done, Bob Nutting. I hope you were watching and taking notes.

There was a time, during the Ryan Braun Era, that I did not like the Milwaukee Brewers.  That has changed ever since I saw Christian Yelich send an autographed bat and ball out to a kid in the left field foul territory at PNC Park after he, Yelich, snagged ball for an out after the kid was set to catch a foul ball.  It also changed when we met up with friend and fellow Loyal Little Steve "Oz" Ozbolt made the trip from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh to see his Brewers play the Pirates in 2023.

We have been communication with Oz throughout the season and especially during the playoffs and World Series, so we are just so happy for him and all Brewers fans.  

In the aftermath of the Brewers victory, it was so moving to see how the Brewers and the people of Milwaukee honored the memory of the late Bob Uecker, and dedicated this victory to him.  Loyal readers may recall that when Uecker died in 2025, I asked Steve Ozbolt to write the Absent Friends post for The Grandstander.  It is worth rereading once again in light of the Brewers victory.  You can find it HERE.

And how cool was it to see the Brewers hoist that World Series Trophy at Lambeau Field last Monday night at the Packers game?

Valkyries Win WNBA Championship

For the first time in it's thirty year history, the WNBA Finals went to a seventh game (the WNBA only went to a best of seven format last season).  The Golden State Valkyries, an expansion team in only its second year of existence defeated the Atlanta Dream to take the title. It was an interesting series, with both teams winning games by lopsided scores, and one game being played at 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon.  The seventh game was a close one and as thrilling as any seventh game in any sport should be.

Congratulations to the Valkyries and Finals MVP Gabby Williams, who was unstoppable in that seventh game.

Bob Wins $400

1st Place ($400): Grandstander (Bob Sproule)

Each year, my friend Fred Shugars runs confidence pools for the MLB Playoffs, the NFL Playoffs, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Now it must be noted that Fred is an actuary (retired from Highmark BCBS), so the scoring in his pools is quite complex, based upon formulas involving runs/points/goals scored vs. runs/points/goals given up times the confidence values of the teams.  It is all calculated colorful Google spread sheets and when you pay your fifteen bucks to enter, you just gotta trust the process and just accept that this is how your entry is doing and enjoy the snappy banter and photos that Fred posts in his daily email updates.  There were fifty-four entrants in the pool, and this time around, I came in first place.  I have reproduced the headline from Fred's summation email above.

Two comments.  (1) I consider winning a Shugars Confidence Pool one of the highlights of my gaming career.  (2)  I am not the first person in the family to win one of these.  Linda won the Stanley Cup Confidence Pool in 2023.