Win One For The Gipper
Christian Yelich says brutal “friendzone” scoreboard message inspired Brewers to late rally
There is no zone more dreaded than the friendzone. Just think about it. The end zone. The demilitarized zone. The P’Zone. All solid places to be. But the friendzone? It’s just one rung above hell—daily torment of heart, mind, and body. Despair all ye who enter the friendzone, especially Mark, who got unceremoniously shunted into love purgatory on Monday via a message on the Miller Park scoreboard shining for half of Milwaukee to see. Would actual friends do this to each other? Hell no they wouldn’t.
This is practically criminal, but hang tight. This story has a happy ending. At the time of this fateful message, the Brewers were down two runs to the Pirates heading into the bottom of the eighth. Sitting one-and-a-half games back of the Padres for the National League’s final wild card spot, a loss to the lowly Buccos would have been a backbreaker. With their season on the line, the Brew Crew looked up and saw Mark’s cruel fate gleaming back at them like a beacon. Feeling the pain of his fellow human course through his veins, Christian Yelich turned back to his guys and said “let’s go win one for The Gipper Mark."
And that's exactly what they did. After the message, the Brewers rallied for a 7-5 win, scoring four runs across the final two frames to not only stay within touching distance in the NL Wild Card standings, but also brighten Mark’s no-good, very bad day. Perhaps this is what the Brewers needed to get on a late-season roll. Maybe this is a reminder to Mark that life is long, love is mysterious, and there are a lot of fish in the sea. Or not, but it certainly makes for a good story.