The Brewers lead the Dodgers 3-0 in the NLCS after a 6-2 win in Los Angeles Wednesday night. Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell went back-to-back off Blake Snell in the seventh. One more win and Milwaukee is headed to the World Series.
And if you have spent any time on Instagram this week, you know who really deserves the credit. Not Bauers. Not Mitchell. Not the bullpen. Only David Crowley.
On this week’s midweek episode of the New Fashioned Conservatives podcast, I joked that Crowley went six strong, struck out five, and allowed one run. Then I corrected myself. He went three for three with two homers and a stolen base. That is about where the left-wing influencer crowd has landed, and I am only barely exaggerating.
And when the Brewers finish off the Dodgers, it will be because of the guys in the uniforms, not the guy running Milwaukee County who signed taxpayers up for $67.5 million and a higher sales tax.
As we reported here at the Heartland Post, a verified account called @hellobrownfamily, normally a fashion and family page, posted a reel of a woman in a Brewers sweatshirt at American Family Field with the message: “When you’re cheering on the Brewers this postseason, just remember you can thank David Crowley for helping keep them in Milwaukee through 2050.” Another reel from @motherhoodforgood credited Crowley for “helping negotiate a deal to keep the Crew at home.” And a slew of other accounts that have never cared about stadium financing got the same memo that night.
So let’s talk about the deal. It is 2023 Wisconsin Act 40, signed by Gov. Tony Evers in December 2023. It puts $500.8 million in public money into American Family Field through 2050. The state covers $365.8 million. Milwaukee County pays $67.5 million. The City of Milwaukee pays another $67.5 million. Crowley’s contribution was having a seat at the table while the Legislature wrote the bill, and then signing up county taxpayers for their share. He called it a deal with “no additional impact on local taxpayers,” which is a fun line to read the same year the county sales tax he pushed for went from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent.
Nobody seriously thinks the Brewers were moving. Nobody was going to be rooting for the Nashville Brewers or Montreal Brasseurs. But fine. If the rule now is that a politician who voted to spend public money on a building gets credit for whatever the team does inside it, let’s apply the rule evenly.
Thank Tom Tiffany for saving the Bucks.
In July 2015, Tiffany was a state senator from Hazelhurst sitting on the Joint Finance Committee. Senate Bill 209, the Bucks arena bill, came up for a vote on July 15, 2015. It passed 21-10. Tom Tiffany was a yes. The bill became 2015 Wisconsin Act 60, and the building it helped pay for is now Fiserv Forum.
Six years later, on July 20, 2021, Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 50 on the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 inside that very building, and the Bucks won their first NBA title in 50 years. By influencer math, that is a Tiffany championship. Giannis was just the guy holding the trophy.
And to be fair to Tom, he was no pushover on the deal. Back in 2015, when Gov. Scott Walker proposed $220 million in state bonding, Tiffany said the state number should be closer to $100 million. “Milwaukee County, the city of Milwaukee, they’ve got to put more skin in the game,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think the owners have got to put more skin in the game.” So he pushed for a smaller state share and then voted for the final bill. That is more negotiating than some Instagram reels give Crowley credit for, and it actually happened.
Remember, too, the Tiffany ad that talked up the Brewers and skipped the Bucks, and the crowd that tried to make something sinister out of it. Turns out the man has been quietly carrying the Bucks since 2015. He just never made a reel about it.
Of course, this is ridiculous. That is the point. Giannis won the Bucks a title. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday were major contributors. Bobby Portis brought the energy. Tom Tiffany did not grab a single rebound or hit a single shot. And when the Brewers finish off the Dodgers, it will be because of the guys in the uniforms, not the guy running Milwaukee County who signed taxpayers up for $67.5 million and a higher sales tax.
If the Crowley campaign wants influencers handing out sports credit, I am happy to play along. Just know the scoreboard. Tiffany: one NBA championship. Crowley: a pending sales tax receipt.
Go Brewers. Fear the Deer. And you don’t need to thank a politician for any of it; check who paid for the building.
