The men's Final Four, the women's Final Four, the men's hockey Frozen Four, the Masters … what a week for sports. Despite the fact that it may have been the worst men's Final Four ever and that few watch the women's tournament, this will undoubtedly be the best full week of sports we see this year.

Your bracket may have been busted and you may hate watching golf on TV … in fact, you may not watch any of those four events, but the fact that baseball season got under way still makes this one of the best weeks ever.

I knew I was going to get my fair share of Milwaukee this weekend. Hopefully the Badger men's hockey team will give me a reason to stay there for a span of at least four days, starting today. Then again, can you ever really get your fair share of such a fine city?

Perhaps you can, but not this week.

That's why I decided that four or five days just wasn't going to be enough. I drove over Monday morning for Opening Day at Miller Park.

Personally, the strike of 1994 is long gone in my memory and the ongoing steroid saga really isn't going to sway me into leaving behind baseball. It is America's pastime, always has been and always will be.

Just ask the 45,000-plus that attended a game Monday between the Brewers and Pirates, most of which spent hours outside tailgating before the game in 40-degree weather.

There is nothing like baseball and nothing like opening day. And there is especially nothing better than an Opening Day of baseball in Wisconsin.

Where else would you find a tailgating party like this?

Despite an office-wide debate earlier this week about where tailgating started, it is never done as often or with as much pride as it is when done in the state of Wisconsin.

We arrived in the parking lot at 9 a.m. when the parking lot opened. We weren't the first in line — in fact, we only made the third row of cars. Time until the first pitch: about 4 hours.

Half an hour later, the other half of the group — which was in charge of food and beverage — shows up. Time until first pitch: about 3 hours, 30 minutes.

We drink our first beer. Time until first pitch: 3 hours, 29 minutes.

However, the fact that half the group was 30 minutes late was only the beginning of the lesson we learned: We were still in Spring Training mode, while those around us — with exception of the kids skipping high school — were in midseason form.

The guys next to us came equipped with a monster grill to cook a full chicken, a quarter-barrel and the cornhole boards. The only thing they didn't have was a can opener, but they gladly opened our can of sauerkraut with their hammer.

The guys one row back rolled in with a port-o-potty on their trailer. We laughed, until we were standing in a 15-minute line to use the can a couple hours later.

Did I mention there were thousands packing the lots to tailgate for four hours in 40-degree temperatures?

Oh yeah, and there was a game too.

Sure, the veterans had to help the up-and-comers to the first win of the season. A two-run single from Jeff Cirillo and a two-run home run by Carlos Lee bailed out a four-strikeout effort from Prince Fielder and a base-running blunder by Rickie Weeks. Then again, the real story was in right field.

No, not Jeff Jenkins, though he did strike out in three different ways — looking, swinging and advancing to first on a wild pitch. The real story was the all-important heckling of former Brewer Jeromy Burnitz.

Opening Day of baseball means the beginning of another year of heckling right fielders, relief pitchers and bullpen catchers from the right field bleachers. I made it my job to act as much like the bleacher bum in "Major League" as I could, and I think it is safe to say that I should be on salary after Monday's outing.

Even though I don't think he had to field a ball thanks to a quality start from Pittsburgh's Oliver Perez, he got his share of work trying to shield off the insults — varying from reminding him that he played for the Pirates or just to tell him he was balding — and he did go 0-for-4.

It was a great start to a great season and a great start to a full week of sports in the city of Milwaukee. Perhaps my TAs will allow me to go to classes at UW-Milwaukee since I won't be in town.

Either way, I'm thinking I can work this entire week into a commercial for Miller.

It's Miller Time.

Send your plans or stories from this weekend in Milwaukee to [email protected].