Between the Bars

Local Newswire: Don't underestimate Miller Park or Milwaukee's love for "The Big Lebowski"

To keep Between the Bars – and you – up-to-date, this weekly post provides a compilation of both the amusing and the significant (mostly the amusing) local stories from the last few days that I've found by keeping a sharp eye on the local newswire. Enjoy the wealth of information, dear readers. You deserve it.

• Milwaukee's first cheese factory, Clock Shadow Creamery, officially opened over the weekend after being approved for its dairy plant license, says OnMilwaukee.com. Yeah, I know, given our reputation you would’ve thought this wouldn’t be the city’s first. Well, it is. Named for the nearby Allen-Bradley Clock Tower, Clock Shadow Creamery hopes to grow interest in urban cheese making and bring a new stink of dairy to 2nd Street.

Local Newswire: The Braun saga continues, so Wisconsin will undoubtedly continue to binge drink.

To keep Between the Bars – and you – up-to-date, this weekly post provides a compilation of both the amusing and the significant (mostly the amusing) local stories from the last few days that I've found by keeping a sharp eye on the local newswire. Enjoy the wealth of information, dear readers. You deserve it.

• Last week, The Atlantic published a study aptly titled “The Geography Of American Binge Drinking,” and, as it turns out, the Midwest is really into drinking large quantities of booze in a short period of time. Wow. Shocking.

• The New York Daily News reported late last week that Ryan Braun's appeal has started. Braun will go before a three-man panel, which will decide whether Braun will serve a 50-game suspension during the 2012 season or if he will become the first major-league player to have a positive drug test overtuned. Stay tuned.

FYI: Wisconsin State Fair showcased on Travel Channel

Last night, I was trying to figure out what to watch and stumbled upon the Travel Channel, which was featuring footage from the 2011 Wisconsin State Fair. "State Fair Foods" explored various state fair treats found around the country, and you can bet our now official state dessert - the cream puff - was highlighted.

Speaking of cream puffs, check out this clip.

And this clip covers all of the seafood options - of all things - at the State Fair. This should tide you over until August.

The Wisconsin State Fair will be featured again on the Travel Channel during the special "State Fair Competitions," which will focus on interesting state fair competitions. I can only hope they showcase the Moo-la-palooza Mooing Competition. The episode airs at 5 p.m. Jan. 28 and will be followed by a repeat of the State Fair food episode at 6 p.m.

FYI: Milwaukee ranked No. 2 best city for love

Roses are red, violets are blue, and when it comes to love, we're ranked number two.

Released on Valentine’s Day (hence my terrible love poem), The Daily Beast ranked the cities where love’s promise is most profound and Milwaukee took second place.

The science of this list is relatively straightforward. Some cities have high percentages of single men and women, some cities foster a culture that places a higher value on marriage than others, and some cities just have better looking people and a more romantic cultural ambiance, explains the website.

FYI: Milwaukee named America's drunkest city

It’s true – and no real shocker – that Milwaukee was recently designated America’s "drunkest city" by The Daily Beast.

Mind you, these lists seemingly surface every other month and the ranking is always different, albeit Milwaukee is frequently near the top.

And being at the top of such a list is where we like to be. Why shouldn’t our beer pong playing skills and keg stand mastery be acknowledged? And all of those hours spent at our favorite local watering holes, I feel, definitely warrant the top honor. You think we do that for our health?

FYI: Slashfood features Milwaukee food

A post is definitely warranted whenever I find a good article that features Milwaukee. The other day, I came across a worthwhile read on AOL Living's Slashfood, which highlights Milwaukee and some of my favorite area mainstays, including Usinger's, Wisconsin Cheese Mart, Lakefront Brewery, Kopp's, and Miller Bakery.

Written by Mark Ellwood, the content itself is a tad cliché, considering everybody already knows that we like our cheese and brats here. However, the article also mentions some other foods that are uniquely Milwaukee – besides the infamous cheese curds – like thick frozen custard and the Friday Night Fish Fry.

Talk about ignorant

Any chance to defend Milwaukee's reputation and get the word out about the city's awesomeness definitely warrants a post. And Josh Smith's ignorant jab at Milwaukee is a great opportunity.

I never heard of this guy before he decided to run his mouth. This kind of pub didn’t work for Joakim Noah when he decided to rip Cleveland late last week, and it certainly won’t work for no-name athlete Smith.

According to news sources, the Atlanta forward took a jab at Milwaukee, saying "there’s pretty much nothing to do" in the city that will host the Hawks in Games 3 and 4 of the playoffs.

Smith made his comments Thursday when he told a reporter what he planned to do after the series shifted to the Bucks' home court. (Game 3 is Saturday night at the Bradley Center.)

Smith says, “Maybe go to Ruth’s Chris or something.” (Which doesn’t exist in Milwaukee.) "Miami has some really good restaurants. I never really did anything in Milwaukee. I would be happy to just find a restaurant." Miami was the Hawks’ first-round destination last year. And, yes, Miami is very different from Milwaukee. But we have restaurants. Damn good restaurants.

Then, Smith kept going.

Singles are on the prowl in Milwaukee

I have several friends who live in Milwaukee and who go on a date with someone new seemingly every night. This is either because they are the cream of the crop and highly dateable, they know where to look, or Milwaukee makes it easy for them.

As it turns out, Milwaukee was ranked No. 9 on this year's Forbes list of "Best Cities For Singles." And based on my friends’ dating success, I can’t say I’m too surprised by our position.

Milwaukee Bike to Work Week

No, you aren't experiencing déjà vu. Yes, it's Bike to Work Week again!

Confused? Let's backtrack.

Last month was National Bike Month and as part of it, the entire country celebrated National Bike to Work Week (BTWW), which was put on by the League of American Bicyclists and ran May 11-15.

In addition to National Bike to Work Week, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin decided to have their own, exclusive Milwaukee BTWW from Saturday, June 6 to Friday, June 12 in hopes of warmer weather and greater participation.

Unhappiest city?

Nothing would make the average person happier than knowing that the city where they reside has thriving businesses, low crime and unemployment rates, and plenty of sunshine.

Supposedly, this isn’t the case for Milwaukee.

According to an uncomplimentary list at BusinessWeek.com, Milwaukee was ranked the 11th "unhappiest city in the county" primarily due to its alleged 175 cloudy days per year and a December 2008 unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.

This list is composed of 49 other metropolises that were also dubbed "unhappiest city" based on a combination of factors, including their number of suicides, depression, divorce, unemployment and crime rates, rampant job and population loss, and amount of green space and cloudy days.

Milwaukee ranked 19th in depression and 16th in suicide. In property and violent crime, the city stood at 17th, while it fell to No. 30 in divorce rate.

I love Milwaukee and was actually quite shocked to hear that we were listed so high on the unhappy scale. Of course, Milwaukee could be much worse...

BusinessWeek.com’s first choice for unhappiest city was somewhat of a surprising one – Portland. This city topped the rank for depression and was No. 4 for divorce, No. 12 for suicide and No. 24 for violent crime.

St. Louis, New Orleans and Detroit were high on the list largely due to their soaring crime and unemployment rates, which are probably reasons for their shrinking population, as well.

High suicide rates and sluggish economic conditions – factors that'll make anybody depressed – contribute to the unhappiness of cities such as Las Vegas, Tucson, Sacramento, and Jacksonville, which round out the list.

Of course, if you’re planning to relocate soon, this kind of research might be beneficial. At the same time, being labeled an "unhappy city" doesn't mean you should take the next train out of town.

Each city on the list now has the opportunity to come up with ways to improve. You can do your part by supporting local businesses so that the economy will flourish, by forming neighborhood watch groups that stifle violent crime, or by organizing community-wide support networks to help limit suicide and divorce rates. The weather, unfortunately, that's completely up to Mother Nature.

Ultimately though, if you’d go up to folks living in Milwaukee or any of the aforementioned cities, I bet many residents would beg to differ with this unhappy designation. Obviously, not everyone is unhappy where they live.

Photo comes from gettyimages.com.