What could push the Packers off the front of the sports pages?

This:

Morgan a smash up the middle, base hit to center! Here comes Gomez! Around third! The throw and the Brewers win! … The Brewers are moving on, on a base hit by Nyjer Morgan! He’s being mobbed! Whoa, what a scene! Nyjer Morgan … who has delivered so many times this year, delivers a base hit to center field to score Carlos Gomez! And the Brewers have beaten Arizona! What a scene out here! Morgan mobbed at the mound! Whoa!

You really have to hear Bob Uecker’s call of the first playoff series win for the Brewers since 1982, which means the Brewers will face St. Louis in the National League Championship Series starting this afternoon.

The Cardinals did themselves and the Brewers a favor by defeating Philadelphia in the other National League Division Series. Thanks to the National League’s win in the All-Star Game earlier this year, the National League will have home-field advantage (hosting games 1 and 2 and, if necessary, 6 and 7) in the World Series. And because wild-card St. Louis won instead of number-one seed Philadelphia, number two seed Milwaukee, possessor of the best home record in baseball this season (and 3–0 at home but 0–2 on the road in the postseason so far), gets home field advantage in the NLCS.

The Brewers and Cardinals have a history, of course. St. Louis defeated the Brewers 4 games to 3 in the 1982 World Series. And since the Brewers moved to the National League, Cardinals–Brewers games have been must-see occasions, particularly since the Cubs have reverted into their usual state of ineptitude.

I’ve been to St. Louis twice to watch the Cardinals, first at the previous-plastic-iteration Busch Stadium, and at the current Busch.

St. Louis probably has the best atmosphere for baseball in the major leagues, both because of the Cardinals’ well-designed (but expensive-to-dine-in) stadium and because the Cardinals are subject number one of every day in St. Louis. The Cardinals are a well-run operation that fixed one of its errors when they moved their games back to where they always belong, 50,000-watt KMOX (1120 AM), a station you can probably get in your car in your driveway after sunset.

More history: Milwaukee native Uecker was a Cardinal who was the backup catcher (to Fox Sports’ Tim McCarver) when the Cardinals won the 1964 World Series.

Uecker’s World Series contribution to the Cardinals wasn’t during the seven games, however. Before Game 1 in St. Louis, probably because it seemed like a good idea at the time, he decided to try to catch fly balls with a tuba:

(Although I have not checked, I think it’s safe to say that when the UW Marching Band played before Game 3 of the 1982 World Series, no UW tuba player tried to emulate Uecker.)

Doug Russell adds other reasons for the Brewers–Cardinals rivalry:

And now, just as the Packers had to get past their chief rival to get to the Super Bowl; that is what is standing between the Brewers and the World Series. Remember, of course, that a true rival isn’t one that just beats up on the other; there has to be success at the same time. You actually have to be playing for something to make a rivalry all it can be.

Along with mutual success, the other key element of what makes a hated rival is how much hatred can be spewed among their fans.

Cardinals fans are a passionate lot. They have long supported their team through good times and bad. They are, without question, the most passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans in the game.

Just ask them. …

The Cardinals, led by manager Tony La Russa, also think that everyone should comport themselves with the dignity of attending the opera or ballet when on a baseball field. It is called a diamond after all.

You see, though, that’s why they hate the Brewers. Because the Brewers are a fun, irreverent, boisterous group that have un-tucked their jerseys; gestured their “beast mode” to the crowd; and actually look like they are having a good time playing a child’s game.

Russell quotes the unrelated Chris Russell of stltoday.com:

“It’s okay to hate the Brewers. Really, it is. They have that familiar upstart swagger that the Cardinals are used to seeing in teams that catch a few breaks, go on a one-year run and suddenly feel invincible. Typically failing franchises like the Brewers, Reds and Cubs seem to feel like the world owes them something for being long-time losers. They bitch and moan and sulk when things don’t go their way, but then when they get their rare season that involves a playoff push they act like they are part of this juggernaut that can’t be messed with. Like they’ve been there before and other teams just can’t stack up. It always comes along with a brash, yet undeserved, cocky attitude and public outcries that involve choice words for the only team in the division that seems to be everyone’s rival. The Cardinals.

Every wonder why that is? It’s because those teams haven’t been there. They retool every year with crops of washed up veterans and hopeful youngsters, and when that one magical season works for them they don’t know how to handle it. The proof is in their playoff success. Or lack thereof. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have been there, and have been the cream of the crop in the division – with few exceptions – since 2000. …

[Brewers fans] boo everything. It’s almost as if they don’t know what’s going in the game at all. Someone makes a lineup change and you’d think Santa walked onto the field in Philadelphia. It’s okay to boo, but at least know what you’re doing. Idiot douche bags.

(One wonders what St. Loo’s Russell thinks of Phillies and Yankees fans, who, contrary to his assertion, really do boo everything.)

To those gross generalizations, Milwaukee’s Russell replies:

This is why Brewers fans hate Cardinals fans. That column sums up what they think of the rest of the league, wrapped up in one spiteful, uppity, self-absorbed, hate filled, nonsensical, fantasyland fueled diatribe. This is how they all think. This is how Cardinals fans view themselves; the lone arbitrator of what is right and what is wrong with baseball. They get to decide because they are the only ones that respect the game. Again, just ask them. …

So that brings us to today. Once again, it’s the Brewers and the Cardinals; two teams that cannot escape each other. In the two biggest series in franchise history, what are the odds of both being played against the same franchise?

But, that’s what makes a rivalry great. Mutual success and mutual distaste.

Not to mention rivalry-fueled overstatement.

More pertinent than the rivalry between the teams’ fans is the rivalry between the teams. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt merely had to stick his recorder or notebook in the middle of this:

When it was suggested to St. Louis rightfielder Lance Berkman that there is a general perception that the Cardinals and Brewers don’t like each other, he bluntly replied, “And that’s correct.”

Right-hander Zack Greinke, who will start Game 1 for the Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park, certainly did nothing to quell the bitterness when asked if the clubs genuinely dislike each other.

“Maybe now,” he said. “I think no one really likes (Chris) Carpenter. Besides that, I think (the Brewers) respect mostly everyone on their team.”

Greinke referred to the Cardinals’ ace, whose 1-0 shutout of favored Philadelphia in Game 5 of the National League Division Series propelled wild-card St. Louis into the confrontation of NL Central rivals. That comment drew an immediate and expected response from St. Louis manager Tony La Russa.

“Very disappointed that Greinke would say that,” said La Russa. “I don’t know him a lot, but I always thought he was a high-character, classy guy. That’s a bad comment to make unless you know Chris Carpenter.

“Our attitude is we look at ourselves and we grade ourselves. And even if we don’t like what’s happening on the other side, it’s not our business unless somebody crosses the line.

“So, I think the Brewers should take care of their players and their comments and not be concerned about other players and comments. But, like I said at the beginning, if they had Chris Carpenter they would be cheering for him and believing in him and they would not allow somebody that was a teammate to make a crack like that.”

It’s certainly no secret that the Cardinals do not like Brewers centerfielder Nyjer Morgan, going back to past transgressions when Morgan played for Washington, including a forearm shiver he gave unsuspecting catcher Bryan Anderson in a game last season.

Then, there was the confrontation between Carpenter and Morgan the last time the Brewers and Cardinals met Sept. 7 in St. Louis. Carpenter struck out Morgan in the ninth inning, cursing him after doing so and then turning his back.

Morgan tossed a wad of chewing tobacco toward Carpenter, prompting Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols to come across the infield to confront him. That action led to the benches and bullpens clearing, but it stopped there. …

Brewers rightfielder Corey Hart had perhaps the best take on the feelings about Morgan and Carpenter.

“With both of those guys, if they’re on your team you like them and if they’re on the other team you probably don’t like them,” said Hart. “Whether you like the guys or not, you respect them.”

Yes, this should be fun.