Smirking, the Louisville Bats add Sam Adams Rebel IPA to Slugger Field's paltry roster of good beer. Yawning, we stay home.

It's really hard to muster the enthusiasm necessary to care any longer about the willfully dismal record of the Louisville Bats when it comes to locally brewed beer ... about the team's perennial envelope-stuffed-with-cash Philistinism ... about management's proud ignorance.

In effect, every year begins with the management of the Bats looking me in the eye and saying, "We don't give a damn about you and your ilk. Enjoy the game."

I respond by showing up quite seldom, if at all. It's a shame, because the park is great. It's just that somewhere between 15 and 20 years of being insulted eventually add up to something that does not resemble an urge to support the team with my money.

Here's the occasional update on the situation at the one concession stand (hot roasted peanuts, main concourse, by section 115) that might periodically boast a locally-brewed beer, courtesy of Joel, who sounds fairly bored by the ordeal, too.

"My first Bats game in several weeks, and there was actually a bit of improvement at the 'craft' beer stand. Sam Adams' Rebel IPA had replaced the Redd's Apple Ale, joining Sam Adams' Boston Lager, BBC APA, and (still) the Leinenkugle Summer Shandy as tonight's selection."