You know you're a Madison Mallards' intern when:

You know you’re a Madison Mallards’ intern when:

-You paint everything green, well, “Old Virginia Green” to be exact, and by the first week you’ve changed the words to an LL Cool J song, saying, “You down with OVG? Yeah, you know me.”

-You’ve done three complete circles around the ballpark’s perimeter in trying to find one of the team’s two drills for your project. When that fails you paint something green.

-You’ve named the team’s four-wheeler, “Tammy,” and often use walkie-talkies to sing out phrases like, “Has anyone seen Tammy?” and “I hope Tammy isn’t cheating on me.”

-You move so many kegs that you tweak muscles you never knew existed in the human body. But knowing that so many thousands of people depend on you, and your frothy beverages, you no longer feel pain. “Go on beer man, do your thing,” the people chant.

-You lock your keys in your car prior to donning the Maynard G. Mallard costume for eight hours to go business-to-business with a local radio station. Now that’s a predicament where having a mascot head nearby is handy. Moreover, it’s much less embarrassing when a human-sized duck locks his keys in his car.

-You’ve driven the rented mechanical lift so much that you fantasize about taking it through the Culver’s drive-through just down Northport Drive.

-You’ve had the opportunity to experience home openers for two different baseball organizations.

-You wake up in cold sweats after hearing someone whisper “Hex Head Bit” over and over again. Then you realize it was just you.

-You now love ballpark food, whether you like it or not. And you now know how to make a chicken sandwich 42 different ways. Ever try a Cuban Chicken Sammy?

-You’ve sprayed the ballpark’s pavement enough times that you A) could draw the park’s drainage patterns blind-folded, and B) probably have athlete’s foot. I’d probably be concerned about the former.

-You laugh at your so-called “9-5” friends and family members, as they don’t know that the fun really begins at 7:05 p.m.

-In your first month you bought a cape; went to a craft store; drove to Wisconsin Dells in a 1985 Dodge Minivan, aptly called “Big Blue”; taped a little league game; made an appearance as Maynard in a John Deere commercial; and drove to 170 miles to Wausau to catch a glimpse of the Mallards.

-You probably have bled on the job or have had near severe sunburn. Hey, you win some and you lose some.

Schmeltzer's 3rd installment: Nobody has more fun than people!

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur due to the fact that the sales season is now in full swing and life and times at the "Duck Pond” are picking up once again. The hardest part of the winter season is waiting for the NWL schedule to be released. Although, it is a great pleasure to start making calls and talking to current and potential clients about that wonderful thing we call Mallards baseball!

I had a hard time coming up with a topic for this blog, but I decided that one of the hardest decisions we make during any day, throughout the whole year, is “what we’re doing for lunch”. The North Side doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of choices, so it usually makes for a majority vote on where we eat for lunch.

There is a handful of us who bring our own lunch, but when that doesn’t happen we normally choose from places like; New Orleans Take-Out, Subway, Pierce’s Market, Culver’s, Smokey Jon’s, Jim’s Meat Market & the Mexican convenient store on Northport Drive. Obviously, there are more options but I would say these are the most popular destinations.

The Mexican convenient store is located near Culvers and is a spot we discovered this past summer, thankfully. They have the best authentic tacos at a reasonable price. When we go there the office smells for days of steak, pork and chicken but it’s worth it. If you are ever on the North Side around lunch time you have to give this place a shot!

Subway is another great story. First of all, they are a wonderful sponsor and they also have the ever popular $5 foot-long sub. I think Jerrad ate there for a month straight back in September. Anyway, there is a guy who works over there; we call him, “Bob the Builder” and he has become an icon to everyone here in the office. He has a voice that you would be able to differentiate and a certain swagger to the way he conducts his art of sandwich-making. If you are on the North side and want a cheap lunch with a good story, swing in and say hi to Bob. Tell him Kevin from the Mallards sent you.

Next is Jim’s Meat Market. They have a tremendous amount of deli products and you can’t go wrong with anything you purchase for lunch there. Their staff members are always friendly and they have some great suggestions. Personally, I like the subs but I know a lot of people in the office like their fried options. No matter what you get, it’s AWESOME!

Finally, while we are on the topic of food our office made a trip out to Rookies Food & Spirits in Mazomanie last week to sample some food options for next year. One of the things most of us really enjoyed was the buffalo blue cheese & cheddar sticks. This will be one of the new features on our appetizer buffet menu in the suites this summer. (pictured is the Glazer Bacon Cheeseburger we served last summer...minus the fried egg)

Thanks for reading my post. I hope you enjoyed it. If you are ever on the North Side for lunch and need a bite to eat make sure to think about some of the options mentioned above. But remember once June 1^st gets here the best place to grab a bite to eat is the never-ending menu here at the Duck Pond!