Before I moved to Milwaukee, I was a frequent visitor and found myself getting lost in various neighborhoods looking for restaurants or the homes of friends.
One of the first unique parts of the city I came across was the house on Humboldt Boulevard that has a bunch of cars half buried in the front lawn.
This fascinated me, and even now I slow down to take a look at it. I'm not sure what I'm looking for – maybe some kind of "Revenge of the Fallen" thing might happen that day – but I do it nonetheless.
Then I realized – people in Milwaukee love having stuff in their yards. And not just usual yard stuff, like those glass globes or gnomes – but weird stuff.
Like a steel giraffe in a wooded, unkempt backyard. Or a ship's anchor. I mean, why not?
Know of any other weird yard stuff in Milwaukee? Sure you do. It seems we all love it.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
