Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell is getting accustomed to being a villain in his hometown

MILWAUKEE — Craig Counsell told a story before Saturday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers about his brother-in-law getting ready to take his family to Friday’s game at the ballpark formerly known as Miller Park.

As Counsell told it, the family was having a nice dinner when the brother-in-law told them to hurry up and get ready to leave.

They’re like, ‘Why do we have to go?’” Counsell said the family asked.

His brother-in-law quickly responded: “I want to see Craig get booed.”

Counsell said the family made it to the ballpark on time, and his brother-in-law, whom he identified only as Todd, got his wish. Afterward, someone in the family showed Counsell a video of Todd the brother-in-law joining the thousands of Brewers fans in booing the Cubs manager.

You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives.

As it turned out, Counsell had the last laugh, watching the Cubs score nine runs in the first two innings of a 10-0 rout of his former team to grab the opener of the first series between the defending National League Central champions and the current leaders.

A lot has changed after the first month of Counsell’s second season as Cubs manager. They’re one of the top-hitting teams in baseball and the division leaders while the Brewers are struggling to get over .500.

But one thing remains the same — Counsell is not well-liked in Milwaukee, where he grew up and was the proverbial local kid who lived out his childhood dream of playing with, and then managing, his hometown team.

The booing begins when he is introduced on the video board a few minutes before the first pitch and continues whenever he goes out to the mound to talk with a pitcher or make a move. It’s just as heated as it was last year when all of Milwaukee was seemingly in a state of shock at Counsell’s alleged act of treason — going to the hated Cubs for more money and theoretically a better chance of winning with a larger payroll.

Counsell has grown accustomed to being a villain in his hometown, and he doesn’t expect things to change much.