Admit it. There was a little part of you that hoped all this talk of a Belgian brewery buying our hometown A-B would just go away without ever amounting to anything. I can own up to that, unrealistic as such a dream was.

Now InBev is putting it's money on the table, and there is a very real chance the company that is as synonymous with St. Louis as the Arch could end up being run by Belgians and Brazilians. This, my friends, is the dark side of a global economy.

So what's going through your mind as this thing moves forward?

For one thing, I've noticed that our local newspaper seems to be treating this thing more like a done deal. The Post-Dispatch was quick to trot out that "doomsayer" analyst who offers no hope. A lift from the paper:

"InBev will "get this done," with the "reluctant" acceptance of Anheuser-Busch's board, predicted Morningstar analyst Ann Gilpin. If the Anheuser-Busch board balks and rejects the bid — or demands a higher price — "InBev would just go straight to the shareholders, and I think the shareholders would vote for it," she said."

Interestingly, the New York Times' coverage of this spends much more time playing up the angle of how A-B might fight this sale. Their version:

"InBev’s bid to take control of Anheuser-Busch, which has been led by the Anheuser and Busch families for 148 years, could get nasty. The St. Louis-based company, led by a scion of the Busch family, August A. Busch IV, has signaled that it will fight a takeover. In recent weeks, in anticipation of InBev’s bid, privately called Project Aluminum, Anheuser-Busch has hired an army of bankers, lawyers and other advisers to help it mount a defense."

Another glimmer of hope may be the "Buffett factor." You know Warren Buffett. He's the richest guy in the world and owns more of A-B than the Busch family. I heard a guy who specialized in watching the tycoon say this morning that the roughly 35% profit he'd make over the purchase price of his stock is, "below what Mr. Buffett is used to." If old Warren balks at the sale along with the Busch family, we may have a little more hope on the horizon.

Around St. Louis water coolers today, the talk is pretty much the same. All I've heard is what a shame it would be for "our brewery" to end up in "their hands."

I, for one, hope A-B does fight this thing out. Call me sentimental, but I feel like our city's collective self-image is somewhat at stake here. One friend of mine, a lifelong resident, couched it this way:

"We're going to be Omaha with a better baseball team if this happens," he said. What do you think?

By the way, if you'd like to see the two articles, click here for the Post, and here for the Times.