At the time of this entry, Emily's written two posts so far, one of which was in honor of Nick Punto Day. But they're quite well thought-out and well written, and her blog's Twitter account is far more prolific than mine will be, so if I'm qualified to post these, she's more than qualified to be represented. If you haven't checked out her site yet, do the Twins blogosphere a favor and follow her blog so that we can help support a great addition to our online reading.
So below, check out Emily's Get To Know 'Em, and then after that go read and follow her site!
Personal-
NAME: Emily Jipp
WEBSITE: http://www.cheapseatschatter.com
BIRTHDAY: January 27
HOMETOWN: I grew up in Aurelia, Iowa and moved to the Twin Cities for college in 2001.
FAVORITE COLOR: Green
FAVORITE FOOD: Cheesy tots from Burger King, but they just discontinued them. I should have stocked up. So instead I'll say ... Mexican food.
FAVORITE MOVIE: American Movie. No one has made me laugh as hard as Mike Schank has.
FAVORITE BOOK: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.
FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC: Americana/Folk Rock
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH OTHER THAN BASEBALL: Football
FAVORITE SPORT TO PLAY: Basketball
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE VIKINGS/TIMBERWOLVES/WILD: I've recently become a big Vikings fan. Growing up in northwest Iowa the focus was always on the Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Huskers - not so much any NFL teams. A friend talked me into playing fantasy football a few years ago and my competitiveness made me watch as many games as possible which ultimately led me to watching all of the Vikings games. Sadly, I've kind of stopped caring about the Timberwolves. I check their scores occasionally, but that's about as far as my interest level goes. I know nothing about the Wild. I wouldn't even be able to name one player on the team if not for seeing some of their names in people's tweets. I went to my first game last year and it was a ton of fun even though I had no idea what was going on. I also like the Iowa State Cyclones. They've been pretty awful for awhile now, but they had some great years when I was growing up (when I cared the most) so at least I had that.
General Baseball-
WHAT MAKES BASEBALL SO GREAT TO YOU: It's complex. There's so many things that are fun to discuss - pitching changes, situational at-bats, defensive positioning ... There will always be something more that you can learn and the more you can learn, the more you love and respect the game.
IF YOU HAD TO FOLLOW ANOTHER TEAM, WHICH AND WHY: The Cubs. I grew up in the country so there were rarely and Twins games televised. My brother and I would often go to our grandparent's house in town so we could watch the Cubs games on WGN. I liked watching Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa and Andrew Dawson.
BEST EXPERIENCE AT A BALLPARK OTHER THAN THE DOME: Kauffman Stadium. Our family used to plan our summer vacations to any cities where we could see a game. I think we made it to eight or nine stadiums. We went to Kauffman in '89 or '90. There was something special going on that day where they let fans come on to the field to take pictures of the players. We got a lot of good pictures of Bo Jackson. I remember Tom "Flash" Gordon pitched, Mike Macfarlane hit a home run and Kevin Seitzer made an error and was bouncing the ball like a basketball afterwards. (I was only six or seven at the time, so my brother had to refresh me on some of these memories).
OPINION ON INTERLEAGUE PLAY: I like it.
OPINION ON THE UNBALANCED SCHEDULE: It'd be nice to play the AL West and AL East more in a season, but I can understand why it is the way it is.
FAVORITE NON-TWINS PLAYER IN BASEBALL HISTORY: Ozzie Smith.
MOST HATED NON-TWINS PLAYER IN BASEBALL HISTORY: Alex Rodriguez.
DID YOU EVER PLAY BASEBALL/SOFTBALL, WHAT POSITION: I played through my sophomore year of high school. I played both pitcher and shortstop but after a pretty nasty concussion (during basketball season), I was nervous about getting hit in the face so my coach moved me to center field which quickly became my favorite position to play.
Twins Generic-
WHEN DID YOU BECOME A TWINS FAN AND WHY: I actually didn't start to like the Twins until I was in high school. I liked the Braves when I was younger. When the Braves weren't playing I had a tendency to cheer for whoever my brother was rooting for and any team that had one or more of my favorite players on it (Cubs, A's, Cardinals and Royals). I was cheering for the Braves against the Twins in '91.
BEST EXPERIENCE AT THE DOME: Game 163 last year. I was a nervous wreck. I think there's a video of me going nuts at the game on Facebook.
EVER BEEN TO TWINS FEST, HOW WAS IT: I just went for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty fun. I think if I choose to go again it will be more just to see and talk with friends.
EVER BEEN TO SPRING TRAINING, HOW WAS IT: I was vacationing in Florida with my family in 2006 so we went to St. Petersburg to watch a game between the Rays and Red Sox. I was seriously considering going this year, but the timing is kind of bad. I'm going to shoot for next year.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CIRCLED BY BERT: I don't think so.
HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT A FOUL BALL OR HOME RUN AT THE DOME: No way. I'm sure if I tried to catch a foul ball I'd end up taking a tumble and making Sportscenter's Not Top 10 Plays.
Twins Player Specific-
FAVORITE TWINS PLAYER IN HISTORY: Kent Hrbek
FAVORITE CURRENT TWINS PLAYER: Denard Span
FAVORITE OBSCURE TWINS PLAYER: Luis Tiant. I think he only played eighteen games before he fractured his right scapula. I mostly just like him because he was kind of a weirdo. I always tend to like the eccentric players.
ARE THERE (WERE THERE) ANY TWINS PLAYERS YOU DISLIKE: Dislike? No. But Nick Punto is probably my least favorite on the team.
FAVORITE EXPERIENCE MEETING A PLAYER: I got a picture with Michael Cuddyer a few weeks ago, but he's really the only player I've ever met. He was nice enough.
CURRENT PLAYER YOU'D MOST LIKE TO WATCH A GAME WITH: Jim Thome. I'm guessing he'd have a lot of good stories to tell.
YOU'D MOST LIKE TO BE STRANDED ON AN ISLAND WITH: Pat Neshek. He'd be entertaining.
YOU'D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Denard Span. He's pretty funny and he seems to be a really nice guy.
YOU'D WANT TO BE THE FRONT MAN OF YOUR NEW BAND: Michael Cuddyer.
YOU THINK SHOULD BE A MOVIE STAR: Kevin Slowey.
YOU'D ASK FOR HELP ON A SCIENCE LAB: Kevin Slowey.
YOU'D LIKE TO START A BUSINESS WITH: Joe Mauer.
EXPECTATIONS OF TARGET FIELD: Can't wait! I plan on having A LOT of memories there.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE TEAM NEXT YEAR: Division title, 92-70 record. I'll say they clinch the division in Kansas City on September 28th.
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Again, a huge thanks to Emily at Chatter From the Cheap Seats! If you haven't seen her blog, acquaint yourself now and check her for updates because she's definitely got good insight (and we also want her to keep from switching her allegiance back to the Braves, right?).
Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another Get To Know 'Em! I'll be featuring one each day this last week. Tomorrow I'm honored to be able to profile the Twins Geek himself, John Bonnes, so be sure to stop back and check that out.
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