Minnesota: Hello/Goodbye

Thursday night I decided I didn't want to be left out of the fun of the Twins Centric viewing party, especially because I knew I was going to miss opening day at Target Field. So, despite a couple people essentially getting me to spill the beans to them early, I was able to surprise a few folks with a cameo up in Blaine this weekend.

There is something awesome about watching baseball at a bar among a throng of Twins fans that I think I'm deprived of out in New York. I average seeing somebody in this city wearing a Twins cap perhaps 3 or 4 times a week and I feel an immediate bond with them -- so everybody at the Twins Centric party felt like long lost family to me.

Jack, Seth, John, Emily, Andrew, Kirsten, Betsy, Nick, Parker and even all the other people I didn't get to talk to definitely made that spontaneous trip worthwhile! (And Kirsten's brownies, which I had heard talked up SO MUCH, went above and beyond what I was expecting! That was worth it right there!)

The theme of the day for me was trying to recreate the famous "Seth eating nachos on national TV shot":

Me and Andrew doing our best...

Emily's attempt...

The Master reenacts...

And now for a few notes:

-- I'm tied for 1st place with Thrylos 98 in our Twoggers Fantasy League. Whoever wants to just concede to me now can do so anytime... (trash talk needs to pick up in our league...)

-- I decided to splurge and get a luxury SUV while I was in Minnesota for the day. Those things are like driving a tank. Trying to parallel park with it in Uptown took all of my New York driving mentality ... I think I'm sticking to sedans.

-- 5-2 would be a really awesome way to walk into Target Field except I think my taste has been a little soured by the way we ended that final game in Chicago. Or should I say the way Ullger ended that final game. I just can't believe he had the mental break that allowed such an unbelievable misstep. I can just imagine Gardy sitting in the dugout watching helplessly as Scotty Ullger completely abandons reason...

This video doesn't exactly relate but it's hilarious and will get that bad taste out of your mouth... thanks Alan.

-- I got to listen to the beginning of Sunday's game on the radio -- man do I miss John Gordon's calming voice, he's like my 3rd Grandpa. The rest of the game was watched at the French Meadow airport bar. In some ways I'm glad the game didn't go any longer because I kept glancing at my watch in the 9th and listening to the boarding calls. The game ended at the perfect time, just with the wrong result! The flight home was a little interesting... I had a connection in Philly and was forced into a little 10 row puddle jumper Dash 8-100 that looked like it should have been decommissioned about 20 years ago. If I hadn't eaten that Philly Cheesesteak in the airport before getting on the plane maybe it wouldn't have felt as uncomfortable, but that was probably the least favorite flight in memory.

-- I have way too much Twins apparel. And I made the ultimate impulse buy and picked up a Denard Span off-white retro Twins jersey in the MSP airport. I think I have an addiction to Twins clothing, people have started saying things too...

-----

That's about it! Try to forget about Chicago, we're sitting pretty after that tough road trip. Time to kick off Target Field in style!