We rolled into Minneapolis a bit early to check out the city before the game. We picked up some Twins tickets (which were general admission…hadn’t seen that yet) and headed off to explore a bit. The coolest thing about the city, by far, is the elevated/covered walkways between all of the skyscrapers. A lot of people and businesses had to buy into this idea for it to work and it does. I assume the main reason for this setup is the frigid Minnesota winters. Either way, good job Minneapolis. We twisted and turned through all of the mini malls and shopping/eatery areas on our way to check in.
When we finally got to what I thought was our hotel I discovered the first chink in my armor on this trip. Apparently I made our Embassy Suites reservation for the Monday before, they didn’t have a room for us and I was out over $100. I actually made the reservation online for Monday the 26th, on Monday the 26th, at 10:30PM. Yes, completely my fault and their website directly says they’ll charge you the fee even if you don’t show up but I still think that sucks. There needs to be some sort of “ARE YOU SURE?!?” button when you’re making an online reservation at 10:30 the night you want to stay somewhere. I just clicked on one of those calendars and got the wrong week (side note – I also did this in Milwaukee because when I showed up their computer said I wasn’t supposed to be there for another week! They had extra rooms though so no big deal.). Those of you who know me and how anal I am about spreadsheets and planning and everything running smoothly should appreciate how heated I was. Anyway, I’m not staying at an Embassy Suites again and I don’t think you should either. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Of course, there was a silver lining. Since there was some big conference in the city that week we had to stay a bit further out. We decided to go right near the airport because Dad was flying out the next morning. We ended up staying at a place right down the street from the Mall of America. Tourist trap, sure, but we still had to check it out. It was big enough that they had an entire amusement park right in the middle of everything! I’ll always remember our trip to the Mall of America… :-)
Game Notes:
When we went to the Metrodome to pick up tickets earlier in the day the weather was nice enough and we saw a street that we assumed would get closed off and filled with vendors. Well, when we made it back for the game it was raining…pretty hard. True soldiers to the end though, we had to hit up one of the vendors due to my “I have to try unique foods!” decree.
They were OK. It was just fried mozzarella, much like what I would call a “cheese stick” except sans breading. We were told that in Wisconsin you could pretty much get any kind of cheese in “cheese curd” fashion. I took the guys at their word and didn’t go on any kind of extensive hunt when I got to the cheese state.
We headed inside and were met with revolving doors! I found out why after the game but I hadn’t seen those at a park before. Even when I was trying to buy the tickets the draft coming out of the ticket office was incredible (which made it hard to deal with the exchange of paper money for paper tickets). After the game the wind drafting out of the stadium was really strong. I’m not sure exactly what created it but it was real and it was terrifying. On the upside, it wasn’t a tornado.
The above probably looks like what you’ve seen on TV. I don’t really know how to describe it but when I walked inside the Metrodome it looked nothing like what I was expecting. I think the roof played a role in that and also some of the proportions were different. I thought the “baggy” in right field was much bigger and I wasn’t prepared for how much space was taken up by the retired numbers in the upper deck.
Did I mention the Twins were playing the Yankees? As fun as it is to root for the home team and get into the game with the crowd, it was more fun to have an actual rooting interest in the game. I actually cared that the Twins won and the Yankees position in the standings was hurt that little bit. Also, this game was way up there as far as “best games” go. The Cubs and Rockies played a good one at Coors Field and this is the other one that sticks out in my mind. It was back and forth all night with the Twins playing catch-up until they took a one run lead in the bottom of the 8th inning, which Joe Nathan was able to preserve for the Twins victory. High drama and, like I said, it’s always fun to watch the Yankees lose. I thought I would get at least some acknowledgement of my Sox hat like “Hey, we’re all in this together against the Evil Empire!” but no such luck in Twins country. Oh well. Here’s me happily rooting on the Yankees during BP.
And just for the hell of it, here’s dad with Harmon Killebrew.
Like I said, the tickets we bought were “general admission.” I guess you can build that into your business model if you rarely sell out. The entire outfield portion of the upper deck was on a first come, first served basis. That was cool. The people in the outfield looked like they enjoyed the game too but Dad and I used the “I just want to take a few pictures” line to head up directly behind home plate. And thank God we did because we got prime seats for the “no rules fish race!” The fish in the lead was by far the dirtiest contestant and T.C. the Bear (Twins mascot) tried to stop him but he still ended up winning. They did say no rules though…
I just have a few more pregame observations before we get to some good and bad things about the game/stadium. The prices in Minnesota and Kansas City have been the best so far. The Twins were only asking $6.50 for a large beer and their hot dogs, like the Royals’ were priced at $3.50. They had the same popcorn tub gimmick but, as we found out, did not accept an empty KC tub to refill, even if you put it on your head and spoke like Darth Vader. OK, nojustkidding but that would have been funny, huh? The Metrodome is also home to the Vikings and if we were there for a football game I don’t think there would have been a bad seat in the house. I could see some of the higher sections being too far away for baseball but to watch a football game from just about any seat would have been a great time. Many of the players sponsor sections of seats (i.e. “Nathan’s Nest”, “Lamb’s Flock”, “Everett’s A-Team”, etc.) to raise money for various charities. That’s cool and I’ve never seen so many players sponsor sections before.
Finally, this was a bit odd. Outside at the cheese curd stand we found out that the Twins are building a new ballpark to be opened in 2010. First, it’s going to be an outdoor park…in Minnesota…and they’ll still play ball in April and September (maybe October?). I predict disaster right there. Second, the countdown they had going was just silly. I want to know whose idea it was to put the countdown in weeks. Technically, it may make sense. If you go with days you’re at something over 900 and that just discourages fans. If you go with months you don’t always have a whole number and 32.75 might confuse some people…but to say “Hey fans, there are one hundred thirty one weeks left until the new park opens!!” just seems off to me. Anyone else??
I just double checked and if that’s weeks that means they don’t get done by opening day 2010, right? OK, I give up I have no idea what the number 131 stands for.
High Points:
-Since we were in a dome and fans didn’t have to have a skyline to look at in center field the Twins had luxury boxes ringing the entire stadium. I haven’t seen that yet and I thought it looked cool.
-As an intro song before the game the Twins played some campy old-timey baseball tune and it originally was going to go in the Low Points section but then they mixed it unbelievably well into “Shorty Got Low” and I thought that was a fantastic blend of old and new.
-This was a high point I neglected in Kansas City but the Royals and Twins are the only team I’ve seen to use punctuation (specifically, question marks) while displaying the anthem lyrics on the video board. I didn’t think about it but Mr. Scott Key poses some questions in that famous poem of his.
-I didn’t try it because I’ve had plenty in my day but vendors were walking around selling milk and cookies! No joke. They were the little personal cartons of milk that you’d get in elementary school and a few chocolate chip cookies. Awesome!
-I was fascinated by this. Check out the staircase and the two levels you can see. This was all you had to navigate to make it “upstairs” at the Metrodome. From the lower level the seats went way down and from the upper they went way up but instead of having switchback ramps that take 10 minutes to get up or down the Twins made everyone’s life more simple. Kudos to them for that.
-When you don’t see things for a while you tend to forget they can be a part of a baseball game. This is sort of what happened when I was in Detroit and remembered that the peanut vendors at Fenway actually throw the product up to you! Not so anywhere else. Another thing I haven’t seen that is a staple of the Fenway bleachers is flying beach balls! Well, I saw two at the Twins game. Way to go. Even though the usher came down and popped them after about 5 minutes it was still nice to see.
-During “take me out to the ballgame” the fans counted and pointed along with “one, two, three strikes you’re out” and also said root root root for the “home team” instead of something else. Who doesn’t appreciate tradition?
-In between many innings the scoreboard will show fans in their seats and usually everyone waves once they notice they are on the video board. Well, one kid looked up and saw he was on the big screen and immediately went to the move where you hold your hands close together and curl one thumb and put the other behind your fingers. Then you slide your hands so it looks like your thumb is becoming detached on one hand. Do you know what I’m talking about? Well, this was his go-to move. REALLY? Initially I was put off and thought he could have done better but if it were me I guess I would have just waved with a dumb look on my face like everyone else. So good job to that kid, even though the move was lame at least he thought quickly on his feet.
Low Points:
-My new go-to line about taking pictures worked again but the ushers at the Metrodome were pretty attentive. They were only found in the “better” sections though. If you wanted access to the lower bowl or the seats behind home plate in the upper deck you had to show your ticket or flash a camera and a smile. I chose the latter :-)
-The microphone placement on the anthem was terrible. There was some small high school choir group with about 15 kids and you could only hear 3-4 of them because someone didn’t know how to set up the microphone’s properly. On the funny side though, all these Minnesota kids said “flaaahGGG” and it was funny. I don’t know if I’m typing that correctly but just picture a Fargo accent saying “flag” and you’ll get the idea.
-The Twins had no cheerleaders. Just two guys and T.C. the mascot bear shooting tee shirts and trying to pump up the crowd. Lame.
-The fan distribution at the game was a bit odd. It didn’t ruin my experience by any stretch but it still looked pretty weird. I guess the Twins sell certain tickets in certain sections and just try to pack the people in like sardines.
-The crowd was about 50% Yankees fans. Boo that.
-The scoreboard was far away and had a lot of old graphics and it was hard to find any relevant information when you needed it. The Metrodome felt like the Rogers Centre in that regard.
-I bought a Michelob Golden Light which is a new type of Michelob Light. Now, I really like Michelob Light and, frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference with this “new” stuff. Dad explained the concept of “marketing” to me and that if you put a new label on things you can get a bunch of suckers to buy it and increase your profits. Dammit.
-Another annoying “host” trying to make a living. I really dislike these people.
Aaaannnnnnd, me again.
Overall Grade: B-
Game Stats:
Teams: Twins vs. Yankees
Final Score: 6-5 Twins
WP: Matt Guerrier
LP: Kyle Farnsworth
S: Joe Nathan
Time: 2:54
Announced Attendance: 20,168
Ticket Price: $12.00
Parking Price: N/A
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 14-6
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 8124
States Visited: 19
Countries Visited: 2
Beds slept in: 25
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Milwaukee Brewers
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)
Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
1 comment:
I tried to write this before, or rather I thought I had written this before. Yet clearly, no comment was actually posted.
Anyway, if I had to guess, I would guess games remaining. As in, there were 131 home games left to play before the next home game was not going to be there anymore.
Just a guess. Puts them a little more than 1.5 seasons left before the park, which would be due to open for the 2010 season. TBC?
-Chip
p.s. the "word verification" for this post was "bsqaw". I think I'll be going around the office saying "bsquaw" for the rest of the day...
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