Rods Monday Ramblings 8/17/09

My wife and I spent the weekend in Minneapolis. Stayed downtown at the Radisson. Only because they had a hot shot weekend special, two nights for the price of one which would be the price of 3 nights at a motel 6 unless your in the black hills. Anyway, after weaving our way through rush hour traffic on Friday we arrived, parked our vehicle in the ramp and spent the rest of the weekend getting around either walking or taking the light rail. I know this will come as a surprise but since I lived there in 1975, there isn't much too familiar remaining except the WCCO studios are still in the same location and Hennepin Avenue is still entertaining center of the evening hours. I came home with a couple of thoughts. 1) Fans that can afford to attend 4 days of the PGA tournament, really need to get a life. Most well to do people who won't or can't strike up a casual conversation with a stranger. It's like they have 911 on speed dial on their cell phones. So fine, they can stick their putter, you know where. 2) We went to the Twins game on Saturday, first time I have sat behind home plate and in the second deck. It was great. For $9.00 you can have lunch. A dome dog and your favorite soda. You can put as much relish and chopped onion on your dog as you want at no extra charge. The soda was the small size. Adult Beverage at $6.50, I opted to be under 21 for the day. (Although I did get carded at Hooters that night for dinner. Who says those waitresses only work there because they fill out the uniform!!!!!) Anyway, I am not a Twins fan, but I don't root against them like I do the Yankees and Cardinals and Brewers. But the Twins are in trouble. Not enough pitching and the big two, Mauer and Morneau can only do so much. And you have to have the lead for Nathan to shut the door. But it still boils down to pitching. Alas, there will be no post season baseball in the dome. Their new ball park is really shaping up. Since it is a construction zone, you can only get so close, from what you can see, from the Target Center which will be across the street, it should be impressive. While I love Wrigley Field and really like Kaufman Stadium, I am looking forward to having an opportunity maybe next year to visit their new ball park. I can only hope that their road construction in the Twin Cities will be finished or at least close to be finished by then.