You can't script October...
...but if you did, each scene, er, game, would be awful long. At 1:00 pm on Friday we decided to go up to Minneapolis for the Twins-Yankees game, spurred on by the fact that tickets were only $20, and we could stay at K's parents (more about that in a bit). So we loaded the dog (who needs lots of happy pills to keep him calm in the car) and the luggage into the little rice burner and took the 6.5 hour drive up to the Land O'Lakes.
Drive was pretty uneventful. Once nice thing to see is that there were Bush-Cheney signs EVERYWHERE in cheeseland. If Zogby were to poll the folks who live on 90/94, Bush would win in a landslide. I had never been west of Madison via car before this weekend...it's beautiful country up there, with foliage pretty comparable to what you see in upstate NY and even Vermont. Nowhere near as many hills though. The 65 MPH speed limit in Wisconsin is pretty lame though, and rumour has it that if you have a Land Of Lincoln tag, you're extra likely to get a ticket, but we made it through with me at the helm for most of it averaging about 80 MPH.
Got to Minneapolis at about 1, which gave us just enough time to eat, plop the dog off and drive to the oh-so-lovely Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I've posted my thoughts on the Dome on WSI before, but here'sthe abridged version:
-The sections are too wide. The fans' asses are too wide.
-It's easier to get a stupid mini-Twins helmet full of ice cream than it is to get a beer.
-For some reason, there seems to be an inordinately large amount of "special" people who are Twins fans. Sat next to one of them, and she didn't smell pretty.
-The Twins switched from AstroTurf to FieldTurf before the start of the season this year. Now instead of looking like a giant spray-painted garage floor, the field now looks like a giant fake golf fairway with black dots spray painted on it,
-When you sit about 10 rows from the roof, you realize that it's pretty easy to lose a baseball in it. I thought it was just Carlos Lee's stupidity, but apparently Gary Sheffield finds it difficult too. It's pretty dark and dingy, something I hadn't noticed on previous trips since I was sitting much closer to the field.
-Much like Wrigley, they have troughs in the bathrooms. Only the prudish Minnesotans, apprently afraid to see another man's pecker, stand like 8 feet apart, making the lines extra slow.
-There's no attractions to enjoy whatsoever--no hall of fame, no fan deck, no historical displays. Zzzzzzzz.
Game was pretty interesting, but long as hell, noted the time on my scorecard as 4h14m. It was cool to see the Yankees use the long ball to get close and then play a little smallball to win. (who woulda thought ARod could steal?) Estaban Loaiza got some work in for the Yankees, and doesn't look to have improved any from his lousy season in pinstripes. The biggest downer to being where we were was that you had no idea if a ball was over the wall or not until you listened to the crowd reaction.
As we were heading to our seats, we saw Hank Aaron on the freight elevator getting ready to go down to his seats. I recognized him right away, but it didn't seem like anyone else knew who he was. Lots of Twins legends from the past in attendance--Hrbek, Molitor, Brunansky...but the luck didn't rub off.
After the game, went back to K's parents' house. Their house isn't small, but it seems really cramped. All the bedrooms upstairs are off one small hallway and you can hear just about everyting going on. They only have one bathroom upstairs, not attached to the master bedroom and the only working shower in the house (which is fine when it's just the 2 of them)...luckily they get up early.
I always have this morbid fear that I'm going to run into one of her parents when I take my customary 2 am walk to the bathroom...I think they are serious night owls. I've got this really odd phobia about them seeing me in my boxers, so I actually put my clothes back on to take the 3 step walk. There. I admit it. I am a FREAK!
K's old bedroom is exactly as it was when she was in high school, which is also a little odd. At least her parents got rid of the mushy twin beds that used to be in there.
Watched pigskin yesterday...caught the Vikes (BOO!) OT thriller and then watched Seattle giftwrap one for St. Louis in the late afternoon. Got up today at the asscrack of dawn and drove back here...due to construction on 94, we had to take some scenic country roads though Southern WI and McHenry County.
That's all for now. How's THAT for oversharing?
...but if you did, each scene, er, game, would be awful long. At 1:00 pm on Friday we decided to go up to Minneapolis for the Twins-Yankees game, spurred on by the fact that tickets were only $20, and we could stay at K's parents (more about that in a bit). So we loaded the dog (who needs lots of happy pills to keep him calm in the car) and the luggage into the little rice burner and took the 6.5 hour drive up to the Land O'Lakes.
Drive was pretty uneventful. Once nice thing to see is that there were Bush-Cheney signs EVERYWHERE in cheeseland. If Zogby were to poll the folks who live on 90/94, Bush would win in a landslide. I had never been west of Madison via car before this weekend...it's beautiful country up there, with foliage pretty comparable to what you see in upstate NY and even Vermont. Nowhere near as many hills though. The 65 MPH speed limit in Wisconsin is pretty lame though, and rumour has it that if you have a Land Of Lincoln tag, you're extra likely to get a ticket, but we made it through with me at the helm for most of it averaging about 80 MPH.
Got to Minneapolis at about 1, which gave us just enough time to eat, plop the dog off and drive to the oh-so-lovely Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I've posted my thoughts on the Dome on WSI before, but here'sthe abridged version:
-The sections are too wide. The fans' asses are too wide.
-It's easier to get a stupid mini-Twins helmet full of ice cream than it is to get a beer.
-For some reason, there seems to be an inordinately large amount of "special" people who are Twins fans. Sat next to one of them, and she didn't smell pretty.
-The Twins switched from AstroTurf to FieldTurf before the start of the season this year. Now instead of looking like a giant spray-painted garage floor, the field now looks like a giant fake golf fairway with black dots spray painted on it,
-When you sit about 10 rows from the roof, you realize that it's pretty easy to lose a baseball in it. I thought it was just Carlos Lee's stupidity, but apparently Gary Sheffield finds it difficult too. It's pretty dark and dingy, something I hadn't noticed on previous trips since I was sitting much closer to the field.
-Much like Wrigley, they have troughs in the bathrooms. Only the prudish Minnesotans, apprently afraid to see another man's pecker, stand like 8 feet apart, making the lines extra slow.
-There's no attractions to enjoy whatsoever--no hall of fame, no fan deck, no historical displays. Zzzzzzzz.
Game was pretty interesting, but long as hell, noted the time on my scorecard as 4h14m. It was cool to see the Yankees use the long ball to get close and then play a little smallball to win. (who woulda thought ARod could steal?) Estaban Loaiza got some work in for the Yankees, and doesn't look to have improved any from his lousy season in pinstripes. The biggest downer to being where we were was that you had no idea if a ball was over the wall or not until you listened to the crowd reaction.
As we were heading to our seats, we saw Hank Aaron on the freight elevator getting ready to go down to his seats. I recognized him right away, but it didn't seem like anyone else knew who he was. Lots of Twins legends from the past in attendance--Hrbek, Molitor, Brunansky...but the luck didn't rub off.
After the game, went back to K's parents' house. Their house isn't small, but it seems really cramped. All the bedrooms upstairs are off one small hallway and you can hear just about everyting going on. They only have one bathroom upstairs, not attached to the master bedroom and the only working shower in the house (which is fine when it's just the 2 of them)...luckily they get up early.
I always have this morbid fear that I'm going to run into one of her parents when I take my customary 2 am walk to the bathroom...I think they are serious night owls. I've got this really odd phobia about them seeing me in my boxers, so I actually put my clothes back on to take the 3 step walk. There. I admit it. I am a FREAK!
K's old bedroom is exactly as it was when she was in high school, which is also a little odd. At least her parents got rid of the mushy twin beds that used to be in there.
Watched pigskin yesterday...caught the Vikes (BOO!) OT thriller and then watched Seattle giftwrap one for St. Louis in the late afternoon. Got up today at the asscrack of dawn and drove back here...due to construction on 94, we had to take some scenic country roads though Southern WI and McHenry County.
That's all for now. How's THAT for oversharing?
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