Many Smiles in the Minne-Apple

You win some. You lose some. But sometimes you have a weekend where everybody wins – eventually.

We arrived in Twins Territory and our hotel in midafternoon Saturday. I was excited we could see Target Field from our hotel room – as advertised!

Cool to be right in the heart of the atmosphere.

After we got settled, we headed to a nearby pub to meet up with Casey and Emily for some pre-game apps. A very short walk from there to the field.

So we had time for Robyn-forced photos!

There were even a few new props that got me excited!

Saturday was Military Appreciation Night at the field.

This included a unique flyover with military helicopters. Very cool.

Our seats were in the front row of a second-level section on the third-base line. Close to Jim's Cincinnati Reds' dugout. At least he had something to smile about. A pitching change for the Twins was a common occurrence Saturday night!

Still amazing to be there, win or lose.

And boy did we ever lose! But great to catch up with the kids for a few hours. And Jim had plenty to smile about with his victory!

Sunday morning was the breakfast of champions at the hotel. Pretty fancy for a continental breakfast, eh?

The stadium was just a mile's walk away so we headed over there so we'd have time to soak in the sights. Including the Bob Dylan mural. Holy amazing!

There's a big fun and games area for all ages on the north side of the stadium. This must be extreme bags because they're throwing coach pillow-sized bags!

Lots of music was rocking the pre-game area – including some beats from our Skol Line!

I can't describe U.S. Bank Stadium in simple teams. It's just such a unique architectural park. Just awesome.

 

Getting our game day faces on!

All the cool glass features had me drooling. I could spend hours taking pictures of this place.

And the Minne-Apple downtown skyline is reflected in the windows, too.

Inside the stadium, we got to walk around a bit and see the highlights – including the local FOX guys doing their pre-game broadcast.

Found our seats! See where the lady wearing the #43 jersey is standing above Bud Grant's name? Our seats were front row to the right of his name.

Nothing between us and our Vikings but a piece of glass. Yup, those pesky railing obstruct the view sometimes. So let's have a scared-of-heights Robyn plop down on the "safe" side of the glass non-railing.

Thank goodness we got there early enough for me to have plenty of time to get used to it. Thankfully!

Also, we got our shirts several years after, I'm sure, another quest for a Superbowl trophy fell short. Or went wide right. They pleadingly say: "Just one before I die." We are hopeless optimists.

Since this was the season home-opener, they did a lot stuff before the first kickoff. Including... wait for it...

Snow inside the stadium!! What?

Yup, they were representing Norse blood with that. It was time bits of foamy-type flakes that disappeared after impact. What a crazy cool thing to do now that we're back indoors!

I began to love my unobstructed view. 

Specially loved that we scored first (despite way too many red uniforms in the stands).

Totally reminded me of the Dome days and how loud we'd get it!!

And I was thrilled to finally get to participate in person with the Viking fan's SKOL clap. So cool!!

And we had plenty to SKOL about – including a Justin Jefferson 98-yard touchdown. I'll never top as one of the greatest plays we've witnessed in person! 

It was exciting to upset the 49ers with a nice win – and fun to have my Twins finally winning at the same time.

I guess everybody does win! Thanks, MN!

Lucky Number 7

It's no surprise in this house that I've been crushing on Joe Mauer for about 20 years now. So I'm ecstatic that my favorite "Twins catcher turned 1st basemen but always hot hitter" is heading to Cooperstown. 

Here's a fun fact for you: Johnny Bench (from hubby's Reds team), Iván Rodríguez -- and now, Joe Mauer are now only three catchers who stand alone as having been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. 

That's my boy! 

For proof, I was going to include a photo of all my #7 gear. Well there is one sweatshirt, two jerseys, at least two t-shirts and a tank top. (That I could readily count, that is.) Yup I'm not quite old enough to be his mother, but he had me at that first smile and first game with a few hits! It was tough to see him retire but to do so to avoid concussions, etc. as the father of twins – who could fault him?

A few pieces of evidence of my obsession. (And now everyone knows he was worth it!)

Sporting #7 in our last Twins game at the Metrodome on August 14, 2009. The Twins won for me, by the way.

My poor hot boy wiping his brow in July of 2011.

Wasn't close seats, but I managed to snag a picture of him at bat in July of 2016.

I'm sure if I took time, I'd catalog more photos – and more apparel. Suffice it to say, I am so happy and proud of him and this accomplishment! Plus, anything that reflects highly on my team is a bonus! 

#TwinsTerritory #winTwins #JM7 💗

Almost My Happy Place

When I got a text from a Brewers fan that the Twins were on some random cable station this evening, I didn't even care that if it wasn't in high-definition (first world problems, I know), I just wanted to see my team!

Found the station and I was in my happy place.  Well almost. Obviously,  I'd rather be at Target Field cheering them on in person. But actually getting to see them was a treat.

Loved the big heads in the stands. I've posed by the Mauer and Molitor ones before – in person. I found the "virtual fans" in the stands a bit disturbing. So strange.  Do they feed in crowd sounds to the stadium or just to the television viewers, I wonder? 2020 just keeps getting weirder!

I also wasn't a fan of the Cleveland strikeout machine. Dang. But Shane Bieber was setting a record for most strikeouts in first two starts. So I guess it wasn't that we were just swinging because stunk. See how quickly I say "we"? It's like I've been watching my boys all season!

Too bad we lost 2-0. But we've still won twice as many games as we lost. Hope I can say that after another 60 games.

It's gonna be strange. But I'll take it while it lasts. Play ball!

#wintwins #twinsterritory

Double the Losses but Double the Fun

The Twins had their first walk-off home run by a pinch hitter in 13 years to beat the Braves. But that was Monday. Before me – and my apparent bad luck – strolled into town.

Spoiler alert: The Braves beat the Twins quite handily last night and today.

Another spoiler alert: This Twins fan still had a blast!

It took some planning a few months back, but last night there were 28 of us from my family attending the Twins game. Mostly Twins fans. But we'll get to that.

I'm basically related to just about everyone in this picture. And that's not everyone. My sister Rachel hadn't arrived yet. My niece Beth took the picture. And my friendly hubby is way up top on the right in the white hand, talking to his new friend. A Braves fan!

As you can see, my brother-in-law Paul and sister Rayna (lower left) are Braves fans. But they did live in the Atlanta area for a decade, so they get a free pass. A few of my other siblings were somewhat noncommittal. Just there for the camaraderie I guess!

So it was a great date in "my happy place" – with Jim and two dozen family members.

Thanks to our seats in a busy area in right field, I got into the Jumbotron action right away. There I am at left, pretending to be supporting the bean bag tossers. Don't judge me. By the end of the night, pretty much everyone in our family made the Jumbotron. It was unreal!

And then our name was up there, too! See lower right part of scoreboard:

I was wondering if I should've gone to today's game a bit early to sign autographs!

The happy Braves fans: Paul and Rayna.

Sister Romey and brother-in-law Rick (his first time at Target Field)

Sister Renell sharing popcorn with a few of her grandkids.

Sister RoAnn and I enjoying Pizza Luce before the game!

Brother Ron and his son David (who could walk over from work).

Nephew David and wife Sara enjoying a night out without child!

Us twins at the Twins game!

Twin and hubby Steve. I think the first time at Target Field for both of them.

Niece Beth and husband Anders – also enjoying a childless night out.

 Nephew Travis and his girlfriend and her mom.

Our usual selfie with niece Caryn, including photobomber niece Ashley and her boyfriend in the background!

Even though we lost 12-7, we had so much fun. The Twins still hit 3 homeruns so that was cool. Plus all the Jumbotron moments were entertaining, too. I didn't leave there feeling like we lost. Just had a nice night with the fam.

Today was like deja vu...

Stayed at Rayna and Paul's in Hudson last night and took the day off for the 12:10 p.m. game. Tried to get some luck by visiting TC Bear. Didn't work.

Here's what I was up against: Two Braves fans and the starting pitcher for the Braves is on one of Jim's fantasy baseball leagues. I couldn't erase my bad luck!

Still had a great time, though. Since Paul and I were reminiscing at breakfast about the Hrbek play in the 1991 World Series, we stopped for a photo. Notice we both have one finger up... but mine is the nice one. Once a Braves fan, always one, I guess.

And we had great seats. A little hot in the sun for the first few innings, but we could see the action – including a Twins triple play! Have never seen one in person and there it was, right in front of us. How cool!!!

Lady, did you see THAT? Or were you too busy crocheting? No words. Sigh.

Unfortunately, we didn't start scoring until the 6th inning when we were down 7-0. Although we did score 7 more, the Braves also kept scoring. Ended up losing 11-7. But I still had fun. It's just cool to be at a sporting event where you're cheering for the same team as most of the people there!

Thanks to Rayna and Paul for organizing the fun. Driving back home tonight I felt like we were gone for a Saturday and Sunday and tomorrow would be Monday. I don't mind starting my Monday on a Thursday and having my Friday one day later! 

Pretty sure I deserve that for enduring these losses, don't you?

Go Twins!!