Road Trip for Home Team

I went to Kansas City this past weekend to follow the Minnesota Twins baseball team for their series against the Kansas City Royals at the refurbished Kauffman Stadium. The Twins have been disappointing this year, but I'm a loyalist (as opposed to a Royalist, hyuck, hyuck). I grounded the team for a week when they blew the 10-2 lead against the Oakland A's, but other than that, I watch most games.

As I write this, the Twins are on their first 5-game winning streak of the season. A streak that started in Kansas City while I was there. Yes, I have everything to do with this, in case you were wondering.

As troubling as the Twins have been this season, the Saturday game had 33,811 in attendance. For comparison, the Sunday afternoon game had 16,680. That's because half the folks from the night before were driving north.

Baseball parks these days are like festive temples, so they rule the roost for stadium-related travel, but enthusiasm is particularly strong for our football franchise this season as well. We've had 24/7 coverage of one man for the last few months. When Brett Favre arrived, travel and ticket prices went up, even for his appearance in St. Louis.

Sports is trippy for the uninitiated. I know many who don't know a lick about Jose Mijares, Ricky Rubio, Percy Harvin, or Josh Harding. I could recite their latest headlines.

News outlets cater to my fix. If someone paints a #4 on the side of a goat, it leads the late local news. If the grass  on the Twins' new ballpark, Target Field, is harvested from Colorado, horticulture enthusiasts come out of their homegrown woodwork to discuss the "controversial" story.

Our local sports teams in Minnesota frustrate us with their small-marketness, but we root, root, root for their pluck and determination. Just as some could care less, others have dedicated complete wings of their homes to their teams—huge TVs in the living room for HD viewing of the individual bristles on Favre's gray beard; garages dedicated to manimal logos of the Minnesota Wild; childrens' rooms decked in baseball memorabilia signed by Morneau, Hrbek, Carew, and Killebrew; a Fathead sticker of Adrian Peterson in the hallway.

It's not so easy to set these shrines up in a rental. The most dedicated fans need to be allowed to go all out. Paint the walls purple! Build a T-Wolves parquet floor in the basement!

And why do I choose to live in Saint Paul? Proximity to Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, and proximity to Midway Stadium, home of the Saint Paul Saints. Duh.

P.S. – Thanks, Kansas City. Your town was great. The Twins needed the wins. Loved the outfield water.