It’s one of those big moments where you remember exactly where you were when it happened.
February 24 ... sitting around two tables at the Holiday Inn with a bunch of men’s league basketball players, capping off the city-league season with some wings and beer ... Gophers lose to Purdue in the final seconds (in the game Robbie Hummel is lost for the season) ... Phone blows up with a text message from a friend:
“Do you want to go to the Twins home opener?” ... ... ... aaaaand MOMENT!
I replied faster than it takes Kent Hrbek to eat a tater tot.
At 3:10 p.m. on April 12 — weather permitting — I will be in attendance at Target Field when the Minnesota Twins take on the Boston Red Sox. No plastic blue seats. No dirty Teflon roof. Real grass. Real atmosphere. Real sunshine (hopefully).
All I have to remember is section 139, row 1, seat 12 (or seat 13, depending on where my new best friend wants to sit). It’s the first row in right field. Perfect spot to catch a home run off a lefty. Perfect spot to heckle Red Sox outfielder (and former St. Paul Saint) J.D. Drew. Perfect spot ... to bring a sign?
Absolutely.
This is where local elementary students get their chance at winning the first Journal Minnesota Twins Home Opener Poster Contest.
I’ve been fortunate enough to make the big screen at the Metrodome during a Minnesota Vikings game. I was a wide-eyed rookie sports reporter sitting on press row at a Minnesota Timberwolves game during my first year at The Daily Journal, calling my buddies the entire first half when my side of the press table was on T.V. I was a head-bobbing, fist-pumping Twins fan in a crowd of 24,629 at the Metrodome on April 30, 2001, when the Fox Sports North cameras panned left field right after Brad Radke finished his complete-game gem in a 2-1 win against the hated N.Y. Yankees (in the first of three games known more for Twins fans hating on Chuck Knoblauch).
However, my “fan on T.V.” highlight was during a Twins game at the Metrodome in the spring of 2002.
I was a sophomore on the Concordia College (Moorhead) baseball team and while playing in the Cities we took in a Twins game. I came up with the idea for a sign that read “We heart Bert and Dick,” in reference to Twins announcers Bert Blyleven and Dick Bremer (see photo in today's Journal). I actually found four teammates to go along with it, and between the fourth and fifth innings, we got on T.V.
The best moment, though, didn’t come until the bus ride home when we all watched the tape of the game, which was recorded by a parent. We hit fast-forward until we saw the team sitting in left field with the row of signs. It was a normal “look at us on T.V.” moment until the bus erupted when Blyleven circled us. Remember, this was 2002, and “Circle me Bert” signs weren’t popular yet. We weren’t the first people to get circled, but it was definitely another “moment.”
Now it’s your turn local elementary students.
Whatever poster wins — and there will be a handful of expert judges to pick the best entry — will join me in the front row on April 12. And if we’re lucky enough, the cameras at Fox Sports North will catch me holding it up.
Now that would be a moment.
