Thanks for the opportunity for my first and probably last post to Twins Daily. I have been a Twins fan for over 45 years. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen games at Met stadium, the Metrodome and Target Field. I also remember being ecstatic when Carl Pohlad bought the team from Cal Griffith. I’ve also seen more bad teams than good teams. There have certainly been times where there were players I didn’t like, managers did things that were aggravating and owners that made decisions that disappointed me. For those times, I remember back to the whole Twins experience. It didn’t mean we didn’t have fun at the ballpark. At the Met, a favorite pastime was turning over empty cups and stomping on them to pop them and make an echo, all the while waiting for Killebrew to come bat. In the early eighties, four or five of us would head to the Metrodome, plop down our four bucks for the cheap seats. The Twins weren’t good so we really didn’t care who was on the field. We’d each draw a number from 1-9, that was our batter for each team. If that batter hit a homerun everyone else had to buy you a beer. Not so bad, when the score was 2-1, “ horrible” if it was 8-5. Razzing Brewers’ fans was another favorite time, especially in the game where the Twins got up 8-4 in the fourth inning, and the Brewers fans left. Good thing because the Brewers started hitting and won 13-9 and there were no Brewers fans left to razz us. At least we got to see Ben Ogilvie (Brewers) hit the longest home run hit in the Metrodome. At age 25, I remember bawling my eyes out when my beloved Twins won the 1987 World Series. The 1991 World Series win was great but couldn’t top the excitement of 87. I also remember nearly bawling when the Twins were being contracted and the feeling of elation when they weren’t. Since then, the rest of the years have been gravy, with some lumpy potatoes. I have a reason for taking you on a trip down my memory lane. Since the season has ended (at times during the season), most of the discussion here at TwinsDaily has taken a negative, many times aggressive tone. Quoting dictionary definitions and having moderators have to give out warnings on regular basis is a bit over the top for me. I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t think there should be discussion on both sides of a topic. That is the root of all sports fans. I will say that if your only measure of success for the Twins is to make the playoffs, win the playoffs, and win the World Series, you probably are in for a lot of disappointment. I don’t say that because it’s the Twins – There were 20 teams in the same boat this year. I can’t help but fear that the disappointment will diminish your overall Twins experience and cloud the memories that come with it. I’ve been trying to find an analogy… Being at TwinsDaily is like going with friends to a Bar to discuss the Twins. Everyone will have an opinion and there will be disagreements. If there is that one friend that is always negative and repeats the same arguments over and over, you’d stop asking them to come to the bar with you. I know this is not the right thing to do especially with TwinsDaily. As an alternative, I can look for another bar. A have a special thanks to John. I stumbled on to TwinsGeek quite few years ago as a Minnesotan, transplanted to Packerland, starving for inside Twins info. This led me to Aaron Gleeman, Seth and too many others to mention. The blogs have given me a new perspective about the sport and favorite sports team I am passionate about. Although I am a mathematician by education, I had not delved into the statistics of baseball and am especially happy that others on this site are doing it for me to read and analyze. Although I am passionate about the Twins, I do want to say that I am just as disappointed as most of you in the performance of the team over the last three years. It hasn’t stopped me from throwing on my Twin’s cap as much as possible, sneaking a look at the box scores every day, or stopping to watch a couple innings on the TV. In these down times, I’ll focus on my overall Twins experience where no matter what, being at a ballpark on a summer evening is an experience to remember no matter what the outcome is. I’ll do this despite looking like one of the uninformed, foolishly optimistic, bandwagon fans that are looked down upon. I'll probably stick around at this "Bar" for a bit longer - I'm enjoying reliving the 87 World Series. Later next year I'll poke my head in now and then to see how the minor leagues are shaping up. I'll close this long ramble by saying that my experience here has been mostly positive. I'm not convinced that I want to go through the whole off-season dreading that next article on how awful everything is.
