Throughout my formative years, I grew up in a gym, at softball complexes, and on golf courses. In fact, our family was generally participating/coaching/spectating some sports activity roughly 362 days a year, and my mom was probably nice enough to go open the gym for me and my dipshit friends on the other three days. I like to think that all of this experience grants me a certain level of expertise in the world of sports. Although I didn't grow up in a major sports city, Sioux Falls had its share of semi-pro experiences with the Canaries (baseball), Skyforce (basketball), Stampede (hockey), and Storm (arena football), and one of my lifelong dreams was to be a season ticket holder for one of their seasons. Unfortunately, spending five years in Iowa limited my access to these opportunities. One of the big draws to moving to Minneapolis (okay, there were about a thousand big draws (by the way, I know a lot of the people that read this blog are friends from Iowa...loved my time there, wasn't always the best fit for me)) was that I could attend Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, and Vikings games without having to invest in a hotel room for the night. Although the price of attendance limited my ability to go all the time, my general proximity and incredible networking luck have provided me with ample chances to take in games since I've been up here.
One of the great things about Molly is that she'll gladly tag along with me to games, even when it isn't probably the most interesting thing in the world to her. Our first year of dating including the Minnesota Sports Quadfecta with a Gopher football game thrown in for good measure. She knows how much I love attending live events, and she knows how much I can't wait to share those experiences with our kids someday. So, in the name of wishful thinking, here's the order of Minnesota sports season tickets that I would love to someday spend my lottery winnings on.
4. Timberwolves
It is fairly well established that I love basketball. If I could, I would watch/play basketball all day. It is a great team sport with constant movement and unique skill sets at each position that sets itself apart from all of the other sports. My greatest sports heroes are all from the NBA, and I can still name you more NBA players (past and present) than any other sport. So, why then would the Timberwolves be so low on my list of season ticket dreams? Mostly because this isn't 1998 and Michael Jordan ain't walking through that door. I think I've probably attended half a dozen T-Wolves games in my life, and admittedly, it wasn't during their Big 3 seasons of the mid-2000's when they actually won games. The games I've attended have varied greatly in attendance numbers, but it never seems to matter. For a game that features so many exciting plays and that constantly moves, the crowds are awful. The rare exception was last year when I caught a close game, but even then people sat on their hands until the final two minutes. The NBA is notorious for seeming like its players don't care until the playoffs, and that feeling is escalated when sitting in the Target Center. Everyone seems slower. The play is plodding. If there isn't a real superstar visiting from another team, everyone just seems kind of disinterested. There are non-stop timeouts for both the teams and the television. I still love basketball and I still love the Timberwolves, but the overall live product just isn't there for me.
3. Vikings
The NFL is my (and most of America's) favorite sport to watch on television. There are only 16 games per season unless your team makes something called the "playoffs". As a Vikings fan, I usually am only treated to those original 16 games. The NFL is made even more exciting because of fantasy football, which makes almost every average Joe an expert on every player's statistics and abilities. Vikings fans are passionate, frustrated, forgiving, and fun to be around. Pound for pound, the Vikings offer the best pre-game experience. I love walking around the plaza, proudly wearing my AP jersey and yukking it up with the rest of the purple clad yokels. Inside the Metrodome, there's a constant buzz and energy, even when the team is kind of awful. I think if I had to pick one team to keep around at the expense of the other three, I would probably vote to save the Vikings. Unfortunately, the commercialism of the NFL kills the live experience for me. You never realize just how long an NFL game is until you have to sit in an arena and watch the players just stand around because there is a commercial. All of the excitement happens in bursts (and those bursts are better than any other sport), but there's so much down time between plays and between possessions that it can get to be a bit of a fan marathon. Also, as much as I love the buzz inside the Metrodome, the concession/bathroom areas are the absolute worst. Maybe my beloved Vikes will slide up a couple spots once the new stadium gets built, but until then, I'd rather spend my Sundays on my couch at home.
2. Twins
Of all the Minnesota sports teams, I've got the longest relationship with the Twins. I remember how big of moments those 1987 and 1991 World Series teams provided to my formative sports fandom years. The only athlete that has come even close to the level of esteem that I held for the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all-time) Michael Jordan was Kirby Puckett. As a kid, the yearly summer trip to the Dome to watch the Twins and to swim at the Thunderbird Hotel's pool was always a highlight. To this day, there's a certain childhood giddiness that I have whenever I drive past the Dome (memories) or Target Field (Minny and Paul shaking hands). Target Field magnified my love of the Twins by about tenfold. I've been to day and night games, both rain and shine, and I've loved every minute of every one of them. The field is so green, the scoreboards so big and bright, and yet there's some level of intimacy with the game that you don't get with the other sports. You get the feeling that everyone in the stands thinks that the Twins are their team and that Target Field is their home, even when the product on the field is awful (which is pretty regularly these days). Who knows how long the sheen of Target Field will outweigh the poo-poo platter that takes the field, but I'm not sure that I'll ever get tired of sitting under the summer sky with a cold Summit in my hand watching Joe Mauer hit for average.
3. Wild
I grew up in South Dakota where we had one kid in our class who played hockey, and we all made fun of him religiously because of it. This wasn't Minnesota where every kid comes out of the womb with a pair of skates on (that actually sounds pretty painful). We were the land of 10 Lakes, and everyone played sports that involved flat shoes on solid ground. My first taste of live hockey came when the Stampede came to Sioux Falls. Even though I had no idea what the rules of hockey were, I figured it was a live sports experience and went in with an open mind. By the end of the third period, I was hooked. The crowd was pumped the whole time, the action on the ice rarely stopped, and there were loud gasps and cheers with every shot on goal. I decided that maybe I'd get into hockey, so I tried watching some NHL games my senior year of high school. I was amazed at how bored out of my mind I was. It seemed slower, it seemed like the game was constantly stopping for commercials, and without the benefit of seeing the whole ice all the time, I didn't feel like I had any idea what was going on. Fast forward a couple of years to when I went to my first Wild game with my buddy, Jared. He split season tickets with some of his family, and they were by no means spectacularly located. I had kind of given up on hockey, so my expectations were pretty low. This was just a random regular season game, and I fully anticipated the NBA experience of guys not really giving a crap about what was going on. Boy, was I wrong. The crowd was totally into it, the players played like it was a playoff game, and I found myself screaming at things I didn't even really know about. It was like my first Stampede game all over again. I've since gone to two more games, and the experience has always been the same. If anything, I'd say the Wild are the reverse Vikings. The games are so much faster paced in person and way more exciting than on television.
Well, there you have it. If you are thinking about getting me season tickets as a wedding gift, I've now provided you with my gift registry. Don't get me wrong, I will never turn down tickets to any live sport, regardless of how crappy and boring it might be. Still, I hope someday that my fortunes take me out to the ballgame and that I just so happen to get to wear my Cal Clutterbuck jersey in the process.
Let's! Play! Something!
Jeff
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