Home Opener

Even if I don't have the same affection for baseball as I did as a child, the beginning of the baseball season always has a positive effect on my spirits. After a winter that never seemed to end, I finally heard the birds singing last week. I don't mind the snow so much but the bitter cold has taken its toll. Monday was the Twins' opener and I had plans to take the family. It's something that we've done for the last couple years but our plans had to change this year when little man (aka McLovin) checked in with a case of strep throat and scarlet fever to boot. My 6-y-o daughter wasn't too upset ("I only go because you want me to go") and my son was overly dramatic ("But daddy, I haven't seen Joey Maurer and Nick Punto for so long..."). Editor's note: A bad father would have followed the now-benched Nick Punto comment with something like, "Well Nicolas, you'd probably have better odds of seeing Nick Punto at the local VFW as opposed to on the field." But I didn't.

So I didn't go with the family. I went with Steff and Thor. Thor, surprisingly wasn't a 6-4 blond-hair, blue-eyed Viking with a large hammer, but a short, wiry guy from Milwaukee. Despite the fact that the opener is the unofficial beginning of spring, the gods kicked us in the groin here in Minneapolis with 6 inches of wet sloppy slush. Sucked. Big Time. It actually made the Metrodome a nice place to watch a game despite the ever-present smell of flatulence.

Growing up in Milwaukee, the home opener was like a holiday. Our version of Mardi Gras. I can't remember off-hand, but I don't think I was able to go to an opener until I was in high school. Before that it was verboten. I remember one time my cousin Jeff and I wanted to go to the upcoming opener and my Uncle Bud told us a story about a recent opener that froze us to the core. He said that he actually saw someone taking a poop on some old man's head. Now, thinking back on this, either Bud pulled this story out of the ether, or he went to some pretty crazy parties during the early 80s. I'm still hoping it was the latter. I can't forget, however, that this was County Stadium 25 years ago and 9-volt battery throwing was a competitive sport.

Anyway, this opener wasn't nearly as much fun as Bud's experience but since the Twins beat the Angels-of-Anaheim-near-the-megapolis-of-L.A., it could have been worse. And Nicolas is feeling better.