Sports and other newsy observations around the region
Having beers with ... Rob Beer

New stadiums keep it going

It was right around 1978 when I watched one of my two baseball games at Met Stadium. The 60-mile trip was a treat for those playing in the summer baseball program in Princeton.

We played on the sandy dirt fields with no fences behind one of the elementary schools. Our dirt bikes piled up behind the backstop. Any ball hit to foul terrority meant five minutes of picking sandburrs off your socks. Coaching was minimal and nothing like today's organized play. We wore outdated and thinly padded helmets at bat and these wrap-arounds called "ears" if you got on base.

I doubt the Twins will have to deal with sandburrs at Target Field, but mosquitoes might be another matter. It just depends on how many of those little suckers hang out in downtown Minneapolis.

For many, the Metrodome will always be a special place, much like the old Met has been for some and what Target Field will be for others.

The old Met ... Gene Mauch, Rod Carew, Ron "Papa" Jackson, Sal Butera, Rob Wilfong, John Castino ... Hosken Powell ... the list goes on and on.

Those were the first Twins in my life.

I recall watching the dome going up. Large, concrete frames rising from the ground. My first game in there was sometime during the opening season (I still have the red hat and the mini-bat from Kent Hrbek Dairy Queen bat day) and the dome was something else. It's no joke that it was like playing baseball with a super ball during those early years.

The only problem with the Metrodome was its concept. Minnesota teams were unfortunate because in that five-year stretch of time, domes were the in thing. The Metrodome, which cost around $55 million, wasn't built to last. But consider this, it's been a bargain. At 28-some years old and anywhere between three to four full-time tenants (we're counting the Timberwolves pre-Target Center) each team had roughly $600,000 of its cost per season.

Then, as you get a bit older, you realize the dome was a joke for baseball. I've seen games at the new Comiskey (US Cellular), Wrigley and Safeco Field, let alone driving past the Ballpark in Arlington, if that counts. Talk about cha-ching!

The owners are right, the venue does make a difference.

People (at least some that I don't know) are willing to pony up big bucks for suites, wine and whatever else suits their taste. It's called Corporate America. Now, the rest of us have to fight for good seats down the baselines, but as long as those teams (Ok, maybe not the Yankees) keep those reasonable, Joe Fan will continue to come out to see his team.

But I get it. And here's why.

Keeping those teams (and here's a plug for a new Vikings stadium while I'm at it) is a huge benefit to the state. It creates a diversion, a curiousity, a tremendous following. I mean, if we lose either the Vikings or Twins, I doubt we'll be running around in Pawlenty '12 jerseys or something like that. No, that simply doesn't happen.

If the owners can make more money, the players can earn more money and some people, like the beer vendor, likely will, too. Someone asked me years ago if sports salaries for players are justified. I tend to think that a million bucks is a lot of money. It is, without question. Sports like golf routinely have $1 million first-place prizes. A player like Tige.. well, Alex Rodr.. well, Joe Mauer (just to mention someone without controversy) is going to rake in $20 million a season.

Justified? Well, certainly.

Sure, it's supply and demand. One supplier, many in demand. But those players, whether they are built up by the media (most certainly) work in unison with the media as well. Players like Mauer, as entertaining a ballplayer he is, help create jobs at ESPN, Star Tribune Pioneer Press, Sports Illustrated, Beckett's sports cards, Topps cards, etc., even up here in Fargo where everyone from the manager of baseball apparel at Scheel's to radio hosts yapping up the Twins to our local newspaper receive some trickle-down effect. Stretching it even further, what if that lanky 17-year-old on your local Legion team never picked up a bat, but decided to because he really likes Justin Morneau? What if that decision made that child a better student, a better person? Can you put a price on that?

$20 million might not even be close to what they're worth.

So, to quote Norman Chad, "Pay the man, Shirley."

WDAY talk show host Christopher Gabriel said something on air the other day worth repeating. Those who think Minnesota's economy should be fixed first are wrong. New stadium or not, the economy could still be in the tank. One does not corrolate to the other.

Think about that. Did the Gophers and Twins stadiums really doom the economy? No. If anything, they provided jobs and are generating income. It's like landing an out-of-state business into your town, and when that happens, don't mayors provide the key to the city to those firms while oftentimes providing tax breaks or other incentives?

Yes.

Keep those teams and we'll keep those jobs. It's pretty simple.

 

Posted by: Beers on 2/03/2010 at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: baseball

Reflections of a great, then sorry season

It's funny how the Vikings tease us every year they make the playoffs.

Look at last season ... the Tarvaris Jackson-led Vikings, oddly enough, won enough games to make the playoffs and seriously, couldn't that team pull off a few miracles to make the big game? It's very possible.

This season was no different. Facing a boisterous Superdome crowd and nearly every expert's pick for the Saints, the Vikings were a Ryan Longwell field goal, albeit long, had a better than 90 percent chance of getting home.

I wonder what gods are against this team.

As a livelong Vikings fan (yes, it's just a game, I've heard it), there's something about donating every Sunday from fall to winter to see something we haven't seen in quite some time.

I've really enjoyed this season. Between conversing with Bruce Cusick, who has always been readily available to take my questions for past blog posts, to simply enjoying a team that has some North Dakota flavor in Jim Kleinsasser, It's just that ....

Well, my colleague Hayden Goethe posted on Twitter moments ago why do Vikings fans feel so rotten?

For one, as a comparison, the Minnesota Twins have pulled off the unthinkable twice in 1987 and 1991. Granted, they have had their first-round exits in recent playoff years, but the Vikings are losers in now five consecutive NFC Championship games, and most by the most deflating means known to man.

As I was saying around the office the other night, "Just win one of the @*%&@!" That's not asking much. Just don't screw it up. How could they? Well, they found a way, and while we should laugh at the fact most sort of knew something bad was coming until the final score was posted, this it's more than hilarious. It's getting ridiculous.

Posted by: Beers on 1/26/2010 at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: nfl, vikings

This one hurts

I don't recall how exactly I felt 10 years ago when Gary Anderson had a chance to put the nail in the coffin against Atlanta, but there's no way I felt as bad as I do now. I'm really trying to laugh this one off (C'mon, you actually thought they were going to win?) but I can't. All Minnesota needed was Brett Favre to put those 40-year-old legs in motion, perhaps gain 3 yards, and leave it up to Longwell. I can deal with that.

To steal a great line from co-worker Dan Haglund's column appearing in The Forum Monday, I feel like I'm going to throw up, too. I'm not kidding.

Great season or not, what the heck did this franchise do to screw up so many chances?

Posted by: Beers on 1/24/2010 at 10:23 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Tags: nfl, vikings

Vikings PA guy: We let the crowd do their thing

Reports all week have centered around how the Minnesota Vikings will have to deal with a deafening Superdome crowd when they face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night for a shot at a Super Bowl berth.

Take it from the guy who energizes the Mall of America Field at the Metrodome crowd.

Vikings PA voice Bruce Cusick says that the crowd played a huge factor in Minnesota's 34-3 blowout victory over the Dallas Cowboys last weekend. While the dome faithful has long been known to help opposing teams' offensive lines to jump the snap or simply ruin any concentration or communications, Cusick says this game really stood out.

"If ever there was a game where the fans and their energy played a part in helping the team, this game against Dallas was it!" Cusick says. "My ears were still ringing Monday."

Head coach Brad Childress said in postgame comments that the home crowd also played a huge role. In fact, the Vikings were 9-0 inside their bubble this year.

"The coach saying the fans were a major part of this game is awesome because we have a direct connection and influence on the fans with some of the things we do," Cusick says.

For example, Cusick routinely announces promotions during breaks in the action, but with an ear-rocking crowd, the people in the booth just let the fans do their thing.

"We purposely didn't want to do a lot of production things in the second half because we wanted the fans to take over and believe me, they did in a big way," Cusick says.

While Dallas tried to stomp out an over-electrified Metrodome by moving the chains early, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo's fumble, as well as a two missed field goals lit up the dome crowd.

"I feel as though it was louder than the Green Bay game and last year's playoff game," Cusick says. "Fans never gave up. The feeling in Mall Of America Field was we were going to win this game and that's all there was to it! I don't think fans sat down for 95 percent of the game."

It would be to no one's surprise if 95 percent of the Superdome crowd was on its feet Sunday night. Cusick is banking on Favre's 12 years of making the playoffs, which includes two trips to the final game.

"I think we'll play well in the Superdome where our team will be on the other end of that kind of home-field advantage, but with the veterans we have that have been in big games before and Favre having won the big game in the past, I like our chances. SKOL VIKINGS!" 

Posted by: Beers on 1/21/2010 at 9:49 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: nfl, vikings

Some Fargo-Moorhead schmuk weighs in

I spent some time digging though various Web sites to see who's picking whom in Sunday's NFC Championship game.

Here's what we know, and it isn't much.

The Saints lost to the 3-13 Tampa Bay Bucs. That's a fact. The Saints also started out 13-0, lost 3 but dominated the Cardinals, a team the Vikings lost to. The Vikings whipped Dallas, which beat the Saints.

Both teams have momentum and a heapin' helping of sorry years to push them forward. Either way, to those that don't have an allegiance, it's a win-win situation. The Vikings may be the best franchise to never win the Super Bowl and the Saints have never advanced this far.

This game, on paper or in some minds, is a complete toss-up. As I assume most Vikings fans (or Colts fans, or any fans on any given Sunday) are nervous. Nervous because a letdown is just another Minnesota Vikings brainlock at the worst time (alright, maybe a Super Bowl brainlock is worse), the chance Brett Favre put all his chips in on this hand and he'll retire for good, and finally, the possibility this team won't have another playoff-caliber team in quite some time, and if they do, they'll be known as the Los Angeles Stars or something.

If they should win, and most hope in a very convincing manner to avoid any, ahem, wide lefts, most of us age 40 or less wouldn't know what to do. What does a Super Bowl field look like exactly with a purple end zone?

Most "experts" are taking the Saints, most tipping the scales because its at the Superdome. That rides fine with me because the Jets came in against the San Diego Chargers and spoiled those picks.

I'm predicting, um, wishing for a Vikings victory, but, in the spirit of Keith Brooking, I won't post a score. You either win or go home. I've given up on predictions because they're worthless in today's NFL.

(Watching some TV analysis overnight, Shiancoe was the only receiver that was really open on the play. It's not like Chilly said "Throw a TD" because, well, it's not that simple.)

In a way, I'm glad I'm working that night, just so I can keep my - as best as we can - objectivity in the forefront.

With that said, fans should expect that while a disappointment come Sunday is a possibility, is something we can handle. We've been down that road before. But a win would soothe many wounds of years past.

Tomorrow, or by the latest Saturday, the PA voice of the Vikings Bruce Cusick weighs in on what the Mall of America Field at the Metrodome was like during the Dallas send-off. He'll also provide some insight on what the people in the booth do to keep the crowd jacked up.

 

Posted by: Beers on 1/21/2010 at 2:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: vikings nfl

Vikings are 3.5 point underdogs

I see the Vikings are -3.5 point underdogs against the Saints. Just as I was looking, I expected as such. One has to believe in this day of domed stadiums that home-field advantage plays a much larger role than those games. I couldn't imagine the 1975 team losing at the Metrodome instead of Met Stadium.

I'll hopefully have some more Vikings insight as the NFC Championship game approaches.

Final word:

There were a few days in this blogs infancy years ago where 7, 6 and even 1 hit a day were common. However, "Having Beers with ..." is averaging a little more than 200 readers a day, spiking to more than 700 on occasion, since October. I'll readily admit hundreds upon hundreds of blogs on areavoices get more hits, but I'm glad some people stop by to check this out. Overall, 114,000-plus have read this blog since Sept. 11, 2006.

Posted by: Beers on 1/19/2010 at 2:59 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: nfl vikings

I'm sort of sold now on Vikings

Who could ever expect that mauling of Dallas at Mall of America Field?

I'll admit, now after 17 games, that I'm still waiting for the proverbial Vikings playoff meltdown. Do I expect it to happen? No. Will it happen? Maybe.

I don't think I'm alone, either. We're a segment of those die-hard fans that really want to believe but until each and every one of us actually touches the Lombardi Trophy, we wouldn't think it's real, despite what we see, read or hear about a (getting way too far ahead of myself) Super Bowl championship.

But what took place inside the crazed Metrodome Sunday was extremely real.

Here's my take: I'm 39 years old - going on 50 as I saw my graying hair become more apparent this morning - and I have never had the satisfaction of watching (moreso remembering) the Vikings in the big game. Instead, I've only been treated to slippery hands game against the Redskins, the wide left, and 41-doughnut. The last time the Vikings played in the big game was 1977, and at 6 years old, I have no memory. (Though there is a circa 1976 photograph of me wearing a Vikings jacket, you remember, the purple one with the white sleeves.)

There's no telling what Brett Favre will do, Super Bowl or bust. You'd think that if the team fails to win it all, he'd come back. You'd also think that if he won, he's done. You'd also have to think those previous sentences mean absolutely nothing to the mind of Favre. There's absolutely no reason for him to retire anytime soon, and if he does (again win or lose), the Vikings would be back at square one with their quarterback situation. There's no telling exactly what has rubbed off on Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels, but one would think a season or playoff run only comes around every so often, not repeatedly.

But even as I ride the fence, or better yet, taper my expectations, there's no denying the fact that this team is likely destined. Unlike 1998, I love the fact that Chilly ran up the score. Perhaps that was meant to send a message to fans that there will be no one who takes a knee in the upcoming game.

And if do-no-wrong-so-Favre guy keeps this up, Vikings fans who are nervous about New Orleans should expect the unexpected, and that is a trip to Miami.

Posted by: Beers on 1/18/2010 at 6:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: vikings nfl

Big Mac* and Maris

Perhaps Billy Crystal should now consider writing "61*2" after Mark McGwire said Monday that he was juiced during the 1998 season.

Remember when Big Mac, after hitting his laser-beam 62nd home run, and how he engulfed with those enormous arms nearly the entire Maris family?

That scene, played out live and now forever etched on DVDs, now has a huge problem.

It's a sad ending, and most likely not the last, of those players who took advantage of Major League Baseball's failure to curb any steroid usage until recently.

In those days of where image began to mean everything, including doing whatever it took to get back on the field and perform as well or better than before, every player during that era is now being denied an honest career.

During the 1998 season, I lived not too far away from Holy Cross Cemetery where Maris is laid to rest. It was an odd feeling standing there with Roger. It's me, his diamond tombstone, a few baseballs and other symbolic items, and Roger. Here I stood by a man, at a time where he was mentioned in nearly every sports publication around the world as Mac and Sammy Sosa closed in, and a quiet, gentle North Dakota breeze was the only thing between us.

I don't know Roger if you should be in the Hall of Fame, but the more these record-bearers feel the pressure to speak, it's perhaps time that that asterisk that was linked to your name during your lifetime belong to somebody else.

When that happens, perhaps the Hall can make an exception. Obviously, the players who broke your record were an exception themselves. Perhaps McGwire* can be Maris' biggest promoter of all.

Posted by: Beers on 1/11/2010 at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: baseball maris mcgwire