This is where d’you go music, this is come home music/This is down to the wire I’m such a perfect angel music

It’s baseball and that’s all you need to know.
Summer time is just around the corner and baseball season is already in full bloom. Now is the time of year where I juggle my life into two categories: Baseball and Non-Baseball. Having season tickets (even a partial plan) is a tricky situation of weighing pros and cons. There are many events that I know four months in advance that I can’t attend due to having tickets to a game. This is often not well received. So, in preparation for the season I am working on my list of excuses. Here are a few that I have thought up on the fly. Any additional bullet points to add to the list would be greatly appreciated.

Excuses to why I can’t attend events due to having tickets to a baseball game
·Jason Bartlett is only in town for these four days. I need to go see Barty at least three of those days.
·I mean, I assume that your marriage will last a couple days after your wedding and I’ll give you your present then.
·It’s my last game that I have tickets for against Detroit that happens to fall on a Tuesday on the second week of the month.
·I don’t wanna.
·It’s the only night where wearing a shower cap and holding a broom is appropriate.
·Dollar Dog Night.

Hometown Hero Homecoming
I am often found rolling my eyes or snarking on national broadcasts of the Twins games…mostly due to the fact that no matter who is playing and what is happening ESPN can relate it to something of the Yankees. Now, y’all know how I feel about American’s Darlings (I happen to like a lot more of their fans more than the actual team) so it’s pretty safe to say that I don’t tolerate those shenanigans. However, ESPN is broadcasting a new episode of E:60 in which they “go home with Major League Baseball star Joe Mauer…” Hey, a shot at checking out sites around Minnesota, laughing at Minnesota accents, and seeing what a good guy that Joe Mauer is…count me in. Check it out tomorrow night (4/27) at 6 p.m. on ESPN.



Song of the Day – can’t get it out of my head
This song sounds like another song that I love. I just can’t figure it out. Anyways, the song is awesome. Give it a listen.

Hockey – Song Away

Photos: Target Field - Part 2

First thing's first...Walks WILL haunt you
This is by far one of my favorite graphics from back in the Old Metrodome Days (ah, it's lovely to remember back five months ago) and seeing it in my new favorite place...well, that was pretty damn special. What was ALSO special was Zack Greinke (Royals) giving up enough walks so that I was sure to get a photo of the graphic.




Kirby!


Finally scored a Kramarczuk's polish sausage!


Fancy instructions on how to flush the toliet.


Cheesecurd in a canoe.


I may be trippin on acid.


Stacy & me!

Photo editing fun! Since I took about eleventy billion photos of the same scene I decided to play around with my editing software.

Photos: First night game at Target Field Part 1 - 4/16/10 vs. Kansas City Royals

I have been told many, many times these past few weeks that it seems I am a bigger fan of Target Stadium than I am of the actual Twins team. Untrue...to a point. I will admit that I may in the top 5% of the Target Field Fan Club...you may even say that I FANGIRL Target Field. I was very exited to be able to attend the first night game at our new ballpark and got very shutter-happy when it came to taking pictures. If I could have committed myself to staying in one spot I would have done a time-elapse of the sun setting. Anyways...the ballpark and the city are both beautiful as the sun sets down. Enjoy!

Target Field, April 16, 2010 - Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City Royals





2009 AL Cy Young Winner - Zack Greinke

He was a Midwestern boy on his own/She looked at him with those softy eyes, so innocent and blue

T-10 hours until I head to Target Field for my first Regular Season Game (and the first night game)
First I have to make it through an entire work day and then a work happy hour (poor me, eh?) Then watch out ballpark, I am a-coming for ya! I am most excited about seeing 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke pitching against Not-Broken-Scotty-Baker. I also want to try some new food, have a beer, do a little shopping and watch a little baseball.

Almost a week late but nonetheless
Last Saturday, Sarah (Those Girls and @baseballhappy) and I were invited to Rock Bottom Brewery to be their special guest bloggers/tweeters for the Biggest Twins Fan contest. It was AWESOME! When Sarah and I get together there is normally a fair amount of snark and laughter and mocking/joy/hilarity…then you add in free beer and we have doubled our efforts. (The Power of Beer.) It was also nice to see K-Bro again and The Other Sarah (@loleets)

So…thank you to:
Lola Red
Rock Bottom Brewery
Beer
Sarah for driving across the border!

For a more detailed/humor/photographic recap of the event check out Sarah’s blog: Crowning the Biggest Twins Fan

Now, for the serious portion of this blog – Minnesota Nice?
For the second time in two weeks I was told that many Minnesota Twins bloggers were reached out to but no one had responded (minus myself and/or Sarah). Do Minnesota Twins bloggers not like to reach outside the Twins Tweet-up circle? I find that meeting with visitors from NY or Chicago or L.A. or Wisconsin and networking around is a great way to share the love of baseball.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out
I found through a happenstance of tweets a very interesting blog entry written by @MissyJo_25 regarding the comments that Mr Orlando Hudson (of the Minnesota Twins) made. There are two things that struck me about this posting… 1.) Very interesting spin on the topic and 2.) Another great post made by a female baseball fan. Check it out here: Wronged Man Out

Music of the Day – Always makes me happy
Bob Seger – Hollywood Nights

Beer & Baseball: Live Blogging from Rock Bottom Brewery (hopefully)

I am heading to Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Minneapolis in about…two hours. Sarah a la @baseballhappy (from Oh, Those Girls) will be joining me to do some live blogging and tweeting from their Rock Bottom Brewery’s Biggest Twins Fan Competition! So, keeping watching this space and following along on my Twitter account - @baseballipgloss.

Oh and be a tiny bit jealous because Rock Bottom Brewery has awesome food and I am a fan of their Northern Light brew. Mmm…baseball.

Thanks for the invite, Rock Bottom!


*disclaimer: Hopefully I can get the wifi set up. If not I will for sure be live tweeting.

So we livin life like a video where the sun is always out/And you never get old and the champagne’s always cold

Let the 2010 Baseball Season Begin…
I have been waiting for this day since the second week of October.

HAPPY OPENING DAY!

2010 is the most exciting time to be a Twins fan:
*We have an amazing new stadium…er, ballpark.
*We have Baby Jesus (Mauer) signed to a eleventy billion year/dollar contract
*We are getting plenty of press and publicity

So, let’s talking about this amazing new ballpark – Target Field
I went to the exhibition game on Saturday with Vegan Joe. Here are the notes that I took mentally & written on my cellphone as I went through the day.

Commuting: There still needs to be a lot more thought put into the Light Rail system for it to be a viable “commuting” option. I had a ridiculous wait time coming and going to Target Field. I have some suggestions but I don’t think anyone hear has the ear of the transit authority. My only advice is if you are going to any games in the first month that you drive and park a ways away from the field or if you take the train to plan on going very early (like 2 hours) and leaving long after the game ends.

Food: I tried the Asian noodles (only one stand left of Hrbek’s). They were okay…the noodles were a little soggy but the veggies were very fresh and crisp. I love that they came in a standard Chinese take-out container and had chopsticks. Yum! I am compiling a list of food I want to eat: Tony O’s Cuban Sandwich, Something from the Mexican stands, Kramarczuk’s sausage, root beer, helmet sundae, state fair food, onion rings, their lame attempt at the Jucy Lucy, excuse me Juicy Lucy.

Prices: Ticket prices aren’t that much different. My advice is to buy the cheapest ticket and then wander around the stadium and check out all the different views. Food and beer prices went up significantly but I figure it was about time that happened…plus I am willing to pay a dollar or two more for something I want to eat.

Seating: Again, buy the cheapest ticket and wander. We spent two innings in our seats and then we walked around. That’s the perk of the new park. You can see the field for everywhere. We walked the length of the third level and then took some mysterious back stairs down a level to do a lap. Finally we hit the first, most popular, and best level. There we found the noodles and amazing views of the field. We also found the State Fair stand and the bullpen. We made a brief appearance in Hrbek’s bar. A really awesome location to hang out and chat. So, even if you are seated by some Class A Douchebags (and I can only guess that there will be a lot) you can leave and enjoy the experience somewhere else.

Shopping: FINALLY! The Minnesota Twins have an awesome Clubhouse Store (or something along that line) at Target Field. The store is huge and has almost one whole wall dedicated to women. There are great tshirts, hoodies, ect. Alas the prices are very expensive. I found a pretty awesome vintage tee (to rival my favorite baseball shirt which is a Pirate’s one) but the cost was $49.00. That’s a lot of cheese for a tshirt.

Fangirly Moments:
I said no less than 20 times that “I Heart Target Field”!
*David Cook is singing the National Anthem for the Kansas City Royals home opener. Hey, he’s gotta be a good guy if he sticks with his hometown team! Come on, it’s the Royals!
*Wally the Beerman is at Target Field hocking his wares and I totally gave him a shout-out.

Photo Ops, yo!
Here are the pictures I took around the ballpark on Saturday. I used my cellphone camera so I did some touching up/editing/funky things to them to make them look better. (@MLB even RT’ed two of my pictures and contributed to me getting an ass-load of new followers – HOLLA!)









Music of the Day
Jay Z – Young Forever