Posted: 11/2/05
Final Draft - by Cliff Buchan
Outdoor baseball just a freeway away
Jump on the freeway here and in less than eight hours you can find yourself at an outdoor baseball game.
Kansas City is a seven hour shot south on I-35. Hop on I-94 and head east and in another six or seven hours will be Milwaukee or Chicago. There are two major league teams to choose from in Chitown and the tourist attraction of Wrigley Field may no longer be the top draw next summer now that the White Sox have cast off the curse of the Blacksox Scandal with a World Series championship.
For real fans of baseball today, it does take a bit effort to see the game played in a setting where baseball is meant to be played. And for those in Minnesota, it may well be necessary to keep the car well oiled because road trips will be our only option to see real professional baseball outside.
It is disappointing that state leaders canít agree to some type of special session where the Twins-Hennepin County proposal is considered. The county has asked the state to waive the requirement for a county referendum on its proposal for a tiny sales tax to cover the countyís cost for the ballpark to be built in Minneapolis. The sales tax amounts to three cents on a $20 purchase.
There are those who insist that voters be given the final say on this matter. Count legislators among the above. Why make a tough decision when you shuck the job off to someone else?
But strangely, I donít ever recall getting any kind of a vote on the state sales tax that is in place and has been expanded a time or two? Funny how that works.
Those of who had hoped that just maybe this time some kind of approval could be found for a new Minnesota Twins ballpark should have known better. It just doesnít seem to work here, even when a plan is found that requires no state tax money.
But then the circumstances were not helped by muddy waters, either.
The sudden emergence of an on-campus football stadium plan for our Fighting Gophers added a new twist. The arrival of a new owner for our beloved Vikings and the renewed push for an Anoka County stadium in Blaine muddied the water even more.
But the water on the stadium pond most certainly froze when the Love Boat debacle exploded on the scene nearly a month ago. This scandal did nothing but tarnish the goals of all the stadium seekers, including the Gophers, who, the last we heard, had no plans to move to Omaha or Green Bay.
Perhaps it is best.
The professional landscape for athletes has changed so dramatically over the last 10 to 15 years that much of the romance of watching pro sports has faded. Maybe it is my nature but I just canít see painting my face purple or green and being required to get fully tanked to call myself a fan.
Maybe that is why baseball has kept its strong appeal even though the game has been tarnished by the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.
There is still something to be said for a day game under a blue bird sky with a gentle breeze wafting across the field. There is still something to be said of the puffy white clouds overhead. There is still something to be said about the time spent with friends talking baseball and life.
It can be done at the Metrodome, for certain, but be sure to buy one of the expensive tickets or risk a chiropractic treatment to take the kink out of your neck. But there will be no blue bird sky, no white clouds and no gentle breeze, just the air gushing out of the building when you try to leave.
For baseball fans, there appears to be little hope of anything new in this metro area.
But with a full tank of gas, some buddies in tow and a day or two to spend, just jump on the freeway.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605