Once a Tiger’s fan, always a Tiger’s fan.
Some may assume that we will never be able to cheer for the Twins – this is only true if they are playing the Tigers.
Since we moved to Minnesota, we have always wanted to go to Target Field to watch the Twins play. We heard it is an awesome stadium and there is just something about Major League Baseball that we just love. No matter what professional sport it is, we think the players get paid way too much. Although, we feel baseball is a sport that money hasn’t completely taken over. I know some may beg to differ, but when attending a MLB game, you get the family-atmosphere feel. The old school, “lets just get together and watch a baseball game” feel. Yes the stadiums are huge. Yes the money is just flowing through those places. Yet there is still that feel of a hometown baseball game that just can’t be explained.
We have known for a few months that the Tigers were going to be playing the Twins this past weekend. We strongly considered making a youth group event out of it because many of our kids are Twins fans (yes, we would’ve been the lone Tigers fans). With the junior high retreat ending the day before, we weren’t sure what condition we were going to be in. We survived as you can see and we loved every moment of that retreat.
Friday night as we kept tabs on the game on the computer, we kept talking about how much fun it would be to go to Saturday’s game. Dan eventually said “would you want to go?” He had gone online and made sure there were tickets before he offered. We also doubled-checked the weather forecast to make sure it was going to be a good night for baseball. We bought tickets online and Saturday afternoon, off we were to Target Field!
Almost the whole way there, it rained, which was kind of a bummer. We kept thinking “but the forecast said it wasn’t supposed to rain!” It was pouring at times and all we could see were rain clouds all around us. We figured well, the game could be delayed, but truly, it was supposed to be pure sun and in the upper 70s!
Side Note: Parking at Target Field is as simple as it gets for a major sporting event. Decide which ramp you want (really doesn’t matter too much), take the exit off the highway, and the exit leads STRAIGHT into the ramp. Parking was $13.00 for the night (the cheapest in Detroit was $10 and we’d have to walk forever) and it led you right into the stadium. To leave, you go down the parking ramp and it dumps you straight onto the highway. From the time we left our seats in the stadium to the time we were on the highway, it was less than 12 minutes. Amazing!
When we got into the stadium they were just starting to pull off the tarp. They have quite the drainage system on the field, so they were able to start the game right on time. We walked around the stadium, soaking it all in – it felt so good to be at a baseball game again! Especially to watch the Tigers! There were actually more Tigers fans than we expected, so that was a nice surprise!
You could say we were in the nosebleed section, but we could see everything that was going on, which was a plus! I don’t think there is a bad seat in the stadium.
We had a BLAST together! Dan said that we need to do more things like this – keep going on dates. It is so easy to get caught up in life and just live everyday the same. Being spontaneous is so us and that is something we want to continue even here in Minnesota! Deciding the night before to go to the game was rather spontaneous I must say.
View from the top row of the stadium
It may look empty here, but it filled up pretty fast and there was a good size crowd!
My main man, Austin Jackson – that is who I have on the back of my t-shirt :). We loved recognizing the players and having some familiarity! I had only heard of like 2 of the Twins players, so hopefully now we have a better grasp on their team as well.
Minneapolis skyline
Austin Jackson and Don Kelly chattin’ it up
View from our seats
Unfortunately the Tigers lost 3-6, but they ended up taking the series 2-1, so that is just fine with me! Even though we will always be Tigers fans, we realized we could definitely be Twins fans as well. It ended up being a GORGEOUS night – couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was sunny by game time and a perfect summer night for baseball. We hope to go to another game someday!