Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last week, I made my first trip to the new Twins stadium to watch the hometown team take on the Kansas City Royals. Truth be told, I'm not much of a baseball fan, but even I must admit that after visiting the new stadium, I have Twins fever. Target Field is gorgeous!

Some stadium accessories outside Target Field.

A view just inside the gate and above our seats.

Here's a shot of the field from section 138 (the overhang!).

I stopped dead in my tracks when I caught a glimpse of all these mass transit options while walking around the stadium. Look out world, MSP is making public transportation progress!

Ooooh, pretty! Gotta love the skyline view.

More of the actual game.

My hot dog! I asked for light onion but ended up with quite a bit. Quite tasty after scraping half of it off though.

Ah, fireworks to celebrate the win!

It's official. Outdoor baseball in downtown Minneapolis is killer. Go now.

P.S. since I'm talking sports, go Celtics :)

Roller Derby and The Liffey

I have been waiting for months for my first Roller Derby experience (and not because of "Whip It" because I haven't even seen that yet). All the waiting came to an end last Saturday when we traveled to Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Saint Paul to watch the Minnesota RollerGirls take on the Sioux Falls Rollerdollz.

We were lucky enough to score trackside tickets for $13 (somehow...even though they were sold out), and even managed to find amazing spots along the track right where the teams enter/exit. Below is a photo from the first mashup between the home teams: the Superheroes and the Supervillians.

Here the MNRG All-Stars being introduced at the start of the main bout.

The Sioux Falls Rollerdollz at the start.

I affectionately referred to Dropkick Donna as my favorite of the refs, because she stood by us most of the time and had a cool name.

Some action shots...

A band playing during halftime...

My favorite of the players, L'exi Cuter, during one of her many turns as lead jammer for the MNRG...

I must say that my first trip to the Roller Derby certainly was memorable. Once I began to understand the 'bout,' 'jammer,' 'blocker' jargon and how the game works, I was cheering like I'd been a fan for years. As the MNRG All-Stars crushed the Sioux Falls Rollerdollz 180-44, it hit me that I may have found a Minnesota sports team to cheer for that won't disappoint me.

Before the bout, we stopped at The Liffey for dinner and drinks.

I had the fish and chips. Delicious.

Vikings Mania: Billy's on Grand

Confession: I'm not really a professional football fan. In fact, I haven't really thought much of football since high school (when you're from a small town, everyone is a high school football fan - it's your entire Friday night social calendar through fall). I'm much more into professional basketball...although even that has fallen to the wayside since KG left Minnesota.

So, while I'm not really into football, I am into hanging out with friends - which means Monday night found me at Billy's in Saint Paul partaking in the Vikings vs. Packers festivities.
The few times I've actually eaten at Billy's over the years, I've always been impressed by the menu. A good range of options, reasonable prices and rather tasty. Last night I went straight for your stereotypical bar food ordering the Billy the Kid 1/4-pound burger with cheddar and substituting waffle fries in place of the chips (if you're going with the burger, why not go all the way?!).

It may have been my first-ever burger without lettuce and tomato. I sometimes forget that lettuce and tomato aren't standard accoutrement at all dining establishments. Needless to say, I greatly missed both. Otherwise, the burger itself was pretty good. So were the fries, although they too would have been better with the seasoned sour cream sometimes offered at other restaurants. Overall, I'd say Billy's is just like I remembered it: tasty but missing a few pieces of flair.

Here's proof positive that I actually watched a few plays of the game (props to the NFL for all the pink on the field in support of breast cancer). Oh, and since you're not likely to find me rambling on about sports again in the near future, congrats to the Twins.

P.S. Did you know waffle fries have their own Facebook fan page? It's true: http://www.facebook.com/wafflefries. 46,357 fans and counting.