October 1st, 2016 is when I lasted posted a blog from my sports department of blogging, called Minnesota Sports Scene. In these times of COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus, sports has been suddenly ripped away from all of our homes. The reason is a logical one, as people can't be near each other due to the aggressive nature of this virus. It is shutting down the world. It makes sense, but us sports fans were simply not mentally prepared for this to happen. Just over three weeks ago when the NBA season was suspended, which felt like three months ago, we didn't know what can of worms had just been opened. In fact, many felt like it was an overreaction or jumping too many steps at once. After the NBA had made that decision, the next 24 hours were even more dramatic, and the dominos began to fall quickly.
For me, sports was one of my escapes. I have had periods of a life that has had some dramatic moments, and I work a job that can be stressful and intense, and that is why I needed sports. I have always gone back and forth as to what my favorite sport is, but in the end, it has always been baseball. It's kind of funny that baseball and the Minnesota Twins are my favorite, because they may be the most dramatic sports team we have in Minnesota as they have been a rollercoaster ride over the past few decades.
So right now, without any sports happening, we have to depend on those sports memories. I remember when I was 10 years old, and in the fifth grade in 1987, when the Minnesota Twins won their first World Series and became World Champions. What a strange but fun feeling it was. Being in fifth grade, I had a bedtime probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 8:00 p.m. In my bedroom, I had a 13 inch black and white television set that you had to manually turn the knob to the one of 13 clicks for options of channels. The options for television coming off the old TV antenna was channel 2 (PBS), Channel 4 (WCCO), Channel 5 (KSTP), Channel 9 (KMSP - not FOX at the time), and Channel 11 (KARE). That was it. Thank god network television was the only option and thank god they carried the World Series on network television. Kids today will never have any idea what it was like. Due to the fact that it was the World Series, and on national television, the games started late, usually between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Of course the advertising was still just as important back then, and the games were usually a minimum of four hours instead of the traditional three hours or less. However, as a 10 year old kid, it was great! I was allowed to watch the games, and wow was I hooked! Staying up until midnight with every emotion throughout every inning hitting me, watching the likes of Kirby Puckett, Dan Gladden, Tom Brunansky, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Tim Laudner, and more. The 1987 World Series, of course, went seven games with the final game having the Minnesota Twins winning the World Series and becoming World Champions at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I remember it like it was yesterday. As a side note, my mom had her name drawn at work for one ticket to Game 6, a game that she saw Kent Hrbek hit a Grand Slam. That homer blew the room off the Metrodome, and it just gave me chills writing about it right now. Frankie "Sweet Music" Viola was the Game Seven Winning Pitcher and also the Series MVP. Jeff Reardon closed out the seventh game with a save. I will never forget it. I also was lucky enough to experience the championship parade that took place in downtown Minneapolis. What a celebration! I will never forget the 1987 World Series and the pride I had in being a Minnesota Twins fan.
Over the past couple of decades, the Minnesota Twins have tugged at every heart of Twins fans. While they went on to win their second World Series just four years later in 1991, there have also been some really low points where it was a hard to be a Twins fan. However, a lesson that I learned when I was young is that you never give up on your team. As hard as it sometimes can be, and for as fun as it can make my summer, the Minnesota Twins will always be my team.
I am going to start posting on my Minnesota Sports Scene blog more often once again as I have more time on my hands with the current state of our society and our Stay In Place Executive Order in Minnesota. I need to talk sports, I love sports and I really don't want the baseball season to be canceled. Tonight, I watched WWE's newest installment of WrestleMania. I have always been a pro wrestling fan as well, and that has been another one of my escapes like I had mentioned earlier. I will get more into that in another blog post in the near future. For now... stay safe, stay healthy, and hopefully life will get back to normal sooner than later and we can once again support our favorite teams.
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