Diamond Fest

This is becoming some sort of tape-delay blog. I write about things way after they happen….Maybe that’s the key in separating my blog from all those other “on-time” ones. Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to relay my thoughts on the Diamond Awards and TwinsFest from last week. The Diamond Awards were first of the two major events, so I’m starting there. They were held at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis, and benefitted the University of Minnesota medical center and its research on Ataxia, MD, Parkinson’s, and ALS. Bert Blyleven and **** Bremer posed as the emcees, which made for an interesting night. ( Bert has a tendency to go off prompt on occasion). After dinner, the awards were presented; and although many of the winners were not present ( Torii, Silva, Garza, Santana)…it was still neat to hear the presenter talk about how much each of these individuals has meant to the team, community, etc…
Twins Fest started the next day, and all but a handful of the players on the Twins 40 man roster were in attendance. The schedule for each day was a crazy mix of autograph signings, Q&A sessions, radio interviews and photo ops… but the whole thing seemed to run pretty smoothly.( Thanks to Mike Herman and Dustin Morse no doubt). My days weren’t terribly taxing, with ample time to eat, lounge, etc. mixed in with the rest of my activities. The best part about my Twins Fest experience was the kids Q&A that I participated in on Saturday afternoon. Kids in general are pretty hilarious, and when you hand them a microphone they only seem to get funnier…A quick excerpt of the ‘questions’ I was asked…..

“Do you think you will ever hit a home run today”

“Do you throw a knuckleball”

followed by

“How fast can you throw a “knuckleball” ( I just said I didn’t throw one)

“Do you know Johan Santana”

“If you were stranded on an island, who would you want to be there with you”

“What did you think of the Mitchell Report” (clearly from the kid’s Dad)

and my favorite Question of the day..

“I play on a team called the Tigers, my Dad is a coach, and we won a lot of games last year”

Note: At my current blogging pace, you can expect Spring Training notes sometime in December.