Put a lid on it
By Tom Grout
April 30, 2008
If April showers bring May flowers what does April snow bring? Depression? Yeah that’s it, because I know I’m depressed about it. No golf.
The late snow raises havoc with all spring sports especially at the high schools and trying to reschedule games and meets and even getting decent outdoor practice time is a challenge.
The late snow should also be a warning for the people building the new Twins stadium. In other words, put a lid on it. This is Minnesota, the state where you can experience just about all types of weather within a week and sometimes all in the same day.
Pro sports just do not want their seasons to end anymore as they seem to start earlier and end later. Doing that the outdoor elements become a factor and this spring we are seeing what it can do here in Minnesota.
I remember when the Twins played at the old Met Stadium. My dad would by tickets well in advance and lot of times would pick doubleheaders so we could see two games in one trip. A few times over those years games would get rained out and at that time the only way to get a rain check was to actually show up at the stadium. Now that was quite a drive from west central Minnesota. The Dome guaranteed we would see a game and we were not going to get wet and cold.
I am all for playing baseball outside, it’s where it should be played. But baseball should not be played in the rain, cold, or snow. I pay good money to watch these professionals play the game and with lousy weather conditions I’m not comfortable and neither are they. I become a lousy fan and they become less than adequate ballplayers.
I have seen the pictures of the new stadium and saw a model of it at Twinsfest this past winter and it is just an absolutely great looking place. It will be something to be proud of but why they didn’t put a retractable roof on it is beyond me.
I guess I shouldn’t say it was beyond me because I know why. It is because it would have cost a little more money and Minnesota is full of cheap Scandinavians. It’s just not in our back round to spend that little extra money. When I was just out of High School I worked at a small grocery store and I saw the frugal Scandinavian at work every day. I remember one farmer couple who came in and complained that a box of Jell-o had gone up 2 cents and would never pay that much for a box of Jell-o. Then I carried out their groceries to a new car and he told me that he liked it so well he bought one for his daughter too.
Now I’m not saying being a little frugal isn’t a good thing. In fact with today’s economy we may have to go back to being more frugal as my very uneducated opinion is that we are headed more toward a depression than a recession.
I’m also not sure about the parking at the new stadium, but that’s another story. But the Stadium is being built anyway so why not build it right.
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For all the people living in and around the Fergus Falls area I have a little trip for all of you to take especially if you like looking at different water fowl. Spring is the right time to take a trip around Lake Alice as you can see the Heron’s and Cormorant’s nesting. The other water birds I have seen on the lake are, two different types of Grebes, Blue bill ducks, Wood ducks, Canadian Geese, Mergansers, Buffleheads, Mallard ducks, sea gulls, coots and one day I saw a Loon.
During the winter at the levy I saw not only the ever abundant Canadian geese and Mallard ducks, but Swan, Coots, a Hooded Merganser and Golden Eye ducks.
That is a lot of variety in one small area and in town too. I know that the world we live in is getting to be more hustle and bustle but take the time now in the spring and look at the nature around us.
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