Twins Trust Busted

I read Jim Souhan's column today (Mpls Star Trib) as usual, and, as usual, was not disappointed.

I too hope to get to a Twins spring training game one day.

I love baseball: I say if you can't get fired up about a base runner "rounding third & heading for home," it's time to call the coroner and see how long you've been dead.

Unfortunately, this year, I have a problem with the Twins.

Now, I love how they keep tradition alive by bringing in heroes of old, Tony-O, Moli, The Stein, Carew, & T.K., but I despise how they destroyed the foundation of a new legendary era by letting Torii go for nothing, and trading Santana for four men with a pulse.

What’s funny is they didn't somehow get Keith Van Horn in the deal too, by accident.

That trade was so poor, it'll one day make the Hershal Walker deal look respectable.

I thought the deal with the Pohlads' was, as a Hennipen County taxpayer & fan, we build a new ball park, and they use the increased revenue stream to keep our good players here.

Well, I held up my end of the deal. I supported a new stadium based on that theory; I even wrote the lead editorial in this paper May 7th, 2005, supporting a new stadium.

In another move to increase revenue, they changed radio stations from one we all get, to one we get, well...when the barometric pressure, wind, clouds, tide, and the God of Marconi, all align just right.

Believe me, I understand, sports today is a business, and that's what baffles me most!

The Twins organization keeps making bad business decisions, all to ostensibly make extra money in the short term.

I don't get it, Carl's not 24 years old, building for a long term future, he's 124 years old, and if I were him, I'd be trying to win now.

I've been going to Twins games since I was 12 years old. Proctor Jr. High had a bus take us to the old Met in 1976, we had seats in the upper deck of left field, where we looked down on the broad shoulders of Lymon Bostock.

I for one, am sick and tired of rebuilding, it seems like we’ve been doing it since 1991.

We all know Carl controls the purse strings, but let's face it, after Johann & Torii, if Bill Smith loses Joe Nathan too; I'm going to start referring to him as "Katrina."

Which unfortunately caused less damage.

And believe me, I realize calling the Hunter trade a big mistake, puts me in the same camp as Mr. Sid Hartman, who singled me out as lunatic on his radio show last year. I guess those are the chances we take writing letters to this paper.

When a sports franchise refuses to spend money on its most popular players, it engages in a dangerous game of chicken with its fans.

It bets the fans will come back and buy tickets, etc, just because they are the only game in town.

Well, let's look at the T-Wolves, they tried it and look where they are.

With K.G., they drew 18,000 a night, now they draw 14,000, and half of those tickets are given away so the crowd looks bigger than a Swarm game (no offense to the Swarm).

When Brad Childress traded Brad Johnson, I said we lost the wrong Brad, and when Kevin McFailure trade Kevin Garnett, I said we lost the wrong Kevin.

Call me stubborn, but this is the first year in 11 years that I will have not paid to see a Wolves game, and, quite frankly, I wish they would sign up with the Big Ten Network so I wouldn't have to watch them on TV either.

In the last year my sports world has been turned upside down.

In '05 & '06 Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire was an abject, clueless bungler, squandering the massive talent at his disposal, and then last year, replete with injuries, he does a masterful job of holding things together. Who saw that coming?

Will I buy a Twins ticket this year? I guess the jury is still out.

Don't get me wrong, I desperately want to, but I also don't want to reward management for their stingy, wrong headed ways.

They’ve been given everything they’ve ever asked for, and yet they still stick it to the fans.

My tolerance has reached its limit.

The clueless dolts at Winter Park went 8-8, and now raised ticket prices! As long as Col. Klink (a.k.a. Brad Childress) is in command, you won’t se me at the Dome.

I ask Twins management: Why should I invest in your product with heart and cash, when you may pull this talent fire sale again in 4 years with the likes of Mourneau & Mauer?

I guess we'll see what happens to Joe Nathan.