Goodbye Metrodome, you old palace of plastic. Hello Target Field, you beautiful outdoor ballpark!

Opening Day was better than I anticipated. I wore my sunglasses, brand new throwback jersey and hooded sweatshirt. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Honestly, is there anything better than having the wind blow in your hair while watching baseball? There were fireworks, flyovers and people squinting into the sun. I saw Mayors RT Rybak and Chris Coleman practice the “Minney and Paul” dance. The Twins played well - Joe Mauer hit two doubles, Jason Kubel hit a home run and Nick Punto made some great catches. The Twins beat the Red Sox 2-5. I have no complaints.

It’s hard to explain how awesome the experience was, so here are my highlights:

1. Everyone was happy. No matter where you looked, people were smiling, laughing, standing in awe. It was so obvious this ballpark was long needed. Twins fans are proud of their team, proud of their city and proud of Target Field.
2. The food selections = AWESOME. I had a the Twins big dog, a grilled all beef hot dog with grilled onions and potato chips. Yum! The Bud Light even tasted good. My buddy Peter and I also tried the cheese curds. Other food I want to try: nachos (they came in a bowl with yummy toppings), roasted corn on the cob, soft serve ice cream, Manny’s Steak Sandwich… okay, I’ll stop drooling now.
3. The opening ceremonies were sentimental. Twins greats included Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew, Kent Hrbek, Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola. Kirby Puckett’s son, Kirby Junior participated in his father’s behalf. Al Newman showed up to raise a championship flag. It was great. And on cue, the wind picked up and each flag blew proudly in the wind.
4. Acoustics in the ballpark are phenominal. Unlike the Dome or other outdoor stadiums I’ve been to, there was no echo from the loud speakers. From the 300 level and way out in right field, I could hear the crack of the bat on the field. In fact a small crowd started chanting in right field. We could hear them.
5. HD video screen. The picture quality is so crisp. The graphics used are phenominal. They did use a mockup graphic from the Dome - it was so bad it was good. During the game the screen is designed to look like a classic scoreboard with a TV screen build into it.
6. The new ballpark has 40% more women’s bathrooms. At more than one bathroom I saw lines 3 times longer for the men’s room than the women’s. Victory.
7. Leaving the stadium was a smooth process. I was impressed with how quickly you can get in and out of the stadium.

Overall I was so impressed with how awesome everything went. The one lesson I learned is to not wear lipgloss. Sticky lips + breeze = hair sticking to your lips (that’s just not a good look).