My Experience As A Twins Fan In Washington State

[Matt Braun]

There’s something I have to admit. I’ve been secretly betraying the trust of all of you good readers by masquerading as a Midwesterner. The truth is, I live nowhere near the Midwest and have been a Twins fan in the state of Washington for over a decade now.Before you brandish your pitchforks, do know that I was born in Wisconsin and most of my family has roots in the Midwest. I also practice good Midwest traditions like saying “ope” whenever I’m trying to sneak by someone and describing something I enjoy as “not too bad” or “could be worse”. Throw in my incredible passive-aggression and I might as well be a resident of Edina right now. So calm down.

 

My family moved to Washington when I was just six, so my early memories of the Midwest are fairly limited beyond playing Gameboy games and getting lost in the snow. Because of this, I don’t really have an understanding of what it means to be a “normal” Twins fan.

 

My normal is being forced to watch the team on TV for 158-159 games out of the season outside of the one time they come to Seattle every year. This means that my family has to be a bit more resourceful when it comes to following the team. We have to plan to go to these games months in advance instead of having the opportunity to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to the ballpark.

 

This does offer some benefits. Or, at least, it used to. Players are more inclined to give autographs to fans in away cities and so I collected autographs ever since we started going to Safeco Field. At home, I have three baseballs filled with autographs from Twins legends like Bert Blyleven, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, and Torii Hunter. I also have some autographs from some absolute non-legends like Casey Fien and Kevin Jepsen, but you can’t win them all.

 

Unfortunately, I had to give up acquiring autographs a few years back because no one wants to sign for a sad-looking 18-year-old. Still, I will always have the memories of getting to the ballpark right when it opens just to stand near the third base dugout and politely ask (harass) players to sign for me. There was also that one time I hauled ass across the stadium just to get a signature from Kevin Slowey. True story.

 

Luckily, the status of the local team (Mariners) more or less forced the home fans to create a welcoming environment for fans like me. I mean, what kind of crap can a Mariners fan talk? Instead of harassment, we are usually met with kindness from these fans and I have had a number of pleasant interactions with Mariners fans even during games where they’re getting smoked. Seriously, my family was at the game last season where the Twins won 18-4 and we honestly stopped cheering around the 10th run because it just felt cruel.

 

TV watching is a bit different as well. I don’t get Fox Sports North, so I have to consult either MLB.TV or other, more questionable means to get my fix. This usually results in missing some legendary local commercials (save big money at Menards, anyone?), but it’s just the small price I pay for living in this state.

 

In fact, I would argue that my ritual for watching games on the West Coast is superior to what most of you all go through in the Midwest. The game starts two hours earlier so I never have problems with having to stay up late and the occasional extra inning nightmare fest is quite tame for me. While you all were dying a thousand deaths during that one Red Sox game last year, I was more just mildly inconvenienced by the debacle. Also, by the time the Twins game is typically over, I can switch to watching Mike Trout and the Angels or Cody Bellinger and the Dodgers and still be finished with those games before bedtime.

 

Despite these differences, I feel a connection among Twins fans at almost all times. The internet has allowed me to be in contact with other fans at all parts of my day to the point where the distance disparity isn’t even a problem. Yes, I can’t catch as many games in person or go to cool events like the Winter Meltdown, but I have survived so far and still am a part of this awesome fan base.

 

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[NorthwestTwinsFan]

This is a great post, and one that I can certainly relate to.  It's always nice to hear from other fans who have the same experiences following their team from afar.  And I completely agree with your take on the time zone difference....I love that I can watch most Twins games starting at 5pm.

[theBOMisthebomb]

It seems the majority of Twins fans on sites such as Twins Daily don't fit what I consider the typical Twins fan/resident of Twin Cities greater metropolitan area/outstate Minnesota mold.

[TNTwinsFan]

Just moved to Seattle from Nashville, TN...looking forward to that upcoming March/April series to take my 4 month old son to!!! Do you know of any Twins Bars in the area?

[Matt Braun]

 

Just moved to Seattle from Nashville, TN...looking forward to that upcoming March/April series to take my 4 month old son to!!! Do you know of any Twins Bars in the area?

 

Well unfortunately I don't live in Seattle so I can't help you there.

[Michigan Twins Fan]

My name says it all. I have lived in the state of Michigan since 2001 when I left South Dakota for college. I live in Metro Detroit, about 45 minutes from Comerica, so I get to see the Twins a lot. I subscribe to MLB.TV so that I can watch a majority of the games. Of course, the Twins play the Tigers often enough that there are annoying blackout restrictions which, frankly, I don't understand. I appreciate the legal thinking, but it's stupid. I don't have cable. I can't access Fox Sports Detroit, nor would I want to. However, when the Twins are in town, I can't watch the Twins feed because #archaisms. 

 

The Tigers fans are generally pretty good. Detroit sports fans can be obnoxious, but most of that is relegated to Wolverines and Spartans. I am usually the only Twins or Vikings fan that anyone knows here so when good things happen (2017 for both teams, this year for the Twins), I get a lot of good vibes. However, when bad things happen--especially at the hands of a Detroit team--I get the brunt of trash talk. 

 

Lastly, I went to grad school at Villanova. My wife is a Wolverine. The 2018 NCAA Final Four was nuts, and when 'Nova met Michigan in the championship game, I had to go to a bar to watch. My wife and I couldn't watch it together. Luckily, Sparty is salty AF so I found a MSU bar that was hosting a Villanova watch party. It was pretty awesome. After we won, I started purchasing the necessary championship swag. My wife said that I can't buy this stuff every time one of my teams wins a championship. I replied with, "I'm a Twins and Vikings fan. Yes I can. We never win championships!"

[Doctor Gast]

Great article! I`m amazed that there are Twins fans all over the world

[goulik]

 

Luckily, the status of the local team (Mariners) more or less forced the home fans to create a welcoming environment for fans like me. I mean, what kind of crap can a Mariners fan talk? Instead of harassment, we are usually met with kindness from these fans and I have had a number of pleasant interactions with Mariners fans even during games where they’re getting smoked. Seriously, my family was at the game last season where the Twins won 18-4 and we honestly stopped cheering around the 10th run because it just felt cruel.

This part of your article nailed it for me. I have lots of cousins whose parents moved to Seattle from Minnesota. One of them has season tickets and we trash talk every Vikings-Seahawks and Twins-Mariners game. That weekend we had a bet (he and his brother, me and an Uncle) to record ourselves if we lost doing the number of push-ups of the winning team and send it to each other. During the 18-4 Debacle, I went from Trash talking to apologizing for making the bet. They did all 36 push ups for the first 3 games and we did our 7 for losing game 4 in the series.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Great article, Matt!

 

I think you’ll find similar experiences in the Forums. Many of the hearty TDers live beyond the reaches of Fox Sports North and come here to TD to connect.

[joefish]

What pisses me off in Alaska is getting blacked out from watching Twins' games when they play Seattle because someone "down there" thinks I live in their viewership area. They be wrong about that.

[davidc3915]

Life long Chicagoan here.  I live on the North (Cub) side of town so I have no issues with fans unless I attend a game at Sox Park (too lazy to list all the aliases).  

 

Twins Daily and Gleeman and the Geek make me feel like a part of Twins Territory even here in "enemy Territory"

[oregontwin]

 

Just moved to Seattle from Nashville, TN...looking forward to that upcoming March/April series to take my 4 month old son to!!! Do you know of any Twins Bars in the area?

I don't know of any either, but the last time I was there I stayed at the Hyatt Grand. So did the players. The Taphouse is only about a block away from the hotel. Likely where I'll be before and after the Twins games this spring.

[Vanimal46]

My condolences for being born in Wisconsin! At least your parents were smart enough to get you the hell out of there before you became a Packers fan!

 

I concur that watching live sports is way better on the west coast... You can watch the entire game and still have an hour or 2 before thinking about going to bed!

[Andrew Thares]

I have had a pretty similar experience to this in recent years. After living in Twins Territory my whole life, I moved out to the east coast for an internship during the 2017 season. After a couple months there, I started getting pretty homesick, so being able to watch the Twins every night made me feel like I was back home for at least a few hours a day.

 

After moving back to Minnesota for about a year, I again decided to move away, this time to Louisiana for grad school. I absolutely love it down here, mostly because the people are very similar to everyone in the Midwest, so it feels like home, only with better weather and better food. However, it is still nice have the Twins to keep me connected back home.

[spanman2]

Sorry to hear about the Wisconsin thing...just busting your chops.  Thanks for sharing.  Good stuff!  WIN TWINS!!!

[Viozog]

I’m in NC, so I can relate, except to the time zone thing. West coast and extra innings games are just painful here. And if a west coast game goes into extra innings, well, the team’s just going to have to get along without me!

 

There’s no MLB here at all (although in 1991 everyone suddenly became huge Braves fans). So, I’ve only been to 2 Twins games in my whole life. One was at the Dome, while we were visiting family in MN, and the other was the exhibition game they played in Winston-Salem when they were threatening to move the team there. I skipped college classes for that one and it was probably one of the best days of my life, heh. We were some of the only fans there in Twins gear. A local news person was going to interview me, but when they realized I didn’t want the team to move, they lost interest. Good times.

[Vanimal46]

I have had a pretty similar experience to this in recent years. After living in Twins Territory my whole life, I moved out to the east coast for an internship during the 2017 season. After a couple months there, I started getting pretty homesick, so being able to watch the Twins every night made me feel like I was back home for at least a few hours a day.

 

After moving back to Minnesota for about a year, I again decided to move away, this time to Louisiana for grad school. I absolutely love it down here, mostly because the people are very similar to everyone in the Midwest, so it feels like home, only with better weather and better food. However, it is still nice have the Twins to keep me connected back home.

Must be nice to go to a school with good sports teams! Did you go to any football games? Also, approximately how many pounds of crawfish have you consumed so far?

[jkcarew]

"Before you brandish your pitchforks, do know that I was born in Wisconsin..."

 

Oh, yeah...that's SO much better.

Just kidding. We love our Wisconsin Minnesota fans. Nice article.

[RaoulDuke]

Twins fan in CA here, born in MN but moved when I was 13 or so.  My Dad/ step family still lives there so I spent summers up North and caught a lot of Twins games at the Dome and 2 Wolves games in the KG days (one vs Shaq and the Magic one vs the Raptors whom I loved for the name). 

 

I still visit when possible so I have got 3 Target Field games and 1 KAT era game in, plus trips to Oak/ SF/ Anaheim to catch away games.  I follow the Twins religiously, Twolves and Vikings somewhat less so because its a connection to where I come from and my family there. 

 

This has cursed me to a life a MN sports fandom while among the enemy lol. I also work in the bar/ restaurant industry located in the no mans land of CA fandom so I am forced to be privy to the constant CA team playoff runs and championships.   There are 4 MLB teams, 4 NBA teams, 5 (soon 4) NFL teams here.  There is always a CA team in the playoffs.  I generally revel in their losses.  GSW vs Raptors was great to witness in a packed bar of SF bandwagon fans, Niners loss this year has sent multiple people I work with into mourning states.  

 

I am 31 and there has been exactly 1 Minnesota championship in my lifetime, when I was 2 or 3.  Should an MN team win one I do not know what I would do, it would be so sweet.

 

I'm into the Twins for life, this year has me more excited than any of the previous 31.

 

 

[Squirrel]

Just moved to Seattle from Nashville, TN...looking forward to that upcoming March/April series to take my 4 month old son to!!! Do you know of any Twins Bars in the area?

You need to get your name updated to WATwinsFan!

[Andrew Thares]

 

Must be nice to go to a school with good sports teams! Did you go to any football games? Also, approximately how many pounds of crawfish have you consumed so far?

Yeah its been a blast. I went to 7 or 8 LSU games this season, including the trip over to Austin for the UT game. As for pounds of crawfish, I don't think they have invented a number that is big enough.

[Squirrel]

I live in near south Chicago ... an easy bike ride or two stops on the L away from the Sox park. I’ve never had any issue with fans at the game. Most know their team and the sport so conversation is usually pretty easy; and there are usually plenty of Twins fans at the games, too, so I don’t feel completely outnumbered. Of course, even though I live in Chicago, I’m a visitor when I go to games and behave accordingly. But being in the Midwest and in a city with a rival division team, I still see plenty of games. But I do miss the local coverage and having a local spot to watch games. TD is great at bridging that gap, and game threads have become my local sports bar.

 

Kenny Williams lived in my building for a couple years and had a parking space next to mine. I do wonder if he ever noticed the Twins bumper sticker on my car.

[Hoosier_Twinsfan]

I would just add that I am 42 and never shy about asking for a autograph or taking a picture with the Twins!  

[bighat]

I lived in Minneapolis my first 18 years of life. Many more years have passed living outside of MSP since then. Never once questioned handing in my Twins Fan card.

 

Living in Guatemala, we're on Mountain Time during baseball season. Love the early starts, it's perfect to watch a game between 6-9pm! Keep doing your thing, thanks for sharing!

[Vanimal46]

Yeah its been a blast. I went to 7 or 8 LSU games this season, including the trip over to Austin for the UT game. As for pounds of crawfish, I don't think they have invented a number that is big enough.

Hope you had a good time in Austin when you were in town! When I first moved down south I was skeptical of the mud bugs but god dang are they good. I dated a girl for a period of time that grew up in Alexandria, LA. IMO the best redeeming quality of Louisiana is their drive through liquor stores.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Hi. My name is David. I am a Twins fan. I was born in Washington, DC before the Twins were a gleam in Calvin Griffith's eye. I moved to North Carolina in 1950. I became a Washington Senators fan in 1953, because my grandfather took me to a Senators/Tigers game at old Griffith Stadium. The Senators lost. Imagine that. . I moved my loyalties to Minnesota when then Senators moved to Minnesota. I lived, and still live, in Statesville, North Carolina, 40 miles north of Charlotte, which was a Senators/Twins' farm team for years. Now Charlotte has gone to the dogs and is a White Sox farm team. I visited lovely Minneapolis in the summers of 1987 and 1988 to visit my Statesville friend, Mark Davidson, a Twins outfielder. The July weather was amazing. The fans were  very friendly. I have red hair and was amazed to see so many red-headed people. I had the best steak I have ever eaten at a restaurant downtown.  4 years ago I started going to Ft Myers each spring for spring training. I am sad to say we had to cancel this year because my wife got shingles and the trip would be too difficult for her. We'll be there next year. By the way, does anyone want 2 tickets to the first 4 home spring training games this year.? I have them and they will just go to waste if nobody wants them Contact me at 704-871-9000 or david@statesvillelaw.com   You may have them if you will use them. As Don Corleone, the Godfather ,said : "Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me.".  Just kidding. No strings attached.  I watch  the Twins on mlb.com  except when we are blacked out when the Twins play Baltimore, the "new" Senators, the Braves and Cincinnati. Twins Daily has been a wonderful way for a North Carolinian to enhance his loyalty to the Twins. I enjoy the articles, the inside information, the comments and posts...but most of all I enjoy the fellowship of  some great Twins' fans.  Thank you Twins Daily owners, writers, contributors and readers.