February 2, 2009 – I arrived in the Ft. Myers area yesterday and will stay here for the next two months soaking up the sun, playing a little golf, doing some fishing, and hanging out at Hammond Stadium watching the Twins as they go through yet another spring training. It is always fun to see baseball again after a long and cold winter and I hope to get some good pictures and maybe provide a little of my insight on how the Twins are doing.
Like many others, I watched the Super Bowl on TV last night and although I was disappointed that the Cardinals did not win, I thought that it was the best Super Bowl game that I can remember. Did you catch that new Twins ad that debuted during the Super Bowl? I did not see it here in Florida since it was local ad but if you missed it, you can see it right here. After the ad is complete it shows some of the “out-takes” that did not make the final ad.
Several days ago, KSTP the Twins radio home and the Minnesota Twins announced that the KSTP will broadcast 25 Twins spring training games this season beginning with the February 25th Twins Grapefruit opener against the Red Sox. Some of the games supposedly will have a unique format with possible interviews with uniformed personnel and others may take calls from the listeners. It is nice to hear that Twins fans will be able to listen to the boys of summer as they prepare for their final season at the Metrodome.
As far as I am concerned, baseball and radio go together but I don’t think that KSTP is the radio station that should be broadcasting the Twins games this year or any year for that matter. WCCO did a great job for the Twins for so many years and I am still disgusted that the Twins left the “Good Neighbor”. Why do I dislike KSTP? I have two main complaints about KSTP, first is the lack of range, I live less than 12 miles from the Metrodome and unless I point my radio in just the right direction I can’t get the game, when I do get it, the signal usually fades in and out. Dang, it is so irritating to hear Gordo say “and here comes the pitch, Morneau swings and it is a long fly ball to……………..static! How frustrating is that? I can usually be found walking and enjoying the Luce Line trail on summer evenings, before KSTP came along I could listen to the Twins on WCCO on my little arm band radio, but not since the Twins moved to KSTP. My second reason for my problem with KSTP is their pre-game show, up until the time they hand it off to the John Gordon and Dan Gladden team and their post game show. These shows are boring and so unprofessional I seldom if ever listen. The shows are more of a venting and a blood-letting then they are a good honest look at the team and its management. I can’t wait for the Twins/KSTP contract to run out and I hope that the Twins move Minnesota Twins baseball back to WCCO where it belongs. I am not the only Twins fans out here that feels this way, maybe it is time for the Twins to do a serious study and survey of their fans to determine where on the radio dial they want to find Twins baseball and if it should be returned to “830” where it rightfully belongs.