solid weekend.

left friday at 9 am, returned sunday at 9 pm. minneapolis with workies keith and josh, selling bandits merchandise at the minnesota twins fan fest.

we sold out of our inventory of 2002 river bandits card sets by saturday at 2 p.m, less than halfway through the event. this is because 2001 top draft pick and minnesota native joe mauer was in the set, and he's already a hero up here. after 6 sold in the night's first 20 minutes, we knocked up the price 3 bucks, to 12. stunning.

much thanks are due to my daddy, who called friday morning to mention that the cats women's hoop squad was playing the gophers sunday night. thanks to nemo's resourcefulness, i was able to find out that matt pearl was making the trip. managed to meet up with matt, sam king, and a freshman whose name i can't remember while they were eating dinner [our crew had already done so.]. i had a baked potato and a kiddie cocktail [nur don't buy beers] on the station, which was a treat. topics of conversation included terry tate, office linebacker; wnur deportes' trip to columbus, ohio; the heated battle for a coveted spot in lexington, kentucky; "cry me a river;" and a picture of one (1) person with four (4) chins in the 2002 nu women's basketball media guide. in all, i spent 2 1/2 hours with that crew, and it felt like 15. superb experience.

during the weekend's festivities, i also got the chance to interview twins gm terry ryan, who gave me 12 minutes of his time, and twins minor league director jim rantz, who gave me a bit more than that. i spoke with top prospect justin morneau for about 6 minutes, and jake and joe mauer's parents assured me that they'd tune in to broadcasts this year despite the fact that their sons no longer play here. on the downside, we were not able to get a picture of hall of famer harmon killebrew in a river bandits hat. on the upside, we did get torii hunter in one.

we boothed next to the twins new affiliate in rochester, the redwings. chuck, matt and nick qualify as super cool guys...nick was a college radio dj in the 80's, and counts 'take the skinheads bowling' as his favorite song.

nick got a great picture of the bandits crew, joe mauer, and joe's bobblehead. picture located here. dig that studly guy on the right. not that one.