It’d be remiss of me not to remind you that the Minnesota Stars are playing at the Dome tonight, that tickets are just $5, and that you really should just get downtown and give them a try before you tell me that you’re completely uninterested in ever watching a Stars game. And as always, this post appeared first at RandBall, your home for soccer kisser-uppers.

I have been feeling very nostalgic this week, a baseball-related sense of nostalgia for a bygone age, because of Opening Day, I suppose. The strange thing, however, is that I’ve been feeling a sense of nostalgia for baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it’s odd to be nostalgic for a time in which pretty much everything to do with baseball was demonstrably worse.

Do you remember? Nobody went to games. In 1987, in the September heat of the pennant race, the Twins had 18 home games. They drew more than 30,000 fans just five times in that stretch. Most of the Twins games weren’t on TV, especially if (like me) you lived in a town that didn’t offer MSC; the Cubs, Braves, and Mets were all on more often than the Twins were. Fantasy baseball involved calculators and box scores; sabremetrics involved math and baseball cards. Most of the league’s teams played in parks that were dilapidated wrecks or vaguely-converted football stadiums. Tarp machines ate Vince Coleman. Things weren’t better.

Even so, you’re just going to have to bear with me. Here goes: Cecil Fielder aiming for the roof at Tiger Stadium. Tiger Stadium in general. Harry Caray on TV. Skinny pitchers with non-ironic mustaches (Exhibit A: Doyle Alexander.) Pennants painted on the right field wall at the Metrodome. SkyDome, the blueprint of all future baseball stadiums. Rob Deer striking out a hundred thousand times every year and Mickey Tettleton’s stupid batting stance. The Twins in the AL West, Milwaukee in the American League, and Bernie Brewer and his goofy slide into a beer mug. Baseball on WGN, the SuperStation, and WWOR. Ah, the memories.

I’d like to thank you for indulging me in this trip down memory lane. And now, on with the links:

*Spencer Hall must be the only writer who can connect “Mad Men”, the back seat of his grandpa’s car, and a discussion of concussions, liability, and the inherent risk of football.

*Francisco Liriano starts today for the Twins, and Steve Adams at Twinkie Town has three reasons that Liriano appears to be on track to turn it around from a bad 2011.

*Will Leitch says that Slap Shot – the greatest sports movie ever made, in my considered opinion – is great because it’s also the most honest sports movie ever made.

*Minnesotan Steve Marsh writes a long article at Grantland about Ricky Rubio, his history, and his impact on Minnesota. Like a lot of people, I can’t quite get enough of the “what might have been ” game with Rubio. Why couldn’t you stay healthy, Ricky? WHY COULDN’T YOUR SMILE PROTECT YOU? (/sobbing)

*The American soccer team missed out on qualifying for the Olympics. The Classical’s Noah Davis takes a look at what this means for the future of USA soccer.

*And finally: My favorite thing to write every year is the Twins Season In Review, Way Too Early joke column. However, if you don’t like the self-promotion, here’s Spencer Hall writing about dogs and trying to make you cry.

I don’t need to explain the Dark Clouds, except possibly to explain their name, which makes more sense when you realize the group began as fans of the Minnesota Thunder. I don’t need to explain them because you can’t miss them, if you go to a match. They’re the group parked pregame outside the stadium with the huge grill and the free beer; they’re the group that’s sitting in the other set of stands at the game, making noise and generally raising hell. The scoreboard? They built it. They run it. (Indeed, one of the simple joys of a Stars game is watching part of the group run down to the scoreboard to add a number after a goal, an activity they undertake with unbridled joy and occasional tripping and falling.)

The atmosphere at Stars games is almost entirely down to them. And so last night, I talked with Dark Clouds representatives Ben Pfutzenreuter and Jim Crist, to try to get a sense of what the group is up to this year and what makes the Dark Clouds keep coming back.

Q: What are you excited about for this year?

Ben: Last season, we had one of the best results on the field that you can have in order to create a compelling story for why you should be a fan of the Stars. Obviously a lot of people’s first response to finding out that we have a soccer team is “Oh, well, what’s the quality of play?” and these hilarious questions of “Oh, do you play on the team?” So I’m really excited to say that we have a team that’s holding a title that we just won and have a lot of momentum coming out of last season. I’m excited to see how this club can grow their fan base, and hopefully how that can bring some more people in to what we’re doing as a supporters group for the club.

Jim: We had really good growth last year as a supporters club. I’m excited to see with some of the things that we’re doing, like bringing in Surly [to provide free beer at home games] and putting a focus on more of merchandise and gameday tifo displays. [NOTE: Here’s a short explanation of the term “tifo”.] I’m excited to see what that can do as far as bringing new people into the group. I’m also excited that we have a core of twelve or so players who were around last year, so I’m excited to see how they progress as a team. A lot of teams went out and strengthened themselves, but I’m excited to see how these guys go out and prove themselves against the competition.

Q: What’s the big plan for Saturday and the Dome Opener?

Ben: What we’ve started to do with Surly and them giving us beer is great, and we’re going to continue that, so we’re really excited for people to come out to the pre-match experience with all of the free beer that we’re going to be giving out. In addition to that, there’s the tifo piece. Tifo is common in soccer, it’s creating these big banners and otherwise creating experience that you can’t really find in any other American sport. And we’ve created what should be at this time the largest tifo in the NASL. We’re really excited to unfurl that and create an experience that’s unparalleled in Minnesota sports and hopefully within the league.

Jim: There’s another Jim besides myself, and we are going to have trivia down at the Local on Saturday morning. It’s something that we normally do in conjunction with the Premier League games, but that’s going to be at 9:00 on Saturday. And then we’ll be heading over to the Dome and starting to tailgate. It could end up being a really long day for us…We’ll probably be going around harassing people to come over and hang out with us and get to know us.

Q: Why? Why become superfans of a second-division soccer team?

Ben: I think the answer’s twofold. I think the biggest reason is that it’s a better time. The kind of fandom that we have is really, really damn fun. It’s way more animated, it’s way more engaged. I think the best analog is contemporary Minnesota sports is probably Gopher hockey. You’re really loud and you really do make a difference with what’s happening on the field. Colloquially, it’s called the twelfth man. There are eleven players on the field, but a good crowd can be that twelfth man for a team. You really feel it when you’re in the supporters’ section at a soccer game – particularly in Minnesota, where I think we do a really good job of engaging players on the field. We do it through jeers and heckling, but we pride ourselves on not being vulgar. We do a really good job of getting a rise out of players.

In addition to that, I think we can probably get an MLS team here. We’ve had people from MLS come in and say that we’re a primary market. I think with what’s happening with the new stadium, there’s certainly not an inevitability, but the potential’s better than ever and we have an awesome track record of supporting professional soccer efforts here in this state. If you look at how we did in the original NASL era, we were in the top tier of attendance there and we were pulling 30,000 people to a game. That competes with what Seattle does right now in the MLS. It’s not going to be the same as the original NASL, but we have huge potential here. And it’s fun to be on the ground floor for that. That’s what’s really exciting.

Jim: A big part of my belief in putting all of this work into a supporters group is, one of the main ways that we can help this sport grow in this country is just supporting the team that you have at a local level. Going out, and making as much noise for it, and doing whatever you can to support it. I’ve been all around the world watching soccer. I’ve been to World Cups, I’ve been to Anfield, and it’s great, but it takes it to another level when you’re cheering on your home team players from your city.  You know that you’re creating history instead of jumping into or latching on to existing history that somebody else has created. That’s a big part of it for me.

Ben: I think what’s so intoxicating for a lot of Americans who go abroad to watch soccer – be it Manchester United, be it Inter – there’s a real connection between the fans and that team. I think that really resonates with people, and what that really is about is being a fan of where you’re from. I think being a fan of Minnesota creates a connection so much deeper than you can have with another team in this sport. I think once people come to games, they really figure that out.

Q: Do you ever think about suggesting to the club, “You know, we provide the atmosphere around here – the least you can do is let us in free?”

Ben: I think we’re all too committed. We actually want to help the club out. I’m more than happy to pay for tickets. I’m willing to pay for just about anything, because I really do believe in the Stars as a team and what they’re doing, and I know finances are a huge part of being a successful club. I’m more than happy to contribute in that way.

Jim: In order for the team to find successful ownership, they need to show potential buyers that they have a strong fanbase. Through purchasing season tickets, I feel like I’m doing that. Don’t get me wrong, I went to my fair share of Thunder games mooching off friends or whatever. But the club came to us last year, and they told us that if you want this to happen, you have to buy into it.

I think that there are different ways in which the club rewards us for our dedication to the team. Like last year, when Ben and I were in Fort Lauderdale, we were able to drink beer out of the Soccer Bowl after the team won it. I feel like we get a certain level of appreciation back from the club, both at the front office level and from the players. Getting free stuff is a good deal, but if it’s something I believe in, I’m going to buy into it.

Q: For somebody who is uninvolved with the Dark Clouds, and is maybe a little intimidates when they show up and there’s a whole group of people who seem to know each other, what’s the best way for somebody uninvolved to get involved?

Ben: I had never been to a Stars game before last year. And oddly enough, now I’m on the board of the Dark Clouds. I found the best way to get involved was to scream really loud and take the free beer they’re offering. I did those two things, and pretty much immediately I felt right at home. Any subculture, especially one as peculiar as being a soccer fan in America, is going to be odd from the outside looking in. But we are trying to be inclusive and inviting and really friendly. We’re even pretty nice to the opposing team’s players (laughter). We try and be super inviting. If it ever feels intimidating, just come and yell with us and you’ll realize it’s a pretty friendly atmosphere.

Jim: We have a giant grill up at the NSC that anybody can use. If you want to get to know us, bring some Kramarczuk’s and throw them on the grill and just hang out and say hi. Like Ben said, take the free beer.

Q: Anything you want to promote?

Ben: Facebook’s our primary hub. If you want to find out what we’re doing, or if you just want to find out what it’s like being a fan of division two soccer, go to facebook.com/MNDarkClouds.

Jim: There’s a fantastic picture on our Facebook page right now of a Scottish gentleman who has a costume for the Dome Opener. I would definitely recommend that people go to our Facebook page and check this out, because not only is it a costume of the Loch Ness Monster, but he’s a Scottish man with a really loud voice. It’s brilliant.

The Minnesota Stars open their season Saturday night at the Metrodome, in what they’re calling the Dome Opener. In addition to my Q&A with CEO Djorn Buchholz, I also had a chance to talk with Kevin Friedland, who does virtually everything for the Stars. He’s a defender on the team. He’s an assistant coach. He designed the jerseys that the Stars are unveiling tomorrow evening. He’s the Director of Business Development. Near as I can tell, there’s not a single thing that happens in Blaine without him having a hand in it.

Last week, I had a chance to talk to him about all of these roles, as well as about the Dome Opener.

Q: Do you prepare differently for playing in the Dome, versus a regular match?

A: I think this time we’ll have to, just because it’s turf, and typically here in Minnesota we play on grass. But we’ve been training on turf all preseason, so we should be pretty comfortable with it. The other side of that is that we’ll only get train in there one time, the Friday before the home opener. And I think on our team, I don’t think we have anybody besides myself that’s actually played in the Dome before. Maybe Brian Kallman in high school or something. So it’ll be kind of a new setting for all of the players.

**
Q: Does the ball behave differently in the Dome, or what changes between playing in the Dome and playing outdoors on grass?**

A: The good thing about the Dome is that there are no elements. There’s no rain, no wind, no sun – so that’s pretty much a positive thing. I think you have to get used to the lighting – the lighting’s not bad, you just have to get used to it. And then just the surroundings. I think when you’re out at the NSC, the guys have gotten comfortable with the surroundings – having the beer garden at one end, having the tunnel on the other end, the locker room, it’s familiarity with the stadium. Being that it’s the first game of the season, we’ll have a bunch of new guys anyway; I don’t see too many problems there.

Q: You played in the last big soccer game at the Dome, the David Beckham game. What do you remember from that game?

A: That was probably one of the best experiences I’ve had in Minnesota, in my nine years here so far. I think we had 24,000 people there, there was really only three weeks to build up – I think they sold tickets for only three weeks leading up to that game. I’m sure of the 24,000, most of them were there to see David Beckham, but it was just kind of a great experience. It was very professional, the way the whole thing was run. Having that many people there – that whole bottom bowl was full. It was a cool experience to pay in front of that many people, and it was one of his first exhibition games. It was the first year that he was in the league, so it wasn’t like he had played in every city at that point.

Q: Last year was frustrating for you – only two appearances, both as a substitute. What are your goals on the field this year?

A: I hope to contribute more on the field. I think the way the league has changed, we’ve gone down to only three subs. We used to have five subs, and I think as a defender, typically you like to keep your back line intact throughout a game. I just have to stay ready, and if I’m called upon I’m ready to go. I obviously have a lot of experience in the league, but also being an older player and a coach, there are times where I have to put other guys ahead of myself if that’s the right decision.

Q: What’s your role on the coaching staff, especially if you’re also out there competing as a player?

A: In the off-season and in the pre-season, I take on a bit more responsibility. I help find a lot of the players that we bring in, though I don’t really make the final decision on who makes the team – but I have influence there. But my job is to get as many players to Minnesota, in front of [head coach] Manny [Lagos] and [assistant coach] Carl [Craig] as possible. Throughout the season, because of my familiarity with a lot of the players and other teams, I handle a lot of the matchups and talking to our guys about different players on the other teams and their tendencies. I work a lot with our set pieces and the matchups we do on corner kicks – who’s going to mark who, and stuff like that. It’s a lot of that. It’s probably more behind the scenes – then when I’m training or playing, I’m really just a player.

Q: You’re also a member of the front office. You do interviews, you promote the team – I even saw a picture on Twitter of you directing a photoshoot. Is there anything with this club that you don’t do?

A: I think at this point I’ve done it all. I’ll pick up the locker room, I’ve done kit man duties. It can be a humbling experience at times, where as a player I think you don’t realize everything that goes on to make a team happen. Especially with our size – we really only have six people in the front office, and two of the six are players. It’s something that when you’re just playing, you don’t realize everything that goes into it.  Actually right now as we’re talking, I’m in the basement at Planet Soccer, working on printing our jerseys. I think my roommates will tell you – I live with Kyle Altman and Neil Hlavaty – they see me working all the time, sometimes too much, but stuff’s got to get done. I think that’s kind of the mentality of our office. There’s so much work to get done – you’ll see Djorn [Buchholz, the team’s CEO] doing stuff that the CEO shouldn’t be doing, that you wouldn’t think the CEO should do. And so we all just chip in. None of us are afraid to do something that needs to get done.

Q: What do you do in your role as director of business development for the Stars?

A: I have a lot of responsibilities with that, but the easiest way to put it is, part of my job is to not just find different revenue streams – whether it’s merchandising or finding other events, this year we’ll hold an adult tournament, for instance – just different ways to produce different revenue streams. But also, part of my job is to make sure that the club looks as professional as possible, so everything we do from the outside, like changing the logo, how we look, how we’re perceived – that’s a big part. How our players are treated, making sure that they’re all taken care of. So it’s really just professionalizing the club from the outside looking in, but really also on the inside. Making sure we’re doing things the right way, and not trying to cut corners if we don’t have to.

Q:  What do you think your greatest success in that area so far is?

A: It’s tough to say. For me, I think one of the biggest things that will come out this week is these new uniforms. I take a lot of pride in making sure our guys are taken care of. I think players can often be overlooked at a club. But happy players make a better team, and it also makes Minnesota a better place – for years, Minnesota wasn’t a place that players necessarily wanted to go. Winning a championship helped that. Now, if they come here, and we take care of them – and there’s not too much you need to do to take care of players. You help them get the right gear, and you help them find places to live, and they enjoy the lifestyle – then more players will want to come play here. It’s really taking care of those guys, and keeping everything professional, so they can’t leave this club with a sour attitude.

Q: What are you most excited about in 2012?

A: Playing, I want to play more, I want to win a championship again. As a player, I’d like to contribute a bit more than I was able to last year. From the coaching side, just to continue to gain experience, continue to learn and help the younger guys become better players. In the office, the ultimate goal is to find an owner for the team. Trying to build this club up internally, so that we can become more attractive for an owner.

Q: Anything else you really want to promote?

A: The event on Thursday night – we’re doing a Shine On documentary screening plus the jersey launch on Thursday night at Brit’s… We’re doing something pretty cool with the uniforms for this year. I’m going to say it’s probably never been done before.

**Q: I didn’t know there was really that much room for jersey innovation left out there. **

A: There’s not. But fortunately we don’t have like MLS or a league that says, here’s your numbers, here’s your letters, and stuff like that. The creativity part comes in. I’m allowed to design the back of the shirt however I want. I start with the Admiral shirt and I sit down here with some of the designers at Planet Soccer, and we come up with something. It’s all about the details for me. The little details are important to me. On Thursday we’ll see. We’ve tried something – I think it’ll be a big hit. We’re coining this as the “Year of the Fan”, so that will show a little bit in our jerseys as well.

The name is slightly different, but Minnesota’s pro soccer team – now dubbed Minnesota Stars FC – is still the defending North American Soccer League champions. On Saturday, the team is hosting its season opener at the Metrodome, in what’s inevitably being called the Dome Opener. The team is planning events around the game against perennial rival Carolina, and is hoping to build some buzz around the team for 2012.

Last week, I spoke with Stars CEO Djorn Buchholz about the Dome Opener, the season to come, and the future of pro soccer in Minnesota.

Q: Tell us a little about the background of the Dome Opener.

A: This isn’t an opportunity for us to make a ton of money, it’s more of an opportunity for us to say, hey, for five bucks, come check us out. Give us a shot. That’s all I’m asking people to do. It’s easy, there’s going to be an amazing tailgate taking place on the southeast corner of the stadium in that picnic area starting at 4:30, with Bud Light and a live band and media partners. It’s gonna be a heck of a day. For me, I want this to be the place to be that day. For five bucks, come check us out, and hopefully you like what you see.

Q: How are ticket sales doing for the game?

**A: They’re doing very well. Things have really picked up here in the last couple of days, now that people are realizing, “Oh my gosh, the opener is ten days away.” I expect before we get into the stadium that day, we’re going to be at around six or seven thousand tickets sold, which I think will put us anywhere between about nine and eleven thousand on game day. It wouldn’t surprise me if we got more. I think that’ll be obviously the biggest crowd in Minnesota Stars history, and I think it’ll be a pretty great event if we get ten or eleven thousand people.

Q: Do you feel like it’s had an effect on season ticket sales as well?

A: I don’t know if it necessarily has, yet. What I hope to see is that you get a lot of people in the Metrodome, and you get a lot of people introduced to our product. Hopefully we put on a good show on the field, and then we’re going do to another big season ticket push between Saturday and our actual home opener at the National Sports Center on May 5.

Q: What kind of things do you do to try to convert people from the Dome opener into people who regularly go to Stars games?

A: We’re going to try to gather information about the people that are coming. We did things like Groupon, and sold about two thousand tickets. Those are people that I don’t recognize any of their names. We’re going to try to capture those people.

But I think the biggest thing that we can do is put on a good show and put on a great event. As was evident at the final game we hosted last year, the championship series, people walked out of there like, “I wish I’d have been coming to these things all season.” I think we can create something like that in the Metrodome, and let them know that it’s is even more intimate, a very cool atmosphere at the National Sports Center. We’ll be gathering information, but it’s mostly just putting our product on display.

Q: With a game like this, you’re obviously trying to draw a big crowd. What kind of people are you trying to draw and get them up to a Stars game for the first time?

A: I’m always telling people to come up here to the NSC. One of the things people always say is, “It’s too far. It’s too far of a drive for me.” I think this is an opportunity for us to come out of the gates with a home game, which I don’t think a pro soccer team here has done in probably as long as I’ve been around, because of the weather. We can host a game early, in a central location, where we get rid of that excuse of it’s too far away, and everyone can get there now – by doing the free bus or train rides if you’ve got a ticket in hand. I’m trying to make this game as accessible as possible, just so I can prove to people that it’s worth a drive to Blaine because there’s something very cool here.

Q: Looking past the Dome opener into 2012, what are some of the things that you have in store for 2012 for the Stars and the fans?

A: We’re trying to revamp the whole beer garden situation up here at the NSC. We understand it’s a big marketing and atmosphere piece for us, because we all know that the NSC took down the beer garden about three-fourths of the way through the season last year, to put up a new building. That building is in the process of being completed – it’s not going to be ready for our first game up here, so we’re going to create some other beer garden areas.

We’re just trying to enhance the game experience. That starts as early as people tailgating, and trying to do some cool things out and around there so people want to come out and hang out because it’s the cool thing to do. That’s what we’re trying to do – we’re trying to make this the cool thing to do in town, and put a bunch of elements in place to hopefully achieve that.

Q: What would you say you’re most excited about this year for the Stars?

A: It’s hard to pick. I’m curious, and I’m excited, and maybe even a little bit nervous to see how we come out of the gates after winning the championship. I don’t want to come out of the gates like the Dallas Mavericks did (laughter). The guys on this team have a lot of pride, and they want to keep that trophy in Minnesota. I’m excited about that. I’m nervous about that.

I’m also excited about continuing to build this thing.  It’s no secret that we need to find an owner for this team. The more that we can build our season ticket base, and our sponsorships – I’m excited about the future of this club. I’m excited about finding the right owner to come in and take this over and ensure the long-term viability of the organization.

I would say the third thing that I’m excited about is the custom uniforms that we’ve created, that we’re launching Thursday night at Brit’s Pub. They are unbelievable. The away kit that we’ve done this year is something that I don’t think anyone else in the country, maybe even in the world has done before. So I’m excited about the reactions and I’m excited to have these guys wearing these uniforms. I just saw them completed today and they’re unbelievable.

Q: You mentioned winning the championship last year. Do you feel like it’s a struggle to get local fans and local media to take notice of that?

A: During our championship run last year, in my experience it was the most that we’ve been out there in the community and the public from a media standpoint since probably David Beckham came. Even when Beckham came with the [Los Angeles] Galaxy, people were talking more about the Galaxy than the Thunder.

The media paid great attention to us. But it took us winning, and getting in the playoffs and making a run. Fair enough, I get it, we’re in a cluttered sports market and it’s hard to be heard. But going into the home opener, I actually feel as we’re reaching out to the media outlets – I think we’re going to get a decent amount of coverage, more than we’ve had leading into any previous season than I can remember, and that comes down to being a championship team.

Q: When I go to games, I kind of get the sense that it’s families on one side of the field and fanatics on the other. Do you feel like it’s a struggle to try to have those two separate groups?

A: I actually don’t think it is. I think they’ve done a fantastic job, and by moving the Dark Clouds [the fanatics group] over to the east side of the stadium, I think it actually enhances the experience for people on the west side. Now they’re not sitting next to them, the yelling and the chanting – now they’re on the other side, and it’s that group over there that creates the atmosphere. I think that has actually enhanced [the experience] for the families and the individuals that sit on the west side.

Q: What’s the ownership situation as we head into 2012?

A: We’re a league-owned team right now, and in all reality, the league doesn’t want to own this team forever. I think last year was the year some of us got brought back in to kind of fix this thing up, put a new roof on the house, new shutters on the house, mow the yard, and get it to a point where it needs to be attractive for somebody to come in and take over. I think this year is really about going out and finding the right group and the right ownership group. Do we have that person yet? No we don’t. We’re having discussions. We’re still actively looking for somebody to come in and take this club over.

Q: How do you feel when you hear Zygi Wilf talking about bringing Major League Soccer to Minnesota?

A: I certainly don’t think you’d ever see a situation in which there’d be two pro teams in town. Anytime the media’s talking about soccer, it’s good for us. Whether it is Zygi and the Vikings talking about an MLS team, a lot of the time the article at least makes a mention of the current pro team that we have here, and I’m okay with that.

As people are thinking MLS, there’s been a proven track record of four of the last five teams that have moved to MLS have come out of this league. And there’s a proven track record of getting the right people involved and invested in this level that’s not nearly as expensive as MLS, so that when you do make that transition to MLS, it’s a lot easier than starting from the ground up. You’ve got a foundation.

There’s people out there that are interested in an MLS team, and I encourage them to take a serious look at this organization. It’s coming off a championship, it’s got a great facility – although not always in the most ideal location. Somebody coming in and building this thing up to make an easier transition to MLS makes a lot of sense.

Q: Obviously the NSC has been a great home over the past few years – but in a perfect world, where would the Stars play their home matches?

A: I think you see where soccer is succeeding in this country, when you think about Seattle and Portland and Toronto and even in Vancouver now – it’s taking place in the heart of the city. And ideally, for this thing long-term, it makes sense to be in the heart of the city.

There are some options. We’ve got the beautiful Parade Stadium facility down there, but it needs some upkeep. It would need bleachers. It would need all of that stuff that it doesn’t have right now. So if there’s somebody that wants to come in, I think that would make a lot of sense for somebody to look at, okay, I’m going to take this team, what are the other options to play in? This facility [the NSC] is great, but it does have its limitations, and has its excuses for some people to not make it to the game. There’s a lot of people in the southern Metro, and I get it. It’s an hour drive to get up here, but a lot easier to get downtown. I think ideally at some point in the future, this organization needs to make its way downtown.

Opening Day for the Twins is Friday – which is why it’s so important that we take a look back at the 2012 season now, before it even starts. It’s the 2012 Minnesota Twins Season In Review.

This is the sixth edition of this column, and it gets harder to write every year, mostly because I have to think of new jokes for the same players. There are almost no Joe Mauer jokes this year, for example; I’m kind of fresh out. Nevertheless, it might be my favorite thing to write all year.

I didn’t win the lottery last night, which I think we can all agree is unfair. My lottery-playing technique involves not looking at the numbers that I get, just for that minute’s worth of excitement after the numbers are drawn and I can go find my lottery ticket, imagining what it’ll be like if the numbers happen to match. Anyway, with no millions of dollars in my future, here’s the weekend links. As always, these appeared first at RandBall, your home for a swing like A-Rod’s.

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. If you’re the type of person who loves the first of April, I’m going to ask you a favor: please stop. Just stop. Whatever you’re planning for tomorrow, it’s not going to be funny – in fact, it’s probably going to be anti-funny. It will be un-satirical, non-humorous, and mirth-hindering.

26 years ago, the great George Plimpton invented Sidd Finch for Sports Illustrated, in what one ranking has dubbed the second greatest April Fool’s Day hoax of all time. It’s hard not to like the story of Siddharta Finch, but that’s mostly because Plimpton wrote it; his other writing carries the same sense of wonderment. Ultimately, the only fun April Fools’ Day hoaxes are those that are simply tongue-in-cheek or whimsical. Like Finch, or Terry Jones and the colony of flying penguins, they exist to make us laugh, not to make us believe.

So tomorrow, if you’re thinking about promulgating a hoax or pulling a prank, ask yourself – who am I trying to entertain, today? If you’re trying to make the world laugh, then you’ll probably fail, but okay. But if you’re only trying to make yourself laugh, if you’re trying to make yourself the only smart one in a room of confused people, then congratulations – you’re joining the long list of otherwise talented people who, like drunks trying to scale a curb at a Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade, fall on their faces in the attempt to be funny on April Fool’s Day.

On with the links:

*We lead off this week with a twenty-year-old piece about minor-league baseball, because that’s how we live, here in the Weekend Links. Miami Herald humorist Dave Barry made the trip to Erie, Pennsylvania, to then-Marlins affiliate the Erie Sailors. Things have changed in the past two decades, and perhaps today minor league baseball is not run quite so casually. Still, though, a thousand monkeys banging on a thousand typewriters about the thousand glories of baseball couldn’t capture them any better than Barry does.

*Earlier this year, I wrote about why female athletes posing for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue didn’t seem right to me. The Freakonomics blog highlighted some interesting new research on the same topic.

*I love both sandwiches and soccer, so I can hardly describe my excitement at this article that involves both: an examination of how the term “prawn sandwich eaters” became a pejorative among English soccer fans.

*While we’re on the subject of soccer, the English newspaper the Guardian wrote a nice piece on the Independent Supporters’ Council that promotes fan welfare in Major League Soccer

*And finally, there are two ways to respond to the latest local-sportswriter kerfuffle. Craig Calcaterra at the Hardball Talk blog posted a rumination on the dangers of access a few weeks before the latest blowup. I would call this the “measured” way of thinking about the issue. On the flip side, the great Stu responded at Twinkie Town with hilarity, and disdain for all parties. This may be less measured, but it’s far, far funnier, and if you didn’t read it yesterday go read it now.

It’s an off day for the Timberwolves, so I’ve taken the opportunity to introduce my new silly feature: Timberwolves Point / Counterpoint. It has the potential to be stupendously dumb, which is what I always aspire to be.

The first edition has Kevin Love, the superstar, and Michael Beasley, the league’s most easily distracted player, talking about the playoffs.

Masaood Yunus is the president of the Minnesota Cricket Association, the Twin Cities-area cricket league. On March 22, I had a chance to talk with Yunus about the MCA, and about the future of cricket in Minnesota and in America.

In part one of the interview, we discussed developing cricket in America in general. In part two, we discuss Minnesota cricket, and the future of the game here. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: What would you say the biggest success for Minnesota cricket has been over the past few years, and what have been the biggest challenges?

**A: The biggest success for the Minnesota Cricket Association in the past few years really has been the operational excellence that we have reached, that we have achieved. It’s obviously an evolving process, but our finances are very transparent, our operations are very transparent, we have a very fair election process, [and] there is a lot of opportunity for a lot of people to come up and do work. Being declared a compliant organization [by the American governing body of cricket], I think what really stood out for me is an acknowledgement that MCA runs a transparent organization. It shows a real operational strength, a real operational maturity, that brought us where we are today.

The three challenges for the MCA today, number one is seeking out donations and sponsorships from local organizations. We are a state with several Fortune 50 companies. I consider it a struggle that we are not able to get any of those organizations to give us assistance, donations or sponsorships.  So that’s something that we are working on. I am very keen on moving that direction, but that’s a challenge, obviously.

Second challenge is our facilities. We basically rent out our facilities from the Park Board. Though we enjoy excellent relationships with all of the park boards that we work with, cricket is a sport that is not very well known to Americans. We will continue to struggle finding further good facilities to keep pace with our growth; we are growing at a rate of one new team a year. For example, recently I tried to reach out to a few park boards in different cities, but [their] preference is for American sports. Unless cricket has visibility at the national level, it will continue to be a challenge to promote the game at a local level.

The third challenge is development opportunities – how do you develop the sport.  Volunteer-based organizations only go that far and have limited operations. You need to bring in some kind of administrative maturity by bringing in people who are focused on some work, getting paid for it, can bring a lot of value for the work that they are doing for an organization. We are full-time employees [at our day jobs], and then we are part-time, full-time volunteers for this cricket work, all across America. Unless we are able to get some kind of strong financial backing and set up our organizations just like any other organization that can operate with a full-time, at least two or three full-time staff, it will continue to be a challenge.

Q: What should we look for from the MCA in 2012?

A: We are mandated by the USA Cricket Association to have a functional youth program by 2014, and then have a functional women’s program by 2015. We have to invest time and resources in development; you have to show that you are doing some productive work so that you are also eligible for some grants, some kind of help or assistance from that expertise perspective.

So I am very much focused on upgrading and exploring better facilities. I am very interested in fixing at least one or two turf pitches, to align with the national standard, and to promote competition on the local cricket scene. MCA is very focused on finding some sponsorships, or maybe some city grants or something like that, to lay out at least one turf pitch by the end of this year. [Editor’s note: While cricket is generally played on a grass pitch, the  parks don’t have the maintenance capability to allow the local league to do the same. They currently stretch out a matting over a strip of sand to approximate the bounce and playing feel of a grass pitch.]

My second focus really is youth cricket development. We have had some development programs in the past, but lack of consistency let the programs die. We should start developing something on a consistent basis, that’s how you build organizations. And that’s what I’m really looking at gaining. Youth development is really high on MCA’s agenda.

This summer, we have forged a partnership with the University of Minnesota. They have a sports program during the summer where hundreds of kids get together. So cricket will be offered as one of the sports, and some of our players will be teaching. Then I’ve talked with the park board that we already rent out our facilities from, and I’ve offered them to partner with them, to offer cricket as one of the sports during some of their own programs too. Then I’m trying to reach out to athletic complexes as well and see if they will be willing to let us come in to introduce the game, or at least show what we plan to do. Not much success there primarily due to lack of exposure to cricket as a spors. But that’s a push that I’ll continue to make.

In a few years, I won’t be able to play the way that I do today. I am a player, and I am an administrator too – but I know in three to four years I won’t be able to do that. And I see that in my league, that people are aging but probably not realizing that they need to get reinforcement for their teams and introduce youth or more players. The youth will be able to replace the existing crop in next few years and keep the game alive and competitive. It should be an evolving process

And then last piece is a big push towards sponsorship and donations. I’m doing my best reaching out different organizations, making some connections, trying to garner some kind of support as we try to put our names out there. I’m leveraging a lot of resources within MCA, for people, we have a lot of professionals who work for big organizations like Target, 3M, UHG and all those. I am hoping that we will be able to capitalize on that and get some kind of a long-term commitment for three to five years, primarily for our development program and for facilities improvement. If I am able to get something like that done in 2012, next year MCA will probably be able to bring in a national tournament to Minnesota, as we did in 2009 when there was a lot of visibility around it. We went out on the news media, and radios and all that kind of stuff. I would like to try to get some kind of similar limelight back to Minnesota as soon as possible.

**Later, in part three: Yunus talks about the national organization in charge of cricket. **

Masaood Yunus is the president of the Minnesota Cricket Association, the Twin Cities-area cricket league. On March 22, I had a chance to talk with Yunus about the MCA, and about the future of cricket in Minnesota and in America.

In part one of the interview, we discussed developing cricket in America in general, and in part two, we discussed Minnesota cricket, and the future of the game here. In part three, we talked about the national board. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: Can you give a short overview of how the Central East region [the region of USA Cricket that Minnesota is a part of] works?

**A: We have a national organization, called the USACA. Then under the USACA there are seven different regions. Our region is called Central East Region, which is comprised of about eight to nine states. We have a Central East administration that generally is comprised of regional presidents, and the regional presidents elect a small regional board, that is comprised of a secretary, a treasurer, a director, and a [regional] rep. The CER rep is basically a connection between the region and the national organization. That is a elected position by the region itself.

Q: Last year, the Central East rep for the national board was recalled. From a regional standpoint, how do you prevent something like that from happening again?

A: So it’s a very tricky question. Restating the public facts, we recalled the CER rep; that should have remained recalled. I have no problem making that statement. A 10-0 vote from the same elected body, who initially elected the CER rep, speaks for itself.

I think what really matters is, we live in America, the land of the brave and free. No matter how things go around, we are committed to the democratic process that we all must follow. We will continue to maintain that level of respect, and that level of engagement and trust, in the democratic process, and let the democratic process take over everything and run things through that. Once in awhile we’ll get hit, like the CER example, but we will continue to do what’s right, and follow what is prescribed in the laws and regulations of the land.

Q: The USA national team, they’re over in the World Cup qualifier right now, and they’re doing okay – not particularly well. They’ve kind of struggled in the past few competitions, whether it’s in Division Four or the T20 qualifiers last year. As far as the national team, do you think there’s anything that can be done to improve the national team?

A: Honestly, I have never been engaged in any kind of selection or any kind of discussion for the national team, so I think my comments would be very premature. … I think there are good players out there, I think they need more exposure and competition at this level – for example, I was watching the game between Pakistan and Bangladesh today. Bangladesh took the game all the way to the wire, and no one would have expected them to do so. They played marvelously, there’s no question about it. They took the game right to the end, no doubt about it. I think the USA national team is moving towards the same kind of – for lack of a proper word, I guess, I think they are hungry, let’s put it this way. I think they are really hungry. A lot of support is needed from national board, regional board, and all of us, and it will make a difference. I’m very optimistic.

Q: You mentioned earlier about MCA being listed as one of the compliant leagues. I think that’s really something to be proud of. Were you surprised that so many members of the USACA did not clear that bar?

A: It is obviously a surprise. 47 leagues, and twelve leagues were compliant, and three leagues were voted into being compliant. It is definitely a surprise, but obviously I don’t know enough about a majority of the leagues. I can brag about MCA. The truth be told, we have done our best to be very transparent to our members. I think I can say this with authority, that within [MCA’s] organizations, teams and board members and so forth, we all command respect among each other, because that’s the kind of relationships that we have cultivated into our organization. It’s a good acknowledgement, because we respect each other, we are very transparent and open with each other, we openly and freely discuss items and issues, and make amendments and vote on stuff. I think that really translated into recognition at the national level. MCA also takes pride in the fact that we are one of the most diverse sports organizations across CER, and possibly more.

So that’s only about MCA. Then there is the Midwest Cricket Conference for example, probably one of the biggest leagues, with the highest number of teams, in America. 38 or 40-something. MCA shares excellent sporting relationships with those folks out there. They’re a really good league, they have really good development programs, they have a lot of visibility, they have really good players!  And on top of that they bring in international players once in awhile. It’s obviously kind of a disappointment that they couldn’t make it, but obviously I don’t know how much of the criteria they were not able to meet. From the surface that I see, I think they have been a pretty engaged organization and that needs recognition. There are a couple others as well in similar circumstances.

Q: As far as USACA, the news coverage of the national board has been almost uniformly negative over the past few years. Do you think that’s fair, or not fair?

A: I really have nothing much to say about that.

… I’ve never been actively engaged or involved with the USACA board, until very recently. I think it’s too early for me to make an opinion on that. I always tell people, to me, the first impression is not the last impression. I would need to get to know the people well before I can really make any impression. I think it’s pretty clear how USACA operation has been running in the past decade or so. There’s definitely room for improvement for MCA as well as USACA, and I would really hope that, by voting in this upcoming election, we’ll voice our vote.

Masaood Yunus is the president of the Minnesota Cricket Association, the Twin Cities-area cricket league. The Abu Dhabi native began playing in the local league in 2001, then got involved in administration in 2005. Since then, he’s been league webmaster, assistant vice president, vice president, and now president – a pretty typical path for someone in any volunteer-run organization.

The league’s teams play Saturday or Sunday matches pretty much every week all summer, at five parks around the Minneapolis area – and we’re not talking beer-league softball kind of games, either. Think of the MCA as the same as town-team baseball, except entirely concentrated in the Twin Cities, and based less on geography and more around the two dozen clubs that make up the league’s members.

I had a chance to talk with Yunus – who came across as remarkably passionate about growing the game in America – about the MCA, and about the future of cricket in Minnesota and in America. In part one of three of the interview, we discuss how to develop the game of cricket in America:

Q: As far as developing the game of cricket in America, do you think it’s going to be important to get people like me – mainstream American sports fans, white guys, etc. – playing the game?

A: Being blunt, the sport can only go forwards if mainstream Americans are involved, are engaged, are playing active roles, not just in the field but also in the administration of the sports organizations that run all of these tournaments. I’m a firm believer in that. We are running it today, but I really think that we need to have more American involvement or engagement to this. If Americans are not adopting it, it will stay as a second-level sport which will likely not get much traction at the highest levels.

… I can live in that bubble where I think, “Hey, I’ve got 600 people in my league today, and we’re doing really great,” but the truth is that 90 percent or 95 percent of those people are migrants. We need a good balance of migrants and local players.

Q: How do you propose getting more Americans interested in cricket?

**A: From what I have seen, and I might be wrong too, number one the sport has to be a duration of three to four hours; that generally appeals to an American sports fan.   I think at a bare minimum, Twenty20 games are the only way forward for people to adopt the game, learn the game, and move along with it. [Editor’s note**: here’s Wikipedia explaining what Twenty20 is.] That’s one piece of it, from the sports perspective of how do you want to introduce the game to anyone, not just mainstream Americans but also to other ethnic groups as well.

The second item is, I think is forging partnerships with park boards, athletic complexes, and schools is absolutely important and a good start.  You can try to pull parents into a field, but if their kids are not interested in sports, they will be disinterested. I have two kids, and if I go out looking for schools, cricket as a sport isn’t on offer.

I live in the city of Eden Prairie. I walked in to the city office one day and inquired about offering cricket as a sport during the summer. The first look I got was, “What is cricket?” And the second answer is, ‘Well, we haven’t really seen much demand for cricket, so we don’t even know if someone would be interested in it.’ And it puzzles me a little bit, because many of these cities have a huge Southeast Asian population, a Caribbean population, or other people from cricket-playing nations.The cities are not realizing that, by keeping them engaged into the sport that they play and love, is very important for the cities to keep them as good residents as well.

I keep hearing about development models like lacrosse, or soccer to be used as a benchmark for introducing cricket across America… but my point to that is, you cannot just pick up lacrosse and soccer and just run with it, and say that model was successful, let’s run with it. One of the biggest advantages of lacrosse and soccer was that Americans started to play. And then Americans started to get into the administration. I think it’s really important to understand the process, the mindset, of how the sports spread into a particular region, like America for example. The native people are the ones who will be in a better position to spread it and take it forward.

… We haven’t done a good job at being inviting to mainstream Americans. I’ve seen people come in and show interest. But I don’t know, whether they don’t feel they fit in, or some other sports take them away- but I don’t see them stick around. So that’s definitely a challenge and I’m trying to work around, and see how we can be more inviting. We have some programs in place this year, that we are trying to work and see if we can invite like neighborhoods and get them involved.

Q: Let’s say, hypothetically, you had the power to move cricket in America any direction, and the money to make it happen. What would be the first thing you’d want to do?

**A: If I’m in that situation, and I have to move things around in America, and move the game into something more productive, I would be going all across the country and forging partnerships with the cities. Building up facilities – absolutely important. And especially engagement at the school level – I’m going to [use] a quote from United States Youth Cricket Association: “You cannot undermine the power of schools.” That’s really where your future cricket generation will come from. If you’re not teaching the kids, from the age of five to sixteen, this sport will remain where it has been for decades. Even though the history of cricket is more than a century old in America itself, mainstream Americans don’t really know about it.

Another driving factor is finances. You need to get some really big donors and sponsors, and invest in the facilities, and utilize the facilities.  I will give you an example. There’s a stadium out there, a cricket ground in Fort Lauderdale. It’s a beautiful stadium, probably one of the premium facilities here in America. The Sri Lanka and New Zealand teams came in last year and played out there. Even though there is visibility around that for a new stadium,  it hasn’t really materialized into inviting more international teams for the past few years.  Just by building facilities and leaving them out there, it’s not going to help. Building facilities, introducing games to the youth, at the school level, at the college level, and giving them perks to come in and play cricket, that will make a huge difference.

**Later, in part two of the interview, we speak about the Minnesota Cricket Association in 2012 – and in part three, we discuss the national organization in charge of USA Cricket. **