It happens just once a year, during the fortnight that ushers Summer out and Autumn into the Big Apple.

And so I arrived at the U.S. Open expecting to see a huge build-out. An ocean of tents and similar hospitality structures. Maybe I was in the wrong part of the sizable Billie Jean King National Tennis Center complex. Because what I saw was a permanent structure, complete with fountains and a food court that would make the Mall of America sit up and take notice. Very little of it was of the temporary construction variety that would be taken down and spirited away in the aftermath of the tournament. Which made me wonder…what else is this place used for? Other sporting events? Concerts? Amway sales conventions?

So I did a little asking around. It turns out…not much.

Unless of course you take into account that the entire magnificent complex, with its 22 courts inside the gates and 11 in the surrounding park is open to the public year-round, weather permitting. That is of course when it’s not busy hosting one of the two most visible tennis tournaments in the world.

That’s right – for less than $20 an hour, you can play where some of the greatest players in the world have competed. Sort of like teeing it up at Augusta National Golf Club – except for the year-round part. Or the inexpensive part. And oh yeah, there’s that “don’t you peasants even think about sullying our lawn” thing. OK, bad analogy.
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Don’t get my friend Feesh started on the U.S. Open.

He calls it the worst-run event in New York sports. Yet for each of the past 15 years, he’s been drawn inexorably back. Partly to get his fix of tennis, a sport that he competed in back when he still had cooperative shoulders. Mostly though, “I come to the early rounds for the same reason everybody else does – to see an upset. To be there when an unknown beats a star.”

Like a Janko Tipsarevic beating an Andy Roddick for example – which had occurred on this same stage one night earlier. Watching it on television I had been rooting hard for the “Serbian Bono”, since I had taken a liking to him earlier this summer at the Farmers Insurance Classic. I can imagine how thrilled I would have been to have seen his upset win unfold right in front of me.

In general though, I was chomping at the bit to see everything. But I had been slow on the trigger in purchasing a ticket for the day session, and when I arrived in the late afternoon expecting to waltz in and bounce from court to court consuming tennis in mass quantities I was sorely disappointed. That line queuing up at the box office? That was for the next day’s tickets. Today was sold out.
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Minneapolis has a great sports entertainment district, with tons of bars and restaurants within easy walking distance of the Viking’s Metrodome and the NBA Timberwolve’s Target Center. It makes for a safe and lively destination environment. So it stands to reason that when building a new ballpark, the Minnesota Twins had three good reasons for shoehorning Target Field into a very challenging piece of real estate. Location, location, location.

The decision to build upon this smallish parcel of land has its consequences though. Building a stadium “up” rather than “out” can make for a claustrophobia-inducing environment, as almost everywhere you go in Target Field you’re under some sort of overhang. Sometimes deep under that overhang, as is the case on the main concourse. And with thousands of people crowded into this cave-like area, the pre-game atmosphere on a warm evening can get a little…sauna-esque.

So as the ladies in the South might say, I was “misting” by the time I escaped the below-decks scrum and settled into Section V – home for the next nine innings of my life. As I sat there taking in the sights and sounds though, it troubled me to admit that the Target Field Kool-Aid that I had come to sample was not yet that easy to swallow.
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Minneapolis needs a better press agent. It’s not that there’s a lot of negative information out there about this gleaming metropolitan area. It’s that there’s pretty much no information out there. I’m sure that there is a Chamber of Commerce, a Convention & Visitors Bureau and a Tourism organization of some sort. But the day-to-day, nuts and bolts work of creating an image for Minneapolis? Not so much. Come to think about it, I’ve read much more over the years about the resurrection of St. Paul, the smaller of the Twin Cities.

But each time my travels bring me to Minneapolis it’s almost like I’m seeing the city for the first time. And each time I like it. In fact, there’s next to nothing not to like – well except for that six month winter thing-y. “I have to come here more often”, I say to myself. But then my visit concludes, I get on a plane and inevitably fail to think about Minneapolis again until business brings me back.

Fortunately there is an easy solution to this PR gap. If anyone in a position of power in Minneapolis is reading this, I urge you to seek out the publicist for Target Field and pay them whatever they ask to take on the city as a client.
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John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” is playing on the P.A. system. I’m sitting in the grandstand at an internationally recognized and beloved sporting event. I’ve parked, secured admission and had a little lunch in preparation for the Little League World Series International Championship game. Total cost thus far? Let me see…parking…plus ticket…add in a hot dog and a Powerade…total the column, carry the remainder…OK, if my math is correct, that comes out to a grand total of $4.50.

I haven’t even seen a pitch yet and this is already one of the best events on the “It’s Game Time Somewhere” Tour schedule to date. But then again, any day that starts with meeting a sportscasting legend certainly does get things rolling in the right direction.
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