Take me out

We took Dempsey out to the ball game last month, to see the Twins play during the inaugural season at Target Field. 

Designed by Populous, the architecture firm that seems to have a monopoly on new stadiums in the U.S., Target Field is pretty nice, though Dempsey's colleague Ripken will be pleased to know that Camden Yards is still my favorite ballpark, insofar as I have an opinion on these things.

It was pretty crowded -- since the new park opened, the Twins have sold out several games -- but Dempsey did a great job walking through the crowds to our $5 nosebleed seats.

Dempsey did an awesome job ignoring all the spilled food on the floor. And being a good citizen, he even picked up some empty plastic bottles on the way and put them in the recycle bin. During the national anthem, Dempsey respectfully did a perfect stand-stay, and then politely sat down again when the game started. During the game, Dempsey was completely unfazed by anything: the fireworks, the t-shirt cannon, the music, the cheers. I think this is because Dempsey was having a great time watching the hot dogs and beer being passed down the seats, though he never once tried stealing any.

Despite his perfect behavior, we only made it through three innings, mostly because we got more fidgety than he did. Not being big sports fans, we'd forgotten how s-l-o-o-o-w baseball can be. We went looking for some cute cheerleaders, because I thought Dempsey needed to meet them -- for the socialization, obviously -- but we couldn't find any. 

Doreen tells me this was for the best, anyway. Something about taking me out, and I don't think she meant to the ball game.