The games are too long. So is the season. Bad teams play dozens of meaningless games.
There are weather delays and interminable doubleheaders and any game can be decided by the luck of a bounce or a bloop.
The beanballs and brawls are ridiculous, and the umpiring can make you scratch your head until your scalp bleeds, and the Twins have chased tens of thousands away with their poor play most of this decade.
There are plenty of reasons for fans to avoid or dismiss Major League Baseball games, especially when the local team falters, but when you write about the game the game is not all that matters.
Other sports are about Big Games and Intensity and Pressure. Because baseball is a game of skill contested daily, such pretenses would ring hollow at a ballpark. When you cover a baseball team on a daily basis, you find that the best moments are those spent around the regulars.
Chuck, Rita and Art, the press box attendants. Elaine and Tish, who run the dining area. The cooks and groundskeepers and security guards become friends over the years, so when you get to the ballpark, even in the midst of a 100-loss season, you feel lucky to work in this place and around these people.
Thursday, we lost one of our favorites. Peg Imhoff worked for the Twins for 42 years as a press box attendant. She worked at Met Stadium, the Metrodome and Target Field.
She died on Thursday morning from cancer. She was 79.
