St Paul Saint's Giveaway

[Bikeage77]

My stepdad found this and sent it to me. If this is better suited for Off Topic, by all means move it there

 

From Dick Enstad 's weekly newsletter:

5. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP: The St. Paul Saints are noted for their zany promotions and give-aways. On Sunday, in honor of National Tap Dance Day, the first 2500 fans at Midway Stadium received a Bobblefoot Giveaway. The item consists of a bathroom stall with a foot inside which taps the floor.

 

You might recall the incident at the Twin City airport, in a similar location, involving a member of Congress last summer. I won't go into all the details.

[JoeHova]

My wife and I got a couple of these on Sunday. They're pretty cool, but a little smaller than you'd think. I've actually got one for trade in the Trading Post forum.

 

The line for the game was crazy. The Saints only open their gates an hour before the game (unlike the 2 hours that's pretty standard in MLB), so I got there an hour and a half before game time, thinking I would be among the first people there. They were giving out 2500 and the Saints stadium holds about 5500, iirc. So, I figured approximately half the crowd would get bobbles, which would lessen the sense of urgency. I was wrong though. When we got there, the parking lot was pretty close to full and there was a line of, in retrospect (I'm not that good at estimating crowds) 1000-1200 people.

 

About 20 minutes before the gates opened, a very bizarre weather system passed through. The stadium is right next to some train tracks, so there is a lot of dust and gravel around the area. Anyway, a wind/rain storm hit and blew gravel and rain practically horizontally into the crowd. It was pretty uncomfortable and I'd say a hundred or two hundred people got out of line at that point, presumably to take shelter in their cars. That made me much more comfortable about my chances of getting a bobble. The storm lasted about 5 minutes, and over the next 10 minutes, the line more than doubled in size.

 

When we made it through the gates around 45 minutes before game time, they were marking left hands with permanent marker to make sure that someone couldn't get more than bobble, even if they bought more than one ticket. Needless to say, that upset the guy near us in line who had a stack of about 20 tickets.

 

all in all, a worthwhile outing. The Saints have the dumpiest stadium I've ever been to, including high school and little league stadiums, but its still usually a good time (unless its windy. the stadium is so dirty (I doubt its ever been cleaned) that dirt is constantly blowing in your face, which is unpleasant, imo). A couple years ago, my brothers and I got like 15 balls because of a combination of batting practice and a firefighter training course that is beyond the right field fence. Jumping in there can yield a lot of balls, though the last time I checked, they were cleaned out. I guess other people must have figured it out too.

[jschris]

I was wondering what the weather was going to be like in line for that promo. Thanks for the recap. The weather was the deciding factor in the wife and I not going.

 

Please check your messages--I would like to trade for one of those.