We in the Twin Cities and neighboring Minnesconsin area have seen pro players and musicians who undoubtably have gotten tight with their fan base, and especially some individual fans, to the point it underscores what they do on the field or rink or court or stage and effects in some way their business decisions, such as to go on the free agent market, or at which big city’s venues to choose to perform. After all, that formed fan base awaits, and both sides of it I believe stay longing for the act to continue. There is no intermission from such connection.
Even though this hyper-fandom — spun closely across from an arena, as is seen here like perhaps nowhere else — has always been around, these days such is more, as social media and just the general climate of faster and faster video-game-style pace ups the ante to stay in touch after away games, or become very antsy. Even if traded, which is unlikely with these popular ones, or cut or contract bought out. (Such situations seemingly have been seen here, in some years more recent than others, and the case is made below.)
There is always the regional relationship-making, aided by the fact that certain markets like ours are smaller and more compact in size (see down below), and that some clubs always hop with some talent and charm more frequently and people know just where to find each other, like a musician on a somewhat-small as to be closed circuit, but not to them. Regional can grow beyond regional, and then a bit of travel comes into play if keeping a budding relationship going. To see Brewers or Bucks or Blackhawks? But going beyond might be obsessive. Or …
There are times when cruising a select handful of after-game venues, grabbing maybe a quick and small beer and quaffing it at one, and then crossing sidewalk to another, especially if the places are close enough together for it — and that’s not in many cities and forget in those of any size — this subculture takes on an often night-life of its own. These super-fans have game on most every game night, and book it up-front into their maybe crammed schedules, so it reigns after their successful workday is done. And thus there is karma and beyond that rains and its increased psyche creeps into the brain.
So St. Paul ups the ante with its pro hockey team, The Wild, as an arena a couple of decades ago replaced the beloved North Stars and was crammed into a few city blocks to be built, where there was barely room. And additional sports (read hockey) bars would follow in construction, and buildings were revamped, basically in a clump, taking up not much more space than the Minnesota Wild’s arena ice and its seats.
I know of what I speak, although at this time am choosing not to speak too much.
This thing of The Fan and The Man can be a good one, not like checking a player in the back, or grabbing a facemask, not just jersey. It’s just the normal interaction that ramps up when one is a star player, and the other a fan, and a connection forms quickly, like at a meet-and-greet with the quick but soon to get more intertwined chit-chat over an autograph. Then where to go with that new and budding bond after all the names are signed — on books or even on babes — and the event is done? And the teams and bands played with often change, especially in the 2000s? And the new teams they go to, could be influenced by if they already know some people there, although that’s not something you often here about.
We love them here!
As I wrote earlier, they are our people, in the Twin Cities. And their fans drive them, like a rush to the end zone, or to put the puck in the goal.
That’s where the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and the as-pertinent surrounding area are, to use an overused term, unique as far as their layout. The many hockey bars are, some more than others, within a few blocks — an easy walk, not much more distance than for a standard ice skating rink. Even the Center itself is not surrounded by plenty of parking lots and such — the only big ramp is flanking to the other side — and what stone-base is there is concise in the form of a triangle, you even if a player are right there to go ahead and mingle. And not even hardly any busy intersections to cross, and few expanses of concrete, and few other businesses to venture past but such bars, and those that do exist are tiny. The locker rooms themselves are not far.
Even Minneapolis, not a huge city, pales by comparison, concerning its pro teams and the distances to walk, no matter which stadium. Might be better to be northwesternly Medina. Perhaps with Radar Love playing.
And the Twin Cities as a whole, even with its few suburbs, is not nearly as huge as most metropolitan areas, and when you venture beyond those select suburbs there still is much farmland and large-lot sizes, so not too much population density. And no big lakes, but for one or maybe two, and mountains do not break it up. City and suburb lines are not stretched out much by rivers, as at this point the Mississippi one has gotten very narrow, and the same is the case for the only other consideration, the diminuative Minnesota waterway. So per capita, it’s more likely you know someone prominent, or went to the same high school, and there’s a greater chance they might be from your hometown. And still mingle later. Even as stardom rises beyond the regional. And their new world tour has to fit in a Twin Cities date, this time more likely Minneapolis, so you’ll have to hit the road across-city if a hockey buff.
(A beautiful black-haired Hudson bartender friend, as tall as a pro skater, though way too young to have much money saved up, was like many in saying she went to one Wild game and was addicted, flashing her eyes at those flashing lights, and getting season tickets like so many from even in Wisconsin to become one of these minions, without working at Valley Faire, only a regular night shift at a popular club, so again we must consider the constraints of tight schedules.)
To further this geography lesson, when I was at one of MY haunts … across the way just south of the freeway in Hudson, I saw an older film clip that would seem to back up my premise. In black-and-white it showed a team that had just gotten a big win and a designated person, and this seemed to be pre-planned in case the outcome of the game was right, immediately called a prime place — it looked to be one where many tables were placed together and a large number served family style but drinks too — for late-night dinner reservations that seemed to go far beyond just members of the ballclub. Numerous men and glamorous women were shown sitting down to dine as staff rushed to fulfill this newly received order.
Take for a fact, Zach …
So we must take into account the fact that star winger Zach Parise, of Minnesota Wild fame, ended up being with the New York Islanders for two vagabond seasons, then came back to live in the Twin Cities and did not look back to rejoin his new squad. He did not officially retire, but he was by no means playing either, although the window was eagerly left open for him and his NEW fans, whom based on his St. Paul experience of many years I can assume were legion.
Parise, who still has the itch to play, got back into a training regime late last year, then ramped it up, but still was not coming back, in full form, to the NHL. It was like he was torn, between two worlds, related but separate, and was holding out from having to choose just one. The sports pundits said he’d likely let us know by Thanksgiving, but then even Christmas passed …
So it was not a big surprise when Parise spent the summer without saying if he’d retire or not, then chose not to attend training camp, and even sat out the season opener — all while deliberating a possible return from his home near Minneapolis. He was said to be feeling a strong need to spend family time, as with his twins and not the team, and to do so stay back in Minnesota. Yes, but I think there was even more to it, as far as things to do and people to see around the arena. And if he would re-sign with someone in 2024, he’d have until the March deadline, then could participate in the playoffs, so use as much time as viable … But before I further retell, I must back up more.
This seems to mirror the situation of star Viking running back Adrian Peterson, who left Minnesota, at least officially, and although aging tried to play for other NFL teams, with moderate success. Prior to that, he was known to have flown between 140 and 200 people, by published reports, to key games he was playing. He was known to be a people person in every sense of the word and intimate in his relationships, and like Parise was very popular and outgoing to all he would see. Parise in particular is said to be the ultimate guy you would want in the locker room as a teammate. These are the kind of people who would seem to have difficulty bidding goodbye to their mates, of any type.
*** The Minnesconsin theme, now elaborated, and the ways the tightly taut geographical landscape allows atypical fan-star interaction, carries eastward to Green Bay, which at one time under 100,000 is even smaller in size then St. Paul. (Star Super Bowl lineman Fuzzy Thurston, after retirement, chose to field a fantastic local sports restaurant and bar that was known for his personal appearances as a post-Packer as well as its full quarter heads of lettuce salad, which I once ate in whole, then found it challenging to consume the equally bountiful entree. In the Twin Cities other old players have followed suit with such places, and they always seem to be linemen.) With even more surrounding farm fields nearby to Lambeau, almost right off the city limits. As an example, the Metal God himself, singer Rob Halford of Judas Priest, has chosen later in life to live here or at least in one of its, again, very few suburbs. In a farmhouse? Get to know those (Whiskey Woman?) neighbors, who might have seen him do such songs in-concert early-on, while Living After Midnight, before his full beard but in full Harley gear from a hundred miles south in Milwaukee. If such a Door County farmhouse is a really older one that’s long fallen into disarray (and then rehabbed I hope) this might be more Black Sabbath-esqe, in this the Badger State. Like the cover art on their first album.
Even Prince, a regional musical legend who rose far beyond that, kept close to the Twin Cities throughout his long career, and enough people got to know him that everyone had a Prince story or two in their hip pocket. He started here and largely stayed here, as his professional base, rather then focus solely on the scenes on either coast. Too many local ties to take care of.
For many such players and to varying degrees — based on scans of social media, and not-often-seen smiling photos of they with their fans, and news accounts — a picture is painted of them having social lifestyles that would be open to not being just tied to the house. Nothing wrong with that, or having such eagerness. Games let out well before 10 p.m. Some have shown a bit of hesitation to officially, though eventually, tie the knot in their relationships. Nothing wrong with that, either.
So, when you know one superstar well, it usually does not stop there. You may get to know, like with your fave bartender, their friends and family and co-workers and pets, and pretty soon you know more than a dozen people, many in a way a bit beyond being acquaintences, and possibly taking in a couple of the opposing squad’s players. And sports stars tend to hang out with other sports stars, and musicians with other players, so more there, even moreso in what also helps form a growing network, crossing the reason for celebrity. Fandom becomes more than fickle, and the connections formed just take over. And multiply.
Although its obvious that the emotional bond is what gets these things going, at times those who are sought out most, by each other as its mutual, are those with a similar physical look. Usually found in the facial features, chiseled chin and oh those eyes, as they are the windows to the soul.
We go to CO
But not necessarily OCD. So here we finally go with some news. Parise just broke free from living Minnesota, (and/or The Big Apple), at least for a few months and at least on game days, and signed a late-season deal for the rest of the year with the hated titans of Colorado, who are trying for an elusive second Stanley Cup in three years, the one thing that Parise’s soon-Hall of Fame career has not garnered.
One of the first photos trolled out by Colorado, over the weekend, showed him with a bit of a goatee and scruffy sideburns, so cool but alone in the pix, as he has been a very high-profile and unusually sought-after free agent for months. More so than you would think with an aging star, despite the goals he has to score more goals. There is that absolute sheer sense of presence that he has — like I’m guessing have some of the fans with whom I’m guessing such players know — and that takes these things and those abilities to another level.
Such stars have a sense of charisma, as can he shown after the (one-legged-standing) fist pumps after scoring a run or touchdown or goal, since that further enables these pristine and profound capabilities, with their fans or coaches, or other players or the media. If very tall like some, taking it all in while leaning backward against the wall of a locker room, or box seat, or bunch of concert-goers, or raft of roadies, there exist even more possibilities.
When there is more time off from the rink or field, there is more time available at the rim of the bar, or other social places to gather, for those on both sides of the equation. Who choose to feed off of it. Some leagues have newer rules that allow certain days off from competition, and there are also all-star breaks mandated as well, when the potential time to mingle hikes. And when players are off of playing because of injury for a week or two or even three, there is even more opportunity. After all, yes, you indeed sit with the team during the game, but there is no time that needs to be taken for dressing into playing gear, or later showering and changing out of pads and back into street clothes. So away you can go, if chosen, more quickly to meet up with fans, even if for just a passing moment, as they try to catch your eye as they roam and gain at least a wink.
Methinks that despite a language barrier and the fact he at first, at least, stayed tied to his new apartment, new Wild star Kirill Kaprizov took such a new opportunity when he had a couple of rather long injuries. That would have allowed him to showcase both the newfound English skills he was learning and his babyface Conan O’Brien-like looks. A leading music video reactor and singer is also a doppelganger.
Next-level-friends
But when does interacting with fandom hit a higher level? Yes, venue proximity and scope of the layout is a big issue, but … This goes back to some people indeed being people-people. And then given an opportunity to boot …
I will present a possible greatest-case scenario. First, we consider a woman who is among the most verified psychic minds who has been studied, to the point that she went completely the other direction and became a bit of a recluse to avoid such attention. She could tell you with amazing accuracy what card from a deck was being held up, and learned how to move some other small, circular objects with the just power of her thought. Could be useful in another game, say checkers. So what, you might say? Consider that she formed super-strong bonds with certain people, to the point of virtually being “one” with some, a same ability as was reported by others in her family. Synergy beyond being like Tom Brady with his receivers.
And that she has the same surname, which is not a common one, as a luminary from the Twin Cities sports scene, to the degree that you might wonder if there exists a family-line linkage involving some such abilities. That pervades into close-knit relationships with other people, so much so they need occasional attention??
This woman established a very close relationship with a guy friend, and after wartime duty they communicated regularly by letter — this was before most people had phones and they lived far apart, in different cities.
To summarize details for the sake of peoples’ privacy, she fell very ill one night and woke from her sleep shocked with a particular set of symptoms, and right away sought out the help of her mother. She found out soon afterward that the guy friend, during that same night, died from a similar cause, and she had felt it in her own body.
Where there is such linkage, there can be a need to reconnect with some people fairly often, as with seeking out fave fans. Are you getting my drift?
Such people and yes players often are very high energy, like few these days are not afraid to get physical and down and dirty, have a great work ethic, and these charisms combine onto a crazy training and practicing regime. All the people mentioned in this post check-out with that description. So they may come back from injury in record time, like Adrian acting like a little kid with his awesome training activities after his ACL, I think it was, acted up. The degree of such activities is already well documented.
What, on Kirill being too soft? And not deflecting with his own physical play the cheap body checks he often gets as a superstar? Hey, I think he’ll be fine, because after all, he is a Russian … with all the grit that comes with that.
Broten too …
In coming near a close, and case in point, we go back to a now-retired, North Star hockey player who lives near Hudson in Wisconsin, Neil Broten. As we here are indeed a bedroom community, and there is a coziness as far as being central that’s much like the Xcel Energy Center, and the way things are close in proximity, even with nightspots being in the same block, not a ways to walk. And Broten for years has been known to be very social, regularly, and almost to a fault. As a mutual friend said a number of years ago, we both have our various people with whom we are very close, but it’s moreso with Broten, “he’s wired differently.”
Is there more info that I am holding back, to be stated at the appropriate time? Of course. Much more. But for a later occasion …