The Greet Machine

For those of you who don't know the story behind this blog, the title "What Jeff Thinks" might seem a bit narcissistic. Upon stumbling on this blog, you might have thought "who the hell is Jeff and who cares what he thinks?" You might have read this blog a 100 times and still think that. I, however, did not create or name this blog.

My wife created this blog and named it for me back in December of 2006. I had spent much of the prior decade expounding to her and anyone who would listen on the need for a new Twins stadium. In May 2006, Minnesota entered a parallel universe and a bill was passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Pawlently that called for (FINALLY!) a new ballpark to be built. So my wife basically created and named this blog for me so I'd have an outlet to talk about the stadium rather than bothering her. Around the time my wife created this blog, however, there happened to be a little Land Squabble between Hennepin County and the owners of the Rapid Park site which threatened to kill the Twins stadium bill. I almost lost my mind. It is a good thing for my mental health that I had this blog as an outlet, as I thought there was nobody else out there that knew the details of this Land Squabble or felt the pain like I did.

That is when I discovered The Greet Machine.

I happened upon The Greet Machine and found there were was another individual out there that not only knew the details better than me, he personally knew some of the people involved with the passage of the Twins bill and who were involved in the Land Squabble! I started reading this blog almost hourly for updates! I felt that my blog was inadequate compared to The Greet Machine (except for Sasquatch news). There was literally no better place to find in-depth news on this Land Squabble, and what it meant for the creation of a new Twins ballpark.

It is through commenting on The Greet Machine that I met it's author, Shane. I also met Freealonzo through Shane's blog as well as Snyder and found some kindred spirits with the Twins ballpark. The four of us will be sharing a half-season of Twins tickets at Target Field for the first time this year. We'll be attending the first exhibition game this Friday and the Season Opener on April 12th. All because of the blogosphere. Pretty cool.

I started to dig deeper into past posts on The Greet Machine and found out that Shane did some incredible work during the actual passage on the Twins ballpark bill in 2006. More than one person has told me that Shane was responsible for polling ALL members of the Minnesota Legislature and he determined that there was the majority vote needed to pass a ballpark bill if the funding source was palatable. He listed who was for and who was against a ballpark bill. It has been rumored that the Twins were ready to scrap their plans for a new ballpark and give up entirely until they were presented with this information from Shane's blog. He also put up with quite a few anti-stadium wing-nuts on his blog.

In fact, I ran into Shane at the ballpark groundbreaking ceremony in 2007 and as we were walking out, a gentlemen approached Shane and asked "don't I know you?" It was Representative Brad Finstad, author of the Twins ballpark bill in the Minnesota Legislature. Finstad thanked Shane for all of his hard work, and said that this ballpark might not be a reality without The Greet Machine. He said that many, many members of the Legislature relied on his blog, and the comments from the public, to gauge public reaction. Many, in fact, trusted the information on this blog more than any public media or polls.

There will be some members of the Legislature, the Ballpark Authority, Hennepin County Commissioners, and other Big Wigs that will be thanked in a ceremony before Friday's game. There is no question that all of these individuals played an instrumental part in getting this ballpark built. When I saw the list of dignitaries, however, I have to admit that I was somewhat shocked not to see Shane from the Greet Machine listed. His blog was an example of a grass-roots, one-man movement that helped sway the opinion of politicians and the Twins themselves. He should be honored with the other individuals who made Target Field possible.

So when you are attending a game at Target Field, please remember Shane and his work on The Greet Machine. Without it, that site still may be an empty parking lot.

Jeff