Since the Metrodome opened in early 1980s, it’s never been the most popular stadium in the world, and the reasons why are myriad: indoor baseball is wrong, artificial turf is wrong, the sightlines are atrocious, and outfielders seem to lose balls in the roof nearly every game. Oh yea, and there’s also a giant swastika right in the middle of the roof.
Say what? That last complaint is the deeply-felt grievance of a Twins fan named Tim Anderson, who sounds to me like a walking, talking “Daily Show” segment. Anderson believes that the cables that converge at the top of the dome’s roof form the shape of the Nazi swastika (see the photo here), and that he has “proof”- the architect who designed the stadium was German.
On his website, Anderson calls the symbol “the greatest hate crime in history,” (as opposed to, I don’t know, the Holocaust itself?), and includes a larger photo that’s somehow even less convincing than the one accompanying the Strib story. Even though the Dome will likely be torn in a few years, Anderson is suing the architectural firm and building contractor that built the stadium- and as further proof of Michael Moore’s nefarious influence on American life and culture, Anderson wants to make a documentary about it as well. How such a doc could possibly be longer than 10 minutes remains a mystery.
Anderson is, in fact, a backer of a new stadium- and demands that a Holocaust memorial be included as part of the project. 'Cause nothing gets a crowd jazzed up for a fun day at the ballpark quite like the Holocaust. Are we sure this guy is legit, or is he a plant inserted by anti-stadium forces to discredit the pro-park side? I bet if you checked Anderson’s wallet, you’d find John Marty’s card.
Legit or not, this is complete loony tunes, and I’m surprised any news outlet deemed it worthy of a story. And funny that the alleged swastika would be in the same building where, a couple hundred feet away, hangs the retired #29 jersey of Rod Carew, the only Afican-American Jew in the baseball Hall of Fame.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 19, 2005 07:07 PM"the greatest hate crime in history" is a misquote. the quote is "the greatest hate crime in AMERICAN history".
Posted by: at May 20, 2005 03:10 PM(tiny voice) I see swastikas......
Posted by: Dave E at May 21, 2005 09:47 PMI've always seen it there. I wondered if anyone else thought that. I always look for stupid patterns like that though, numbers letters etc. I also know to keep it to myself.
Posted by: Kevin Skogg at May 23, 2005 01:12 PM