European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 2, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Back Home it a too Nice to go inside to the Ballpark John Windrow Summers in Minnesota Are As Lovely As a girl in a sunday dress. The nights Are Cool the Days Bright and Clear the sky a deep a speckled Blue. Summer can last far into the Crisp Days of october when it is even prettier As the Trees turn a Brittle Gold and red. Food tastes better sleep is softer the air is As fresh and As Sweet As a child a laugh. So Minnesota plays its baseball indoors. Minnesotans by the millions turn their backs on such a summer and walk into the metro dome to watch baseball. The dome smells like steamed hot dogs and is never disturbed by the Call of a Bird or a Sweet Breeze. I tried to learn to love the dome. I found that if i sat on the first base Side i could almost see As Well As if 1 stayed Home and watched to. But the dome has a sound system that is louder and thriller than the Golden Horn that Gabriel will use some Day to Wake the dead. Also in the dome one is relentlessly bombarded with commercials. So i gave it up. I lie on the Couch with the sliding Glass door open to the summer Breeze watch the game for free and use the Remote control Zapper to kill the commercials. Actually my favorite activity concerning the dome takes place in Winter. When we have a heavy Snow Hardy types in need of a few Bucks go up on top with scoops and shovel the Snow off the roof. They look like Brave Little insects battling the elements High above the City streets. I Admire them. And then there a football. I do not mind leaving the nostril hair freezing Winters to go into the dome to watch football. Anything warm is Welcome then. One of the Howlin Gly funny things about Minnesota is that people Here take the Vikings seriously. Its like living in a faraway Colony where the natives All claim deep friendships with Santa aus. They follow the beloved Vikings and Are crestfallen annually. It reminds me of Lucy snatching away the football just before Charlie Brown can kick it year after year. Last year when Herschel Walker came from Dallas to play for the Vikings or the purple reign As the sports Hacks like to Call them my newspaper wet its collective pants for weeks. We ran More than a dozen stories about Herschel in one Day. Hysteria loves company and we were hardly alone. The competing paper across the River in St. Paul and All the broadcasters stampeded right along with us. There was a fierce journalistic elbowing to Lead the charge. Herschel mania was upon us. I know a woman from the East a refined person who plays English Horn in the Minneapolis symphony. She confessed to me one night at my favorite downtown watering Hole that she too was infected with a Case of Herschel mania. I expressed disbelief. A no i had it i really did a she said earnestly. A i had  a a what a you take for it a i asked. A ooh i went to a couple of games and it went away a she said. It went away for a lot of folks As Herschel proceeded to gain a very unspectacular amount of Yards. But the state became unhinged when it was reported that Herschel might miss a few games this coming season to compete with the olympic bobsled team. He has since relented and evidently intends to put in an entire season for the zillions that the vikes Are shelling out for him. That a reassuring and shows a Good attitude on his part although id hardly consider it any kind of mania. We still have the mania at my paper. A recent headline screamed a a it Snow or never for  headlines like that unnerve me. I mean it ainu to now the real season Hasni to started and it ainu to never there la be More seasons. The Only proper subject these Days is baseball and if we have a wet Crummy Lousy Day i May head out to the old indoor Ballpark. John Windrow is a former stars and stripes reporter now living in  Center piece i hauling loads Over the autobahn is a Good life for american a1 Marrone. Reporter Randy Pruitt and photographer Mike Abrams find out Why. Pages 6 and 7. Computer programs Aren t All serious business. Some specialize in sharing humor. Page 5. Back Home.2 Don 7 take me in to the ballgame stateside views ________________3 Light look at what a almost news observations .4 How to get along in France spies the endangered species Home front.5 Hacker humor spreads like a virus when did you last attend a local fest books.8-9 Tom Clancy a novel approach William Safire on that Pesky a of a science and the world .10 danger of the mating Call at a glance Norway Odds amp ends.11 awaiting Call of the child genealogy and Horoscope last laugh.12 Dave Barry cartoons from around the world love and death animals mating Calls done to always get the desired result. Page 10. Sunday is a weekly supplement of the stars and stripes. Editor John Taylor Art director Sharon Kilday production Lisa Williams Denise Adams Page 2c sunday september 2,1990