Garth-Backstage
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He's back in Nashville after doing two sold-out shows at U.S. Bank Stadium last weekend, but I was reminded about yet another connection Garth Brooks has to Minnesota.

During his Friday press conference (which I was lucky enough to attend), Garth spoke with great reverence on how much he admires Minnesota, and how good all of us here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been to him over the years. (BTW, you can see a snippet of a quick one-on-one I got to do with Garth HERE.)

And, Garth said, while he's extremely appreciative of all the support we've given him (he noted that his Minnesota concert dates are the highest-selling of any he's done anywhere), he's a little puzzled by it-- because he's not from here, and doesn't have any real connections to our fine state.

Except for this one: Three years ago, the Twins signed a pitcher by the name of Brandon Kintzler to take over for Glen Perkins as their closer. Kintzler would go on to play for the Twins for the rest of 2016 and for part of 2017 before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, where he's still part of their pitching staff.

But it was when he was here in Minnesota that we discovered that Kintlzer once worked for the Wynn Hotel and Casino as a driver. That was the same casino where Garth did a series of shows from 2009 to 2014. And, the former Twins pitcher used to drive Garth (and Tricia Yearwood, of course) from the airport to the casino and back-- right up until the time Garth came out of semi-retirement and scheduled those 11 World Tour dates here at the Target Center.

Of course, he's successful enough now that Kintzler himself probably has a driver, but at the time, it was just another layer to the mysterious Garth/Minnesota connection!

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and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

 

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