The Flanagan Memo - Re: Feel a "song coming on"? Great! Plus, books and buns and buildings.

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If you sing for your supper, why not sing for the Minnesota Twins? Yes, our divine baseball team, of course.

It's an idea from reader Dan Rubishko. Fans in Chicago, New York and Boston sing if the team wins one, so why not us? Wrigley Field fans join in on "Go Cubs Go" by Steve Goodman after a win, while Yankee fans at the end of a winning game sing that Frank Sinatra favorite, "New York, New York." In Boston, Red Sox rooters go for "Sweet Caroline."

So how about a Twins song for the new stadium?

And, no, it shouldn't be a newly composed song. A good old song is what we want, and I've got a good one.

It's "You Gotta Have Heart" from the Broadway show "Damn Yankees."

A cast of characters playing baseball players sang it -- "You gotta have heart, miles and miles and miles of heart," and so on. It is lively, easy to sing, fits the ballpark idea and it is good.

Now, there are some other possibilities such as "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "You're the Top," and my old favorite, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

So, consider singing at the ballpark next year, and let's have a vote for the song.

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On the subject of buildings, several are on my mind.

First, the mighty Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I still think it is a dandy place to watch a game on a cold day. No, it isn't glitzy and yes, it needs work, but why couldn't the Minnesota Vikings redo it, enlarge it if necessary, and put in all of the smooth and glamorous executive suites that some fans need to enjoy the game?

What's more, the Dome is in the center of Minneapolis and is on light rail that is expanding.

So, go for it, Vikes. The Dome is your home, and some of us love it.

Another downtown building that worries me is the Handicraft Guild Building at 10th Street and Marquette Avenue S. It was built early in the last century and for many years served as office or studio space for artists, writers and such. At the moment, it seems to be empty and rumors persist that somebody wants to tear it down to build high-rise apartments at 10th and the Nicollet Mall. It would apparently extend along 10th Street.

My question is, does downtown really need another big overshadowing building?

In Uptown, the Uptown Bar and Grill is going away after a good many years. I will miss their great chili. I worry more, however, about the Grill's next-door neighbor, the superb Granada Theater, now the Suburban World. It is an amazing movie palace built in 1927, the year Al Jolson said the first words on film, and was designed by the Minneapolis architectural firm of Liebenberg and Kaplan.

My hope is that it is undamaged by the razing of the Grill. I also hope it returns as a full-time movie theater. It is too historic to ignore.

Finally, will there be a new five-story apartment at the corner of Lake Street and Knox Avenue S.? The current Lake and Knox design covers more than 60,000 square feet and will feature 55 units. Personally, I like to see low buildings across from tall buildings, the way that corner looks right now. So do four city resident groups that opposed the building before city officials.

But so far, the building is going up. Isn't it a shame that more money can't be spent on rehabilitation?

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My friend and former column-writing colleague Jim Klobuchar -- and, yes, he is the senator's father -- has written another book. This time it's about something he loves -- the Minnesota Vikings.

His partner in the effort is Bud Grant, the former great Vikings coach, and the book title is "Alway$ on $unday." Now, Jim is one of the truly funny people in this world and in his earlier years, he covered the Vikes for this newspaper and, on occasion, took on another famous Vikings coach, Norm Van Brocklin. So Jim has stories to tell and, as always, he tells them brilliantly.

He also tells secrets. Oh, not too important secrets, but here is one and it is on me:

We sat side by side in the beginning with one office telephone, and he was usually on it. Eventually, as we continued to write our columns, we each got a phone.

And Klobuchar still teases me because of one of my constant remarks to callers -- some callers. I'd say, "Sorry, I'm on deadline and I can't talk now."

And Jim said, "On deadline ... at 1 p.m. in the afternoon?" OK, I am guilty a bit because the deadline was at about 5 p.m., but on the phone, who knew?

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On the subject of eating, let me remind you that my favorite food, almost, is soup. And there is good soup just about everywhere. But a delicious Tater Tot hot dish?

Well, surprise, surprise, the grand and glorious Minneapolis Hilton Hotel has it on its dinner menu, and I tried it. It tasted like it always used to taste -- delicious. The hotel put it on the menu last month to see if anyone would eat it. Friends, it is a best-seller.

One of my other favorite bites is into a cinnamon bun. They have excellent ones at the Isles Bun on 28th Street, at Hennepin Avenue S. But, for fun, try the Swedish cinnamon buns on sale for one day only at the American Swedish Institute. This Wednesday is the day devoted to the cinny bun, or kanelbullens dag, as it is called in Sweden. The event, sponsored by the Home Baking Council of Sweden, is celebrated worldwide.

So drop in at ASI Wednesday, have a bite for me and salute the Swedes.