I bid farewell to the Metrodome as a baseball stadium on Thursday afternoon, watching a lackluster performance by the Twins against the Yankees. I'm hoping the Twins' new digs (Target Field) will somehow incorporate a white, Teflon roof. In the history of baseball parks, that one has to be one of the most mind-boggling designs ever. It'll still be a special place to me, though.

I did manage to catch up with former Auburn linebacker Tray Blackmon in the last few days for a story that ran in today's newspaper. Here's how it starts:

Tray Blackmon was a strange man in a foreign land playing a game he thought he knew when he took the field for his first exhibition in the Canadian Football League last month.

This was football, just not the kind he was used to. The field was bigger, more players lined up on both sides of the ball and multiple offensive backs fired off in motion prior to each snap. It was like the Arena League game on a field four times the size.

“My mind was in cartwheels, man,” Blackmon said with a laugh. “I couldn’t figure it out.”

Fast forward a month and that is no longer the case. Blackmon, who opted to leave his checkered past at Auburn in search of a fresh start and means to support his wife and four kids, is now a starter at middle linebacker for the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.

There weren't too many extra quotes, so I'm not going to have any additional nuggets here. But I will say it seems like he's in a good situation, given the fresh start that he desperately wanted and probably needed. For those interested, Calgary's game against Winnipeg will be televised on Comcast Sports South tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. It might be worth a watch.

Also, I can't seem to go out of town without something somewhat major happening on the beat. As reported by AuburnSports.com this afternoon, wide receiver Tim Hawthorne broke a bone in his foot and will be out at least four weeks, possibly as many as eight. Auburn had high hopes this season for Hawthorne, who had the most impressive spring of any receiver. If he misses four weeks, it wouldn't overlap with two-a-days. If it's eight, that would mean he'd miss basically all of two-a-days. That's a big difference. And with foot injuries, you just can't tell how someone -- especially a receiver who has to make frequent cuts -- will be able to come back. With Hawthorne hurt, Montez Billings' academic standing in question, Harry Adams back on defense and Philip Pierre-Louis' role undefined, it's going to be a motley crew of receivers in the mix at the start of summer practice. Quindarius Carr, Terrell Zachery and Darvin Adams have never had a better opportunity to seize playing time. (Paging, DeAngelo Benton. DeAngelo Benton to the white courtesy phone, please.)

One more quick addition: I missed out on going on a Thursday tour of Auburn's new basketball arena, which is slated for completion next summer. From some of the accounts that are out there, it looks like it will be a remarkable facility. I highly suggest clicking on a few of the blogs for some video/photos/accounts of the tour, specifically here and here.

And lastly, barring any major news coming out Auburn, this will be my last post until I return from my vacation next week, when I hope to have something on the blog from my sitdown with safeties coach Tommy Thigpen. Between now and then, I plan to play at least two rounds of golf, win at least one poker game, feast on an unhealthy amount of barbecue and obsess about my fantasy baseball teams.