Neal: Bremer has sweet Father’s Day connection with son Erik

La Velle's 3-2 Pitch: Three observations and two predictions on Sundays.

. . .

Erik Bremer was born on June 18, 1995, a birth date he finds funny. "My old joke is that I was an MLB strike baby," Bremer said.

His father, Twins television voice Dick Bremer, doubled over in laughter when asked to confirm the time frame. "He was born nine months after the middle of the baseball strike," father Bremer said. "So I guess that's what he was getting at."

Erik was born on Father's Day 1995. Erik is older than sister, Hannah, so Dick became a dad on Father's Day.

There will be no gift exchanging Sunday, though. Likely just a phone call between the two. And it will be placed at a time when doable for both work schedules.

Dick will be at Target Field, broadcasting the final game of the Twins series against Detroit. A couple of hours later, Erik will call play-by-play for the Class AA game between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Mississippi Braves.

Erik has aspired to be like his father, who is in his 40th year of broadcasting. The itch began as a youngster, when he would accompany Dad to work on Sunday games at the Metrodome.

"I would show up early with my dad," Erik said. "Ron Gardenhire would throw batting practice to me and I'd sit between Dick and Bert Blyleven. I would eat ice cream bars out of the cooler that Peg Imhoff would stand guard over."

Dick said Erik would correct his scorecard if he wrote down the wrong play, showing his interest in the game at a young age. What isn't clear is what the young man learned from sitting between his father and one of the all-time characters in Blyleven.

"Hopefully more from me than from Bert," Dick said.

Erik, 28 as of Sunday, graduated from Northwestern in three years. He worked as a Twins intern for a year then began broadcasting Augsburg men's and women's basketball, high school football games around the state and the Cape Cod League. He's in his sixth season calling minor league games, his second at Pensacola. He also spent two seasons calling Australian Baseball League games.

He's working his way up the broadcasting chain without any help from his father. But it means that the only kid around to celebrate Father's Day with Dick will be daughter Hannah. A get-together is planned at the end of the month when the Twins visit Atlanta and Erik has a couple of off days.

"If he makes it to the big leagues, it will be great," Dick said. "Everyone should follow their passion. His is baseball. It always has been. I've tried to impress upon him and my daughter that whatever your passion is, you have to go for it."

Aurora's win-win

A sellout crowd of 6,000 was expected at TCO Stadium on Wednesday for Minnesota Aurora's game against the Green Bay Glory. Bad air, polluted by Canadian wildfires, blew in. The game had to be played, though, as Green Bay had a game scheduled for Friday and there wasn't room in the coming weeks for a makeup match.

Solution: move the game indoors, to the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center in Stillwater, where it was played without spectators. Remarkably, the field was available.

"We had guidelines from the league because they had to cancel a bunch of games on the East Coast last week," team president Andrea Yoch said. "They were very helpful."

The 4 p.m. game plan changed quickly. FOX9 packed up its cameras and set up in Stillwater in time to televise the 7 p.m. game. About 80 fans headed to the Black Hart of St. Paul for an impromptu viewing party. Aurora 5, Green Bay 0. The Aurora refunded all tickets sold, but they got the game in.

So long, Alary's

It was a great run. On Sunday, Alary's Bar in St. Paul — established in 1949 — will close its doors for rebranding. Until its final days, Alary's was where Bears fans met to watch games and wonder when the Monsters of the Midway would return. It wasn't too long ago when Alary's was at its best as a cop hangout and pre- and postgame hangout for fans catching shuttles to Wild games.

Through the years, the bar was visited by Marcus Robinson, Brian Urlacher, Eddie Vedder, Wild players, NHL scouts, visiting NHL teams and law enforcement folks from St. Paul to Sydney, Australia. Chris Chelios and Tony Amonte, in 2004, brought nearly the entire USA team in following a World Cup of Hockey game at Xcel. I met a few players that night, including some guy named Bill Guerin.

There will be a new name. New favorite football team, too? Seems likely. Bears fans could be free agents.

... AND TWO PREDICTIONS ...

Twins turning around

The Twins will post a 6-4 record during their current homestand, but it will become known as the time they got healthy and got their bullpen in order. The road trip coming up includes stops in Atlanta and Baltimore.

Hunter headed out?

Unable to agree on contract terms, the Vikings will trade defensive end Danielle Hunter. Their pass rush? TBD this upcoming season.