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Team USA takes on Opening Day

As part of their Opening Day ceremonies, the Minnesota Twins invited Team Shuster to throw out the first pitch and sing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'

MINNEAPOLIS - The US Olympic Curling team has been going nonstop since winning gold in PyeongChang this past February.

Their celebrity status, however, is something they are not getting tired of.

"Tired period, maybe," said Duluth native Tyler George.

As part of Opening Day ceremonies at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins invited George along with teammates Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner, Joe Polo, and skip John Shuster to toss out the first pitch of the season.

"The weekends that I looked forward to [as a kid] were the ones where we were hopping in the car and coming down to a Twins game," Chisholm, Minnesota native John Shuster told reporters on Thursday.

However this trip for Team Shuster was far from watching the game.

Prior to first pitch, the curlers ventured into the Twins clubhouse where they met Twins manager Paul Molitor. It was hard to tell who was more starstruck as Team Shuster huddled around Molitor in his office. Molitor even had the chance to try Tyler's shiny gold medal.

"I have never had the chance to hold one much less put it around my neck, so that was fun," Molitor said.

Following a trip to the manager's office, the curlers ventured through the rest of the clubhouse where they ran into outfielder Byron Buxton and second baseman Brian Dozier.

"It was cool to shake their hand," says Dozier. "I mean, they're heroes to us."

After a brief change into some customized Twins jerseys, it was finally Team Shuster's moment on the field. The guys slowly marched from center field to the mound with an accompanying roar of support from the sellout crowd.

"We get to share all of this with the people of Minnesota, that never gets old," George said..

A few connected with their designated first-pitch catcher, but a few--most notably George's--were a little off.

"Mine was fine until my guy had to duck out of the way because Ty almost killed him," Shuster said after his throw.

Team USA got a brief 'thank you' handshake and picture with a few Twins players before heading up to a suite to take in the game with their families. They totally redeemed themselves with their rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" in the seventh inning.

No matter what happened Thursday afternoon, it was destined to be a day these guys will remember for the rest of their lives. The icing on the cake was a 4-2 Twins win over the Mariners.

"Its at the top of my list of things we've done since the Olympics," said George.

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