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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Fans attending games at the Metrodome probably don't spend much time staring at the ceiling, but those who do might see a swastika in the dome's roof supports.
A Twin Cities man hopes to make a documentary about the swastika  formed by cables that come together to keep the air-supported dome's roof in place.
He's created a Web site about it, arguing that "the flag that flew over Auschwitz should not fly over" the NFL, Major League Baseball and Minnesotans.
Dome officials say there's no truth in Tim Anderson's argument that the German designer was a Nazi and therefore sought to create one of the world's largest swastikas in the stadium that has served as the home field of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings .
"The cables are used to keep the roof down," said Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the Metrodome's operator.
"It's just happenstance that it makes that pattern."
Lester says the pattern was pointed out long ago  the Metrodome opened in 1982  but he hadn't heard about it for years until Anderson interviewed him about a year ago for his documentary.
He called Anderson's theory "a bunch of malarkey."
In response, Anderson said Lester can't acknowledge there is a swastika in the roof.
"If he were to admit that it was there, then he'd have to do something about it," Anderson said, adding that he feels fans who cheer for the Twins or Vikings are being "tricked" into cheering for the Nazi cause.
The pattern may not be around many more years. The Twins, Vikings and the University of Minnesota all are pursuing new stadiums of their own, and have been working with lawmakers to try and develop a plan that will pass the legislature.
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