A nice bit of novelty in the form of an outdoor professional football game came to Minneapolis last night. It was a spectacle, and that spectacle was pretty darn cool. From the fans tossing snow in the air to the wisps of smoke rising from player's helmets, everything about it was about 70% more entertaining than a similarly meaningless game played in the plastic atmosphere of the Dome would've been. Much like the Twins move to Target Field, it made me think that I could get back into attending Vikings games if they held them outdoors.
Why didn't I go? Got scared off by the idea of getting turned away at the gate because there would be too many fans attending. Turned out not to be the case, and things actually seemed much smoother than I'd anticipated; all in all, I regret missing it. Then again, considering the parking situation and the fact I was battling yet another 4 inches of white plauge during yesterday's rush hour, my arrival likely would've been just in time to catch the Gophers kicking off spring practice. The good news is, I now have new-found hope that a stadium deal will get done. That way the Vikes can play outside for a couple of years, I can get some reasonable tickets for bad weather games, then go back to watching from the couch when they move into their new palace, price out the average fan by jacking up tickets to nosebleed levels and end up with the ensuing soul-dead corporate crowd. Lot of cold-weather cities are building outdoor stadiums, but we'll get a roof, and it will suck, life goes on.
Speaking of life going on, let's click the count down by one on the "Brett Favre's No Longer A Viking-O-Meter". I'm now back to the place I spent all but about 16 months of my life: Damn I hate that guy. From his injury BS to the constant fawning, it makes every game a drag now. And yes, I know I'm a fraud for throwing him support last year, have admitted it many times. Tell me you wouldn't have done the same and you're a liar. The tragedy of all this is that I never thought to make "Brett Favre Bingo", including such phrases as: "He's like a kid out there", "You have to admire the toughness of a Brett Favre", "Consecutive games streak", "Gunslinger" and so on. Two games left Bert, happy trails.
Every week I say I'm moving on, and I do...then something happens. I mean has a team ever had a more interesting time playing out the string than this one? But barring the team plane being hijacked or Brett Favre exposing himself during a drunken press conference, I don't see much happening Vikings-wise that will require our attention prior to draft chatter heating up in March. Check back then.
In the meantime, there are some very intriguing things on the horizon in the coming week, including the kickoff of the World Junior hockey championships this Sunday and the opening of the Gopher's Big Ten basketball slate a week from today against the hated Badgers. Of course the two weeks left of football season are nothing to sneeze at, plenty of intrigue to be settled, but it won't offer much help in relieving your weeknight boredom. Steelers-Panthers on Thursday and Cowboys-Cardinals Saturday, be still my heart.
All I want for Christmas is a bona fide franchise QB, the kind it looked like Daunte Culpepper would pan out to be circa 2004. Unfortunately that won't be addressed until closer to April Fool's (fittingly) than Christmas, so let's put this thing to rest, and try to focus on forgetting how bad Joe Webb looked last night. We're goingt to need something to talk ourselves into come July.
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