Ever hear the song "Inside Out" by the band Eve6? Well there is a wonderful line that goes
"...I wanna put my tender heart in a blender and watch it spin around into a beautiful oblivion....." Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel right now.
As a loyal and long suffering Minnesota Vikings fan I'm very used to heartbreak and disappointment. Usually it's the same ol same...win a decent number of games, get to the playoffs, lose. Some years the team doesn't even get that far. It seems like there is always something ( or someone) stopping the team from reaching "The Big Game". It could be the coach isn't good enough (see Mike Tice) or the quarterback isn't very good (see Travaris Jackson) or this year the offense is hot and the defense has more holes than Swiss cheese and then the next year the defense gets it done and the offense develops end zone amnesia. It's always one thing or another and even if they get it right in a game or a season, well this team still possesses an innate ability to trip over itself and screw things up royally (see massive list of stupid penalties and dumb mistakes on the field). Well, you get my point.
Normally, I'm pretty mellow when it comes to how the team does in a season, I just know that if they make it to the playoffs, they will eventually lose. If not the first game then it's the second one that sends them home. I'm not trying to be negative or anything, it's just the way things seem to go for this team. Oh, there have been some really good years when some sports announcer/analyst will put Minnesota down as their pick for Superbowl favorite based on what the team looks like on paper. This usually pans out by the middle of the season when the team is barely above .500 and half of the starters are out with major injuries. If the team does make it to a 1st round game then odds are high that it's one and done. The few years they do make it out of the first round, they fall flat in the second game..aah disappointment. Then there are those rare championship game appearances....
1998, the head coach was Dennis Green and the quarterback was Randell Cunningham. The Vikings were living up to their nickname ravaging and destroying all that was in their way. The hottest receiving team of Cris Carter and Randy Moss just could not be stopped. The defense was feared league wide and up until Tampa Bay spoiled the party talk of a perfect season. 15-1, shoe-ins to not only make it to the Super bowl but take home that elusive trophy that 4 previous teams could not get. I was all but planning my purple party. Then Atlanta came to town. My heart was shattered into a million pieces as I watched the Atlanta ball sail though the uprights in OT.
2000, The head coach was the same but now Daunte Culpepper was QB. Randy Moss and Cris Carter were still catching passes and Robert Smith was running circles around and through the defensive lines. Maybe this is the year. Nope, the team forgot to show up in New York that last game. The score was 41-0 and by the end of the game I was just numb. Ok, I probably turned it off at some point but I have erased that game from my memory.
2009-10 The head coach is Brad Childress and he went all out and persuaded retired (yeah right) quarterback Brett Farve to come out and play just one more season of football. Never mind he spent almost all of his storied playing career in arch rival Green Bay. The old dude said yes and Vikings fans were spared another year of bad quarterback. Last year's hot rookie Adrian Peterson looked even better this year and the new guy Percey Harvin exceeded expectations. Throw in some awesome performances from the rest of the team and you've got a winning season and a first round bye. The very much full of themselves Dallas Cowboys went home with their tails between their legs land all that stood between the Vikings and the Superbowl were the New Orleans Saints.
After Atlanta, I was very wary of ever putting my heart back into this team. It was much easier to tell myself the other team was going to win and expect that outcome. It really made all those losses easier to take. I did have some hope in 2000 that maybe, just maybe the team got it right but by halftime I had accepted the inevitable so that one didn't hurt as much. This year's game I had the same strategy. The Vikings were not favored to win and they were playing on the road and this year they had a lousy win record for away games. My plan was to turn the game on but find other things to do and just check in occasionally to see the score. I spent the week and most of the day telling myself that the Saints will be the ones in the Superbowl. I did however put the same shirt on that I wore last week when the Vikings trounced the Cowboys in hopes the win would rub off.
I did pretty good, I watched a few plays in the first half, amazed that the score was almost always tied. I tuned in the 3rd in time to see Minnesota stumble and fumble and once again started to go down the "they're gonna lose this" road. Then something amazing happened late in the 4th. They got the tieing TD and then the defense started to get physical on the Saints. Minnesota got the ball back and was chewing up the clock, making big plays and inching closer and closer to field goal range. A tiny kernel of hope started to sprout and grow. As the minutes ticked down closer and closer to the end with the Vikings in possession of the ball my hope grew and took hold. I was excited, jumping up and own, shaking with nervous anticipation. They could actually win this game! A stupid penalty ( go figure) knocked them back 5 yards, on the very very outside of long field goal range but they still had two downs to go. 19 seconds left on the clock, all they had to do was get a few yards and then make the attempt. If it was a miss (good chance) then the game would go into OT. I could barely watch. I should mention "The Purple One" as I call Farve, had a season low interception rate. 3rd down, I'm expecting a run play but no, "The Purple One" opts to throw the ball down field. INTERCEPTION Yep, that's right, the other team caught it. Rip Shatter Squish (that would be my heart) AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!! I made my way up the stairs as the kids were yelling "Mom, they didn't get a touchdown". Meaning the other team of course.
It didn't matter, the game was lost. So close and once again stupid mistakes doomed them. I stayed upstairs the rest of the game and OT. Hubby lovingly turned on the TV and kept track of the rest of the game while I took my frustrations out on the stove top stains I had been meaning to get rid of. Except for a few seconds of booth reviews, I refused to watch the rest of the game. I will say that at lest one penalty and 2 booth reviews were the fault of some really bad and biased ref calls but the Vikings never got the ball back and in 1998 flashback, the ball went sailing though the uprights in OT sending the Vikings back to Minnesota to watch the Superbowl in the comfort of their own homes. No, I did not watch that kick either, I was conveniently putting Matthew to bed and heard Jim swear when the kick went though.
Once again my heart is broken. I'm hoping that maybe next year will be the year they finally end the 30+year Superbowl absence. In the meantime I'll be sitting in front of my TV on Superbowl Sunday watching commercials and yelling....
GO COLTS!!!!!!!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My poor van
I'm going to start this post stating that I am in fact a very safe driver. When I get behind the wheel I do my best to follow the traffic laws and not get sucked into road rage. I make every attempt not to use the cell phone and drive at the same time. I use my turn signals and come to a complete stop at stop signs, even when there is no one around to notice. Most of the time I have 1-3 passengers under the age of 7 so I make sure everyone is safely buckled in and I stay within the speed limit (plus or minus a few miles) at all times. I really do try my best to drive safely even if the cars around me are driven by morons and idiots. Please note that I am not allowed to call the aforementioned drivers dumbasses due to the ever constant vigilance of the "bad word" police. Thanks kids.
Now that I have written my disclaimer I can now skip ahead to the events of last Saturday morning around 10:30 or so.
It was a beautifully cold morning, temperature around -10 but the sun was shining and the sky was blue giving a false sense of warmth. The loving husband had to go to Brookings for his Hapkido class so he took off in the Malibu and headed north with the understanding we would meet up later in the day. I had decided I really didn't want to do my cardio kickbox class but I did need a quick workout before doing Tae Kwan Do tutoring later in the morning. I have a 2 hour time limit in the nursery so my plan was to drop the kids off around 10:30, do some sort of workout, do the Tae Kwan Do, shower, and be done by 12:30 so I could get the kids and meet up with the husband around 1 for lunch somewhere.
Well all was going according to plan as I was heading over to the Wellness Center to start my day. The traffic was light and I was actually running ahead of the schedule I had set. As I was approaching the last traffic light before my turn, I noticed the light was green with the green turn arrow. I have to make a left turn so I started to slow down and move into the turn lane. Normally this isn't a huge deal but on that morning I stepped on the brake and could not slow the van. I tried doing the pump the brake thing and resisted the urge to step and hold the pedal but it was soon obvious that the road underneath me was nothing but ice. Because I was already in the turn lane I decided to try and make the turn rather than risking a possible head on collision with the traffic on the other side of the intersection. I also did not want to try and change back into the other lane and risk taking out another vehicle behind me. I was hoping that once I got out of the turn lane the rest of the intersection would be ice free and I could control of the van. No such luck. I was able to avoid oncoming traffic but instead of the snowbank I wanted I jumped the curb and slammed into the traffic signal box instead. The van hit with a crunch and the kids got a little unexpected surprise in the form of a quick stop but the airbag did not deploy and of course everyone was in carseats so other than a few scared tears no one was injured. I turned off the van and called 911.
It seemed like forever before a squad car arrived to take the report. I quickly discovered that once turned off the van would not restart so I was getting ready to exit the rapidly cooling vehicle ( did I mention it was -10 out) and take the kids to the warm building. After the nice officer showed up he allowed me to leave the scene and drop the kids off at the nursery and return to do the paperwork. Don't worry, I had the kids take hats and mittens when we left the house so everyone was warm in their block walk to the door of the Wellness Center. When I returned he had everything written up and was able to give me the information both good and bad.
The good news was that everyone was safe and no one was hurt and the accident did not take out the traffic light or cause any traffic headaches or other accidents. The bad news was I could not find that stupid insurance card so I got a citation for not having my current proof in the car. The very nice officer also informed me that I was getting a citation for driving too fast for the conditions. I knew better than to argue. I will say in my defense that I was going under the posted speed limit at the time of the accident and it was the ice that was at fault not me but I guess I should have started to slow down a lot sooner than I did. I also had to have my van towed away from the scene since it was not drivable. As the tow driver was pulling it onto his flatbed there was a large pink spot of "blood" in the snow. He said it was antifreeze..not good.
After the officer left I went inside and proceeded to call my insurance company and report the accident. The person on the phone was very helpful and friendly to me and told me that someone would get hold of me on Monday to discuss my claim. All I had left to do was wait until the loving husband called me back so we could map out the rest of the day.
We spent the rest of the weekend with one small vehicle for 5 people. I will say that a Chevy Malibu can seat 5 but I won't say comfortably. Jim and Matthew occupy the front seats and I sit in the back between Carolyn and Andrew. No, this is not punishment by husband, the back seat is too small to fit 3 car seats. I now know what a sardine feels like,
The loving husband was scheduled to leave early Monday for a 3 day trip to Ohio so I had use of his car. The insurance company called later that morning to discuss the details of my accident and process my claim. One again the person on the phone was really kind and helpful. She contacted the body shop I had the van towed to and I was able to speak to someone there about the possible timeline of getting it fixed so I could decide when to get a rental vehicle. She also gave me the name of the person handling the claim who would be contacting me about the auto repair stuff. Later that day I got a call from him giving me an update on everything needed to be done.....it wasn't pretty.
The hood needed to be replaced, the undercarriage was damaged, the headlight needed to be replaced, the front bumper needed to be replaced, the radiator needed to be fixed, another part close to the radiator was damaged too and the frame suffered damage as well. I was cringing on the other end of the phone as he was talking. All told the estimate was $5911.87. Yikes!!!! Thankfully I had full coverage and the damage was fixable. I really did not want to hear the words "totaled out" in the conversation. Of course it was going to take a few weeks to get everything fixed and I was given the date of January 29 as the end date. The nice thing is I don't owe the $500 deductible until after the van is repaired so at least I have a few weeks to come up with the money. I also get a rental vehicle for 30 days as part of my coverage so I was able to get a very nice Chevy Impala to drive for the next few weeks. The loving husband has not decided whether or not to demote me to Malibu only status and keep the Impala but at least I have something more comfortable to sit in when we go out as a family. Actually, it might be easier for him to use the Impala since hauling kids can get a car interior very dirty very fast and I really don't want to pay a cleaning fee when I return it.
I don't know if there is a silver lining in all this dark cloud of a mess but there are many small things to be thankful for. I am thankful that this was a slow speed crash so no one was injured. I'm also thankful I hit a traffic signal box and not another vehicle. I'm thankful that if I do get a repair bill for the signal box it is covered by my insurance. I'm thankful that I don't have to worry about getting sued for damages, pain, and suffering by some irate driver. I'm thankful I didn't knock out the traffic light at that intersection. I'm thankful I didn't cause any other accidents. I'm thankful that I crashed in front of my destination so the kids didn't have to walk too far in that subzero cold. I'm thankful I have a very good auto insurance company (Thanks Progressive*) and I'm really really thankful my husband still loves me.
*no compensation given for my using the company name in this post
Now that I have written my disclaimer I can now skip ahead to the events of last Saturday morning around 10:30 or so.
It was a beautifully cold morning, temperature around -10 but the sun was shining and the sky was blue giving a false sense of warmth. The loving husband had to go to Brookings for his Hapkido class so he took off in the Malibu and headed north with the understanding we would meet up later in the day. I had decided I really didn't want to do my cardio kickbox class but I did need a quick workout before doing Tae Kwan Do tutoring later in the morning. I have a 2 hour time limit in the nursery so my plan was to drop the kids off around 10:30, do some sort of workout, do the Tae Kwan Do, shower, and be done by 12:30 so I could get the kids and meet up with the husband around 1 for lunch somewhere.
Well all was going according to plan as I was heading over to the Wellness Center to start my day. The traffic was light and I was actually running ahead of the schedule I had set. As I was approaching the last traffic light before my turn, I noticed the light was green with the green turn arrow. I have to make a left turn so I started to slow down and move into the turn lane. Normally this isn't a huge deal but on that morning I stepped on the brake and could not slow the van. I tried doing the pump the brake thing and resisted the urge to step and hold the pedal but it was soon obvious that the road underneath me was nothing but ice. Because I was already in the turn lane I decided to try and make the turn rather than risking a possible head on collision with the traffic on the other side of the intersection. I also did not want to try and change back into the other lane and risk taking out another vehicle behind me. I was hoping that once I got out of the turn lane the rest of the intersection would be ice free and I could control of the van. No such luck. I was able to avoid oncoming traffic but instead of the snowbank I wanted I jumped the curb and slammed into the traffic signal box instead. The van hit with a crunch and the kids got a little unexpected surprise in the form of a quick stop but the airbag did not deploy and of course everyone was in carseats so other than a few scared tears no one was injured. I turned off the van and called 911.
It seemed like forever before a squad car arrived to take the report. I quickly discovered that once turned off the van would not restart so I was getting ready to exit the rapidly cooling vehicle ( did I mention it was -10 out) and take the kids to the warm building. After the nice officer showed up he allowed me to leave the scene and drop the kids off at the nursery and return to do the paperwork. Don't worry, I had the kids take hats and mittens when we left the house so everyone was warm in their block walk to the door of the Wellness Center. When I returned he had everything written up and was able to give me the information both good and bad.
The good news was that everyone was safe and no one was hurt and the accident did not take out the traffic light or cause any traffic headaches or other accidents. The bad news was I could not find that stupid insurance card so I got a citation for not having my current proof in the car. The very nice officer also informed me that I was getting a citation for driving too fast for the conditions. I knew better than to argue. I will say in my defense that I was going under the posted speed limit at the time of the accident and it was the ice that was at fault not me but I guess I should have started to slow down a lot sooner than I did. I also had to have my van towed away from the scene since it was not drivable. As the tow driver was pulling it onto his flatbed there was a large pink spot of "blood" in the snow. He said it was antifreeze..not good.
After the officer left I went inside and proceeded to call my insurance company and report the accident. The person on the phone was very helpful and friendly to me and told me that someone would get hold of me on Monday to discuss my claim. All I had left to do was wait until the loving husband called me back so we could map out the rest of the day.
We spent the rest of the weekend with one small vehicle for 5 people. I will say that a Chevy Malibu can seat 5 but I won't say comfortably. Jim and Matthew occupy the front seats and I sit in the back between Carolyn and Andrew. No, this is not punishment by husband, the back seat is too small to fit 3 car seats. I now know what a sardine feels like,
The loving husband was scheduled to leave early Monday for a 3 day trip to Ohio so I had use of his car. The insurance company called later that morning to discuss the details of my accident and process my claim. One again the person on the phone was really kind and helpful. She contacted the body shop I had the van towed to and I was able to speak to someone there about the possible timeline of getting it fixed so I could decide when to get a rental vehicle. She also gave me the name of the person handling the claim who would be contacting me about the auto repair stuff. Later that day I got a call from him giving me an update on everything needed to be done.....it wasn't pretty.
The hood needed to be replaced, the undercarriage was damaged, the headlight needed to be replaced, the front bumper needed to be replaced, the radiator needed to be fixed, another part close to the radiator was damaged too and the frame suffered damage as well. I was cringing on the other end of the phone as he was talking. All told the estimate was $5911.87. Yikes!!!! Thankfully I had full coverage and the damage was fixable. I really did not want to hear the words "totaled out" in the conversation. Of course it was going to take a few weeks to get everything fixed and I was given the date of January 29 as the end date. The nice thing is I don't owe the $500 deductible until after the van is repaired so at least I have a few weeks to come up with the money. I also get a rental vehicle for 30 days as part of my coverage so I was able to get a very nice Chevy Impala to drive for the next few weeks. The loving husband has not decided whether or not to demote me to Malibu only status and keep the Impala but at least I have something more comfortable to sit in when we go out as a family. Actually, it might be easier for him to use the Impala since hauling kids can get a car interior very dirty very fast and I really don't want to pay a cleaning fee when I return it.
I don't know if there is a silver lining in all this dark cloud of a mess but there are many small things to be thankful for. I am thankful that this was a slow speed crash so no one was injured. I'm also thankful I hit a traffic signal box and not another vehicle. I'm thankful that if I do get a repair bill for the signal box it is covered by my insurance. I'm thankful that I don't have to worry about getting sued for damages, pain, and suffering by some irate driver. I'm thankful I didn't knock out the traffic light at that intersection. I'm thankful I didn't cause any other accidents. I'm thankful that I crashed in front of my destination so the kids didn't have to walk too far in that subzero cold. I'm thankful I have a very good auto insurance company (Thanks Progressive*) and I'm really really thankful my husband still loves me.
*no compensation given for my using the company name in this post
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Vikings photos
NY Giants buses warming up for the looong trip back to the airport.
Pam and I before the game.
Me standing on the Viking at midfield.
.JPG)
"The Purple One" watching the game.
Late in the 3rd quarter..notice the quarterback change. #7 on field and #4 in the hat on the sidelines.
.JPG)
Coach Childress on the move.
The defensive players going over their next set of plays
.JPG)
Poor Eli Manning....he's been stopped again.
Sometime during the first half. Viking offense plans next play during a time out.
Coin toss--MN won.
Viking Ship right before the team runs out on the field.
NY Giants warming up.
Field goal unit practicing before the game.
.JPG)
I think this is Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson but I'm not quite sure.
My view of the field.
100
Wow, 100 posts, I can't believe it. I just want to take a moment and thank all of you who have faithfully logged on and read my words. It means the world to me. I hope you keep reading...2010 looks to be a real exciting year.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Go Vikings!!!
Writers note....due to PC problems the photos that were supposed to accompany this post are not available. Hopefully they will appear in a later post.
It's Monday and wow what a weekend I had. As most of you know I received a ticket to the Minnesota vs New York game as a Christmas gift from the loving husband. The game was yesterday but since I have family and friends in Minnesota I decided to make a weekend out of it and leave on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning.
Weather wise, the good news was there was no snow forecast....the bad news was the Arctic chill was supposed to settle in and temps were supposed to be downright cold. I made sure I took along the snow boots and snow pants to put in the back of the van along with my warm gloves...just in case I had car trouble.
Saturday morning found me packed and loaded and ready to go by 9:30 or so. My plan for the day was to make Mankato, MN by noon and spend a few hours with my grandma who I haven't seen in a few years. She just moved to a new residence and I wanted to visit and take her out to lunch. I made great time driving there and only got a little turned around trying to find the new place. It was great to see Grandma and we had a great time eating at KFC and catching up on what was going on. I'm happy to say I loved the retirement community she moved into as the place is absolutely beautiful.
My next stop was Rochester, MN. I have two friends, Jackie and Jen, who live out there. Yes, they are the ones I write about when I talk of the girlfriends weekends I like to do each year. While this wasn't exactly a true girlfriends weekend, it was a me alone weekend so I had to at least stop by and say hi. The highlight of this stop was meeting Tessa, Jen's new daughter. I so love cute babies ( especially if I can hug them and give them back). I managed to drag Jen away from Mom duties and we headed over to Caribou Coffee to meet Jackie for an hour or so of girl talk. It felt so good to kick back and laugh and share stories.
My final destination for the night was Northfield, MN. My college friend Pam lives there and I would be staying the night and traveling up to the game with her the next day. I will say I was pretty proud of myself on the driving end of things. I usually get lost or take wrong turns but I only managed a few small goofs but for the most part I managed to drive on unfamiliar roads in the dark by myself and not get hopelessly completely lost.
Hanging with Pam is always fun and Saturday night was no exception. I won't go in to too many details of what all we did but let's just say there was lots and lots of laughter. We also discovered that wine coolers don't taste well after 14years. Long story short....Jan 1, 1996 I took a bottle on MSU campus as a joke (it's a dry campus) and we saved it thinking it would get drunk the next year and I guess that didn't quite happen. Like all good people who have to get up nice and early the next morning we stayed up waaay too late talking.
The next (same) morning came bright and early for me at around 7. Pam needed to leave by 8 to get up to the Metrodome in time for work. For those who don't know, Pam works for the Vikings, as a radio dispatcher during the games. Game time was noon but doors opened at 10 and Pam had to be there at 9 so that left me with an hour to kill when we got there. I enjoyed the drive up to Minneapolis since I wasn't doing the actual driving and it was a very beautiful morning. Freeking cold, but beautiful.
The nice thing about having a friend work at the Metrodome on game day is close parking. Right across the street and no huge parking fee close. After arriving at our destination I said my good-bys to Pam and headed off to find a warm place to stand. It was supposed to be fan appreciation day and there were events scheduled to take place outdoors before the game started. Now that seemed like a lot of fun last week when it was just really snowy out but it was 10 below zero without the wind chill so outdoor anything did not seen like fun. Remember the snow boots and snow pants I took along?? I decided against wearing them since I would be indoors most of the day so they were still in my van. I was OK about not wearing the pants but my toes were really missing those snow boots. I did find two tents set up for the enjoyment of the fans. The first tent was the VIP tent..this tent had a great jazz band, full bar, possibly food, beautiful purple tablecloths...security personnel looking for a VIP pass...yeah, you get where I'm going with this. I then walked over to what I dubbed the loser's tent. It was the same size as the other one but there was no band, no refreshments, the tables were set up but not decorated, the TV's (to watch the pre-game show) weren't turned on but they did have a blower keeping it above zero in there. This is where I decided to hang out. I did get a great view of the media people entering the dome though.
Finally 10:00 came and I was able to get inside where the real action was. It took a few minutes to find my seat but I was very pleased with where I was sitting. I was in the lower section of the dome but I was at the top part closest to the exit. My view of the field was the 40 yrd line and the Vikings bench. I was able to wander around and get something overpriced to eat and then take photos of the two teams warming up and chat with other early fans. The time went by surprisingly fast.
About 10 minutes before kickoff I began to wonder if the game was a sellout because there were still quite a few empty seats. About 5 minutes before kickoff, almost all of them were filled. Right as they were getting ready to do the team introduction, every idiot not in his or her seat all decided that they needed to find a place to stand...RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!. Ok, not quite in front of me since there were people in seats in front of me but since I was an end seat near an exit I got quite a bit of traffic and at least one of my photos was ruined by someone blocking my shot at he last moment. I still managed to get a few of the team going on the field though.
Here is where I now confess that I am spoiled by watching TV. I'm used to seeing things up close and personal. It took a bit of time to get used to watching the action as it happened from a distance. I could still watch it on the screens but that's not as much fun. Thankfully, I do know that the yellow and blue lines you see on TV are just special effects and not painted on the field. What made watching the game live so special was the excitement of the fans. There is something unique about hearing the noise 60,000 people make. The other great part was being able to yell and scream and jump up and down with unbridled enthusiasm and not have to worry about waking up a sleeping child or getting "the look" from the husband. Yes, screaming at the top of the lungs was totally encouraged. And there was a lot to scream about. The first drive resulted in a touchdown and it just kept getting better from there. I now know the words to the Viking fight song since it is played after every score and at the end of the game 44 points had been scored. I was in football heaven. For as much grousing I did over "The Purple One" defecting to the team I was very much impressed with his playing ability and considered it a real treat to have seen him play live. As for the other Super Bowl quarterback, Eli manning??? Well, sadly, he did not put in a very good performance and I was a little disappointed. I was hoping to at least see him do a few cool things but if it means a Vikings win then sorry Eli.
Halftime was fun to watch. They had various contests on the field and several lucky people walked away with great prizes. Since it was fan appreciation day random sections were selected to receive free items. This was where I was wishing for a seat up in the nosebleed section since the upper levels seemed to benefit more than those of us in good view land. The one prize I wanted was the Target gift cards and chance to win a $1500 Target shopping spree but alas that went to the lucky lady in Nosebleedland. I tried to call the loving husband and my dad but it was really hard to hear with all the crowd noise so I kept things really short.
The second half started off much like the first..mainly more scoring. When the score hit 44 there was much speculation as to how much more playing time certain players would see. I already had my suspicions when I did not recognise the player who caught the last touchdown pass. Shortly before the end of the 3rd quarter I noticed the number 7 had appeared on the field instead of the number 4 which meant Travaris Jackson, the back-up QB was now in charge. After that the Giants scored their only points of the game. I also started to notice other unfamiliar numbers on the field. At that point the tone of the game changed. It was much more quiet and reserved and I spent more time sitting vs. standing but I was able to take photos of the teams. The fans started to leave at the end of the 3rd and by the end of the game most had started out in attempt to beat traffic.
After the game was over I managed to make my way over to where Pam was located. I got to go up into the booth she works in and meet her co-workers. I also got to walk past the visiting team locker room but of course was not permitted to take pictures and no, Eli and Co didn't appear. I did get a neat shot of the stuff being loaded onto the equipment truck. We made our way onto the field where I was able to take more pictures and have mine taken on the 50 yrd line. Really cool if you ask me.
When it was time to go, we were able to walk into the private lot the players get to park their cars in. Not much action there and no photos but still neat. I also got to get a few shots of the Giants buses waiting for the team and again when they were getting the police escort to the airport. I know, dorky but it's not like I'm ever gonna get to do that again.
The ride up to the game was fun and the day beautiful but the ride back home from the game was the total opposite. Unfortunately, Pam's car developed some sort of problem, possibly a loose hose so the car kept overheating. Ironically, the cold weather probably helped keep things from getting too damaged but the having to stop every few miles and add antifreeze and wait 10-15 minutes for the engine to cool down was not fun. Temps were dipping into the double digits below zero and once again I was wishing for those snow boots. The worst stop was on the side of the road between Apple Valley and Northfield...BRRRRRRRRR. Thankfully we finally managed to get our thoroughly frozen selves back to Pam's place.
It was late but I knew I needed to get home so I packed up and off I went. My van wasn't too happy about sitting outside undriven overnight but thankfully warmed up quite nicely so unlike my ride back from Minneapolis I had a warm comfy trip back to my house. It was still long and due to the car problems I was leaving about 3 hours later than my original plan so I didn't get home until after midnight. Dog tired I walked in the door, dropped my stuff on the floor and headed downstairs to greet the loving husband. Unfortunately, I found out both he and Carolyn had picked up the stomach bug and were not feeling that well. Oh well, back to reality.
I'm hoping I figure out what is wrong with my PC so I can download my photos and post them. Hopefully soon. I've got some great shots I want to share with you.
It's Monday and wow what a weekend I had. As most of you know I received a ticket to the Minnesota vs New York game as a Christmas gift from the loving husband. The game was yesterday but since I have family and friends in Minnesota I decided to make a weekend out of it and leave on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning.
Weather wise, the good news was there was no snow forecast....the bad news was the Arctic chill was supposed to settle in and temps were supposed to be downright cold. I made sure I took along the snow boots and snow pants to put in the back of the van along with my warm gloves...just in case I had car trouble.
Saturday morning found me packed and loaded and ready to go by 9:30 or so. My plan for the day was to make Mankato, MN by noon and spend a few hours with my grandma who I haven't seen in a few years. She just moved to a new residence and I wanted to visit and take her out to lunch. I made great time driving there and only got a little turned around trying to find the new place. It was great to see Grandma and we had a great time eating at KFC and catching up on what was going on. I'm happy to say I loved the retirement community she moved into as the place is absolutely beautiful.
My next stop was Rochester, MN. I have two friends, Jackie and Jen, who live out there. Yes, they are the ones I write about when I talk of the girlfriends weekends I like to do each year. While this wasn't exactly a true girlfriends weekend, it was a me alone weekend so I had to at least stop by and say hi. The highlight of this stop was meeting Tessa, Jen's new daughter. I so love cute babies ( especially if I can hug them and give them back). I managed to drag Jen away from Mom duties and we headed over to Caribou Coffee to meet Jackie for an hour or so of girl talk. It felt so good to kick back and laugh and share stories.
My final destination for the night was Northfield, MN. My college friend Pam lives there and I would be staying the night and traveling up to the game with her the next day. I will say I was pretty proud of myself on the driving end of things. I usually get lost or take wrong turns but I only managed a few small goofs but for the most part I managed to drive on unfamiliar roads in the dark by myself and not get hopelessly completely lost.
Hanging with Pam is always fun and Saturday night was no exception. I won't go in to too many details of what all we did but let's just say there was lots and lots of laughter. We also discovered that wine coolers don't taste well after 14years. Long story short....Jan 1, 1996 I took a bottle on MSU campus as a joke (it's a dry campus) and we saved it thinking it would get drunk the next year and I guess that didn't quite happen. Like all good people who have to get up nice and early the next morning we stayed up waaay too late talking.
The next (same) morning came bright and early for me at around 7. Pam needed to leave by 8 to get up to the Metrodome in time for work. For those who don't know, Pam works for the Vikings, as a radio dispatcher during the games. Game time was noon but doors opened at 10 and Pam had to be there at 9 so that left me with an hour to kill when we got there. I enjoyed the drive up to Minneapolis since I wasn't doing the actual driving and it was a very beautiful morning. Freeking cold, but beautiful.
The nice thing about having a friend work at the Metrodome on game day is close parking. Right across the street and no huge parking fee close. After arriving at our destination I said my good-bys to Pam and headed off to find a warm place to stand. It was supposed to be fan appreciation day and there were events scheduled to take place outdoors before the game started. Now that seemed like a lot of fun last week when it was just really snowy out but it was 10 below zero without the wind chill so outdoor anything did not seen like fun. Remember the snow boots and snow pants I took along?? I decided against wearing them since I would be indoors most of the day so they were still in my van. I was OK about not wearing the pants but my toes were really missing those snow boots. I did find two tents set up for the enjoyment of the fans. The first tent was the VIP tent..this tent had a great jazz band, full bar, possibly food, beautiful purple tablecloths...security personnel looking for a VIP pass...yeah, you get where I'm going with this. I then walked over to what I dubbed the loser's tent. It was the same size as the other one but there was no band, no refreshments, the tables were set up but not decorated, the TV's (to watch the pre-game show) weren't turned on but they did have a blower keeping it above zero in there. This is where I decided to hang out. I did get a great view of the media people entering the dome though.
Finally 10:00 came and I was able to get inside where the real action was. It took a few minutes to find my seat but I was very pleased with where I was sitting. I was in the lower section of the dome but I was at the top part closest to the exit. My view of the field was the 40 yrd line and the Vikings bench. I was able to wander around and get something overpriced to eat and then take photos of the two teams warming up and chat with other early fans. The time went by surprisingly fast.
About 10 minutes before kickoff I began to wonder if the game was a sellout because there were still quite a few empty seats. About 5 minutes before kickoff, almost all of them were filled. Right as they were getting ready to do the team introduction, every idiot not in his or her seat all decided that they needed to find a place to stand...RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!. Ok, not quite in front of me since there were people in seats in front of me but since I was an end seat near an exit I got quite a bit of traffic and at least one of my photos was ruined by someone blocking my shot at he last moment. I still managed to get a few of the team going on the field though.
Here is where I now confess that I am spoiled by watching TV. I'm used to seeing things up close and personal. It took a bit of time to get used to watching the action as it happened from a distance. I could still watch it on the screens but that's not as much fun. Thankfully, I do know that the yellow and blue lines you see on TV are just special effects and not painted on the field. What made watching the game live so special was the excitement of the fans. There is something unique about hearing the noise 60,000 people make. The other great part was being able to yell and scream and jump up and down with unbridled enthusiasm and not have to worry about waking up a sleeping child or getting "the look" from the husband. Yes, screaming at the top of the lungs was totally encouraged. And there was a lot to scream about. The first drive resulted in a touchdown and it just kept getting better from there. I now know the words to the Viking fight song since it is played after every score and at the end of the game 44 points had been scored. I was in football heaven. For as much grousing I did over "The Purple One" defecting to the team I was very much impressed with his playing ability and considered it a real treat to have seen him play live. As for the other Super Bowl quarterback, Eli manning??? Well, sadly, he did not put in a very good performance and I was a little disappointed. I was hoping to at least see him do a few cool things but if it means a Vikings win then sorry Eli.
Halftime was fun to watch. They had various contests on the field and several lucky people walked away with great prizes. Since it was fan appreciation day random sections were selected to receive free items. This was where I was wishing for a seat up in the nosebleed section since the upper levels seemed to benefit more than those of us in good view land. The one prize I wanted was the Target gift cards and chance to win a $1500 Target shopping spree but alas that went to the lucky lady in Nosebleedland. I tried to call the loving husband and my dad but it was really hard to hear with all the crowd noise so I kept things really short.
The second half started off much like the first..mainly more scoring. When the score hit 44 there was much speculation as to how much more playing time certain players would see. I already had my suspicions when I did not recognise the player who caught the last touchdown pass. Shortly before the end of the 3rd quarter I noticed the number 7 had appeared on the field instead of the number 4 which meant Travaris Jackson, the back-up QB was now in charge. After that the Giants scored their only points of the game. I also started to notice other unfamiliar numbers on the field. At that point the tone of the game changed. It was much more quiet and reserved and I spent more time sitting vs. standing but I was able to take photos of the teams. The fans started to leave at the end of the 3rd and by the end of the game most had started out in attempt to beat traffic.
After the game was over I managed to make my way over to where Pam was located. I got to go up into the booth she works in and meet her co-workers. I also got to walk past the visiting team locker room but of course was not permitted to take pictures and no, Eli and Co didn't appear. I did get a neat shot of the stuff being loaded onto the equipment truck. We made our way onto the field where I was able to take more pictures and have mine taken on the 50 yrd line. Really cool if you ask me.
When it was time to go, we were able to walk into the private lot the players get to park their cars in. Not much action there and no photos but still neat. I also got to get a few shots of the Giants buses waiting for the team and again when they were getting the police escort to the airport. I know, dorky but it's not like I'm ever gonna get to do that again.
The ride up to the game was fun and the day beautiful but the ride back home from the game was the total opposite. Unfortunately, Pam's car developed some sort of problem, possibly a loose hose so the car kept overheating. Ironically, the cold weather probably helped keep things from getting too damaged but the having to stop every few miles and add antifreeze and wait 10-15 minutes for the engine to cool down was not fun. Temps were dipping into the double digits below zero and once again I was wishing for those snow boots. The worst stop was on the side of the road between Apple Valley and Northfield...BRRRRRRRRR. Thankfully we finally managed to get our thoroughly frozen selves back to Pam's place.
It was late but I knew I needed to get home so I packed up and off I went. My van wasn't too happy about sitting outside undriven overnight but thankfully warmed up quite nicely so unlike my ride back from Minneapolis I had a warm comfy trip back to my house. It was still long and due to the car problems I was leaving about 3 hours later than my original plan so I didn't get home until after midnight. Dog tired I walked in the door, dropped my stuff on the floor and headed downstairs to greet the loving husband. Unfortunately, I found out both he and Carolyn had picked up the stomach bug and were not feeling that well. Oh well, back to reality.
I'm hoping I figure out what is wrong with my PC so I can download my photos and post them. Hopefully soon. I've got some great shots I want to share with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
