At The Dome- Cheeseheads in Viking Land

It was the BIG game. The Packers came to town to play the Vikings. Last month my daughter surprised me with an early Christmas present. She had bought two tickets to take me to the game! Go Pack Go. It was my first regular season pro football game. I had seen the Pack in a pre-season game in Madison many years ago. But this was a BIG one.

I had seen this set-up before, but it is a reminder of security:
The use of big heavy dump trucks to block the streets leading to the Metrodome seems to be quite strong! I guess only bigger dump trucks or worse could break that barrier.

Well, as it turned out in the week or two prior to the game, it became a game of IMPORTANCE. Brett Favre has been on a record-breaking streat recently. The team was undefeated prior to the game- first time since 2001 to go 3 - 0. A win would be the first time since 1998 that they went 4-0 at the start of the season. Brett had passed John Elway as the winningest starting QB a few weeks ago and last week had tied Dan Marino for most TD passes. He had 420 coming into the game.

Everytime the Packers would line up at the start of the game the flashbulbs around the Dome went crazy. Was this going to be it?

Well this one was- with the ball in flight from Favre to Jennings.
#421.
A pre-taped message from Dan Marino was shown.

And the crowd was appropriate in cheering for Brett. It was neat to be there for this historic NFL moment. Brett Favre has given us cheeseheads one of the longest runs of great football in Titletown. He has done it with class and joy and a childlike love if playing the game. It was just plain fun to be there on Sunday.

This picture is after the game as Brett, helmet still on (#4), shook hands with the Vikings QB while being pressed by the press.

I did learn a couple things about pro football. First, it is a lot more boring in person than you might expect. A good deal of which can be traced back to these guys:
The one on the right is obviously the sound gathering man for Fox sports. The other, from as best as I could tell, is the one who lets the officials and players know whether the TV network is on them or a commercial break. He waves his hands in a circle to tell them to keep going or takes off a glove to let them know they have to wait.

Which means there is a lot more standing around and waiting on the field than I remember from football games in high school or college. TV breaks are everywhere and add up to a lot of time. Time which is also spent playing ads for the stadium audience. Then, just as the network is coming back noise often starts from the PA system giving a greater sense of action and excitement for the TV audience. Meanwhile most of us in the stands are sitting with our head in our hands wondering what will happen next. It's not quite as slow as baseball, but it isn't as fast and furious as one would think. Remember, there is one-hour of action in three hours and 20 minutes on the air. Hmmmm.

Then there are the fans who left early. It looked (correctly) as if the Vikings were going to lose. They almost came back but many fans had left. I have a hunch that by the time I took this picture at about the 2-minute warning:
there was more green than purple in the stands.

Then, after the festivities are over (Brett was still in the far sideline answering reporters questions), a number of players get together at the 50-yard line for prayer. A number of fans commented about that as we worked our own way out of the dome. In the end it is only just a game.


One of the nice things about going to the Dome is the Light Rail that runs from the Mall of America in Bloomington to downtown Minneapolis. Yes, it was a sardine can with purple and gold and green and gold sardines. But we all had a good time.

Especially since the Packers also won- 23 - 16, which makes it sound closer than it was.

Ah, now for a trip to Lambeau Field sometime. A man can always dream.