Football: watching a stadium instead of a game

For the first time this year, I intentionally watched the Vikings Sunday. The reason, of course, was simply because it was the last game played in the Metrodome, a “souvenir game” so to speak.

It turned out to be reasonably entertaining for a late-season game between two teams who had no playoff hopes on the line. It even had some unusual quirks, such as the Vikings playing a solid first half, and most of all, not blowing the lead in the fourth quarter.

Outside of the stadium during the final game, it was below zero temperature before even calculating the windchill. I would like to go back to the ‘70s and read some of the material from when the community leaders at the time would have been touting the benefits of building a domed stadium in Minnesota.

At least the new billion-dollar baby will have a roof as well. Pro sports are for the upscale crowd these days. Why would rich people want to sit outside in terrible weather for three hours plus? How many $12 beers can you drink when it’s below zero?

The Metrodome was state-of-the-art at the time it was built, and it’s sad to see it be tossed away like an old car that would cost more to repair than it’s worth. It served us well – mostly because we always knew there would be a game and it would be comfortable.

That’s where the Twins still missed the boat with Target Field. Milwaukee’s Miller Field has the modern appeal like a Target Field, but also has a retractable roof for those awful-weather days you know will occur. The retractable feature, despite the high price tag, gives everyone the best of both worlds – open sunshine when it’s nice, and protection when it’s not.

I won’t be bidding on any Metrodome memorabilia, but definitely hanging on to memories of a stadium that wasn’t perfect but still was ours!

Sports: Vikings, Packers, oops

We hosted an early Thanksgiving Sunday for family, which meant football on TV, which meant I ended up seeing part of a Vikings game for the second time this season.

Last time, my prediction was perfect (See here.)

This time, when the Vikings surprisingly scored to go ahead 23-7 late in the third quarter, I made my move and announced “24 to 23.”

Everybody knew what I meant. Worse yet, nobody dared disagree. Even the most loyal Vikings fan knows deep in his heart that no lead is ever safe.

As it turned out, I was only partially right this time. The Vikings did blow the lead, but only to the point of tieing the game, not losing, which was a victory in itself.

I was a victim of Green Bay’s strategy of trying to clear up the losing margin in two 8-point pieces instead of the traditional NFL route of simply kicking extra points. There was plenty of time for two touchdowns and a field goal, which proved to be the case and would have been successful had the Packers followed the proven format for coming from behind to defeat a Minnesota team.

It’s nice to see other teams make mistakes, too.

Sports: our teams aren't all losers

As sports fans, we sometimes like to joke – or seriously complain – about how big of losers our favorite teams are.

If you look at the numbers, though, the picture isn’t quite as bleak as one might imagine.

Let’s start with the Vikings, who I refuse to spend three hours a week with these days. Through last season, their all-time regular season record, excluding ties, is 426-355, a .545 winning percentage. Not bad, really. Throw in the playoffs, and it dips to .538 with a 445-382 mark.

Through 2013, the Twins – since they became the Twins and not the Senators – stand at .498 with a 4,204-4,243 record. As recently as two years ago, they were above .500 all-time.

The Wild, who haven’t been around as long, are chugging along at 431-381 (again excluding ties, which there are a lot of in hockey) for a .531 mark.

Finally, the Timberwolves have actually won 731 games in their existence with 1,107 losses for a .398 percentage. I would have thought it to be much worse, given all the miserable seasons and should-have-been-lottery-draft-picks.

Bottom line: they’re not so bad. The competitive balance of pro sports is so strong that you have to be really awful for a long time, and even then you win 4 out of 10.

Sports: Vikings choke, as predicted

Was passing by a TV Sunday about 2:45 so decided to see how the purple heroes were doing. There were about 6 minutes left, Vikings had a 3-point lead and the ball at Chicago’s 30.

So I called my son: “Want to see the Vikings blow it?” I proceeded to describe to him how the Vikings would get a field goal and then the Bears would score a touchdown to win 31-30.

We settled in to watch and it unfolded exactly like I had predicted, like if we watching a recording I’d seen before instead of a live game.

“Why do you think they’ll lose?” he asked. “Because they’re the Vikings. I’ve been watching them long enough, and three out of four times in this situation, they’ll lose.”

As the Bears knelt down to run out the final seconds, he didn’t really acknowledge my prognosticating. I was satisfied anyway, not so much at having been right, but more so at not having wasted three hours to get to that point.

Sports: Late for the Vikings bandwagon

Sorry, Vikings, I’ve bled too much purple. I can’t spend 3-plus hours on a Sunday anymore watching you and then being mad the rest of the day.

Sometimes, if I’m around, I’ll turn on the tv at 2:45 to see how you’re doing, and if it’s close, I’ll finish it out with you, mostly out of curiosity.

And if you’re 8-2, I’ll chum along on the bandwagon a bit and keep track of your results. But I’ve been hurt too much and too often to take it anymore.

Do we need a new stadium? Yes. Why? To keep the team here. Why? Because we want 45 millionaires paying Minnesota income tax; then hopefully the rest of us won’t have to pay as much.