SKOL Vikings SKOL

I planned to be up at 630am in order to be on the road by 830am. Turns out, I woke at 6:22am and headed downstairs to begin my day. I started some coffee then completed sit-ups and push-ups. The coffee was still brewing when I headed out with Ykraps. And like it has many times the over the past week or so, the sky turned a brilliant glow of orange in the east just before the sun rose over the horizon. Lovely! Back home I sipped coffee and read a couple brief snippets covering the Buckeyes defeat. But like many others, I wasn’t quite ready to reopen the fresh wound. I took Mindy coffee before heading out for my run. Before closing the bedroom door I asked if she would be up and in the shower before I was back. Yes. Like I do on many Sunday’s, I ran just three miles. That got me back home even earlier than I expected. It was 7:40am. Not only was Mindy already out of the shower, but she was just about ready. I wasn’t far behind. It never takes me long. I was showered and dressed even before 8am. Mindy had eggs ready downstairs, and they really hit the spot. We spent the next 20 minutes making sure we had everything ready for the big game. We packed a small cooler with water, Gatorade, soda and ice. We also took plenty of hand-to-mouth snacks, and had both digital cameras and my mini binoculars packed. Lastly, we grabbed the ever-important game tickets and a couple light jackets just in case. We left the house right on schedule – 8:30am. It was an easy drive straight up I-71 and the weather was once again ideal. We stopped at the second rest stop from Columbus – about 90-100 miles north of CMH. The rest stop was loaded with Browns fans making a similar trek northward. We were greeted with a few sneers. The pace was fast. I hovered near 70mph most of the way while the greater majority moved along somewhat faster. We were making good time. I saw no value in hurrying. We pulled into downtown Cleveland near 11am. We knew roughly where to go but weren’t sure where we would park. We drove around the congested west downtown area until we spotted a garage for $20. Most others in the area were asking $25. We parked at Tower City. We wisely noted our parking spot number as well as our intersection. We walked due north towards Lake Erie basically following the throngs of fans already making their way toward the game. I was very happy to see hundreds of fellow Viking fans sporting their colors and jerseys. Turns out, I wore my old Warren Moon #1 Viking jersey while Mindy wore a bejeweled Viking t-shirt. We passed a large gathering of Viking tailgaters and even considered stopping in, but in the end decided to keep moving towards the stadium. It was a lovely sunny day with the temperature right about 70 degrees – perfect day to watch a football game. We walked around the stadium and glanced out over Lake Erie before finally deciding to head in. It was 11:45am when we made our way into the stadium. Before finding our seats we got something to eat and drink (hot dog, hamburger, popcorn and lemonade). Our seats were as good as advertised – section 111 row 25 seats 1 & 2 behind the Viking bench and facing north under a slight overhang, which kept the brilliant sun off of our heads and out of our eyes. The ushers kindly let us go down to the railing to get an even closer look at the Vikings, who were out practicing/warming up. I took numerous photos using my better camera. I spotted Zygi Wilf, the Vikings majority owner, and shouted out a hello. He acknowledged me with a wave and a smile! We made friends with the couple sitting next to us, Tom & Catherine. They were up from Oklahoma City, OK. for a business meeting. They were huge Adrian Peterson fans. And even though he was sporting a browns shirt, said he was rooting for the Vikings. We exchanged email addresses so that I could send him some photos I captured of Adrian Peterson & Brett Favre. I got some good ones using the my new Canon at the full 20X optical zoom - 200 ISO with forced flash. Mindy used the binoculars plenty, hell bent on getting an up-close and personal view of Brett Favre. Just before kick-off I headed down to pee. The restroom wasn’t far at all. The men’s room was full of Browns fans and one started giving me crap for wearing a Warren Moon jersey. He asked about the wife beating allegations and DUI charges. I played dumb without completely ignoring him doing my best not to say anything that might’ve ignited a drunken tirade. He eventually moved on. . This was my ninth Viking game, but this one felt extra-special. It was time for kick-off. It felt almost dream-like to be there with my team I was stoked! The game started slow and was anybody’s game for the taking. The Browns were ahead at halftime 13-10. I was on pins and needles. The Vikings got the ball to start the second half and marched down and scored touchdowns on the next two drives to take a 24-13 lead. The Vikings ended up scoring 24 unanswered points, the last seven being an absolutely amazing run by Adrian Peterson – one I won’t soon forget. The Browns scored a meaningless touchdown as the clock went below one minute. The final score was 34-20 Vikings. I was elated! We stayed until the end and even made our way back down to the edge of the playing field in hopes of more Viking encounters. I had an angry Browns fan giving me some crap as he exited the stadium. I didn’t retort, which served to diffuse his anger. And lastly, as we walked back to the Tower City parking garage another angry Browns fan scoffed at us for being Viking fans from Columbus, and went as far as to label us ‘fair-weathered’ fans. Not sure I understood the correlation, but then again, he was an upset (presumably drunk) Browns fan. J I don’t want to give the wrong impression. By far, most of the fans we encountered were very gracious even in defeat. Several folks commented how much they enjoyed seeing Adrian Peterson’s special gifts. Traffic was very slow leaving the downtown area all the way to the I-71s onramp. But once we got on the freeway it was smooth sailing. We called Jimaken shortly after 7pm to let him know that we were passing the Polaris exit and nearing his place. We picked the kids up at Jimaken’s and were home by 7:30pm making our trip a fun-filled 11 hour excursion. I walked Ykraps immediately after getting in the door. Without missing a beat, Mindy started prepping for Monday’s return to work and school. It was a whirlwind weekend to be sure. The night cap to our evening was watching the SNF game on NBC featuring the Packers & Bears. Both of us were super tired. We headed to bed at 9:00pm.