The Packers
game at home I look forward to more than any other game and the day had finally
came. My wife and I got to Minneapolis 4 hours early and got off to an
unpleasant start. Our parking lot went up 5.00 for this game. It seems all
games after 3 get the increase. We paid and made our way to the dome.
It was a
beautiful afternoon and saw a ton of green and yellow mixing in with my purple
family. It is a sight you have to see to believe. The party on the plaza was in
full gear. Sunday was a little extra special for me because it was the first
time I have ever got the chance to see the Sunday night bus in person. It was
parked right in the area known as Party on the Plaza. There were several people
getting pictures right in front of the bus. I was so excited to see this
awesome vehicle. I ran into a problem when I noticed something wrong with the
bus. It was hard to believe but one player was missing on the side of the bus
and that was Adrian Peterson. I found Clay Matthews and Aaron Rodgers but no
AP. I was in shock.
We made our
way in to the stadium early to go down low and take pictures of players. It is
the last Vikings-Packers game in the dome so I wanted some extra memories.
We then made
our way down the stands to watch NBC’s pregame with Bob Costas and Hines Ward
in action. I was in heaven seeing all this in person.
The pregame introduction
we found the Vikings offensive starters would be introduced one by one. Greg
Jennings was first and it seemed 50-50 with booing and cheering. The next
unusual thing was instead of introducing the offensive line one by one they
were announced the unit’s names and they came out onto the field as one. Ponder
was introduced to I thought a good percent of booing. I was not sure how people
would feel but I soon found out. The last to make the appearance was Adrian.
The Mall of America Field was rocking like I have not seen for quite some time.
Former
Viking Joey Browner was the one to blow the Gjlarhorn Sunday night. I found
some oddity in this only for one reason. It has been in the past the person
blows the Gjlahorn and then the team runs onto the field. Sunday Joey did not
blow it until just before kickoff.
The kickoff
I am sure most of you saw the result so I will only add if the roof could have
blown off it would have. This place was unbelievably loud and I took pleasure in
watching Packers fans faces in disbelief.
The game as
in unrolled was painful to watch. The Packers did what they wanted when they
wanted to. I watched Jared Allen and Brian Robison seemingly often getting
around the edge only to see Rodgers go up and around them. It was so frustrating
to see these guys work their butts off but to no avail.
I thought
the touchdown by Adrian Peterson with 4 seconds left in the half may have given
the team a spark being only down 7 at the half. I felt so good and now will
enjoy the halftime as we saw Joey Browner get inducted into the Vikings Ring of
Honor. Zygi Wilf came to the podium and I will tell you I heard a lot of
booing. I was actually shocked to hear this much but also understand people’s
frustrations with the PSL’s coming. I know I will not be able to afford this if
my seat is affected. I will not worry until it actually does happen.
The second
half was more frustration watching the Packers continue to dominate on both
sides of the ball. The chants by the Packer fans GO PACK GO, you could hear
very easily. It is so hard to hear that in my own home stadium.
I noticed
with about 13 minutes left in the game a lot of fans filing out and making
their way out of the stadium.
I had
concerns all night about what I was seeing out of my favorite team. One play
comes to mind as I saw Ponder drop back to pass with Greg Jennings was running
down towards the goal line open. Jennings was wide open and Ponder threw behind
his open receiver badly drawing a huge chorus of boos.
I have one
more concern and that was the Vikings scored a touchdown in the 4th
quarter to pull the Vikes to be down 41-23 with the extra point pending. I felt
the team should go for 2 to make it a 16 point game. I know it is a long shot
to come back but to settle for the extra point made no sense to me. We are down
now 3 scores instead of 2 if the team would have made the 2 point play. It is
only my thinking and the game is now over.
The clock
came to 0:00 and the chant GO PACK GO seemed to go on and on even as we were
leaving the stadium. I walked to my car and I could hear the chant in the next
lot.
It is
another national TV game where the team failed miserably. I am still am a
passionate fan but am extremely disturbed with these outcomes all season.
This is now
the 3rd game with the Vikings scoring on their first touch and to
lose all 3 of these is discouraging.
Sunday the
team travels to Dallas so by then I will be ready to cheer my beloved purple
on. I will be watching and listening Tuesday as the trade deadline occurs. I
will not be shocked if 1 or more of the team is traded off. I hate to see it
but I know the team is in trouble.
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
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