VS.
The Experience: Minneapolis/Saint Paul: Twin Cities with cold air and warm hearts. Deplaning in Minneapolis, I didn't really know what to expect. The Twin Cities don't have the brand-name recognition of Los Angeles and New York City, nor do they have the atmosphere of small-town pigskin hubs like Buffalo and Green Bay. As it turns out, this is exactly what the Twin Cities go for: it's a humble city. I know; kinda hard to call a city with the Mall of America, a literal shrine to the evils of American consumer culture, humble, but that's honestly what this city is.
Every sensation in this city feels natural, and not forced like in so many places. You don't get that momentary sensation of "wow, I'm in New York City! Okay, back to my cave." Minneapolis/Saint Paul has a learning curve, and yet something about it makes you want to challenge yourself. To go out and really expose youself to what the city has to offer. Let's call this "Northern Comfort."
So, how does one "learn" Minneapolis/Saint Paul? The first place to start is the cold air temperatures, which can feel like -34 degrees Fahrenheit at the lowest. If there's one thing you should know before planning a trip to the Northern Midwest, it's that the air is pretty goddamn cold. We're talking that meme of Jack Nicholson from The Shining, folks. The cold in Minnesota is like Big Brother; it's alive. It's all-knowing. It strikes swiftly, and there's no adjusting to it. The instant you walk outside, it hits you like a Delta airplane landing at MSP.
This brings us to one of the cooler features (no pun intended) of the city: the Skyway. The Skyway is a series of walkways between the biggest entertainment centers, sports venues, and hotels in Minneapolis, which is great if you want to watch a Vikings game without having to do the Iditarod. Believe me, folks, you don't want to walk any further than a few streets in Minneapolis temperatures.
Having been to Buffalo many times for football games, I always assumed that cold cities had fans with equally cold hearts. Yes, Bills fans have been bitter for a long time (until this season): sitting in slush covered seats while getting coated with lake effect snow would do that to you, I suppose. However, Minneapolis is able to embrace this cold. Certainly, there were great minds behind the invention of the twin city Skyways, but the hearts of Minneapolis individuals were just as big. Minneapolis is a football town, and purple and yellow is everywhere...but there were just as many Bears fans in town that weekend too. Instead of being treated like outcasts, however, they were embraced as if they were hometown fans, something you rarely see in Buffalo.
Furthermore, in a time when cities across the United States are liberalizing, and taverns give way to hippie bars and girl drink fantasies, Minneapolis has one hell of a dive bar scene. My family and I met a bunch of great people at a small bar called Bullwinkles, right across the street from our hotel. Featuring an exotic upstairs lounge area overseeing downtown Minneapolis, a couple of very open, friendly bartenders, and the perfect rustic charm, Bullwinkles was my kind of hangout. My parents are both connoisseurs of dive bars, and a good part of my childhood was spent in the company of snowmobilers, bikers, and all sorts of colorful characters. We met a couple of UMinn graduates who basically told us their life stories, a married couple from Sioux Falls who loved the Packers (bold people!), and another married couple with seasons tickets to Vikings games. Our conversations always started like this: Them:"where are you folks from?" Us: "Upstate New York." Them: "Oh, so you're Bills fans?" My parents: "No, Dolphins fans." Them: "Then why the hell didn't you go there?!"
Stadium Review:
U.S Bank Stadium feels less like a sport venue, and more like a convention hall. Check that: a clean convention hall. I've been to football stadiums all over the country, and I can honestly say that when it comes to ambiance, experiencing one means you've seen them all. You know what I'm talking about; the lingering stench of beer, the smell of stale urine emanating from the bathrooms...this ain't ballet folks. You're there to watch a football game.
That's where U.S Bank Stadium feels so different. Even with cheap seats up in the rafters, I felt like a welcomed guest rather than a piece of meat. The air is clean, and the only smells of food are that of freshly made fried foods. Everything, from the floors to the seats, looked brand new, a pretty impressive feat considering how big it is and how far into the season it is. The ambiance isn't perfect (the bathrooms are public, after all), but it's a hell of a lot better than the dens of drunkeness in Cleveland and Buffalo.
It's a low stress kind of football stadium, featuring good lighting, ample space for navigation, and great views of the turf, no matter where you are staying. The lighting was especially well done, mostly owing to the glass panelling on the outside, offering great views of downtown Minneapolis. Our seats offered a great view of the Minneapolis skyline, and despite being relatively static, it was almost hypnotic in the mid-afternoon sun. In fact, I actually missed a few plays during the actual game because of how saturating the sights were.
A final note: the Vikings have the BEST pre-game entrances. At gametime, a giant Viking warship acted as the entryway for the players. Sound awesome? What if I told you it BREATHED FIRE?! Literally! I could actually feel the heat from it up in the nosebleeds! The Vikings also have a really cool chant that they do, where a guy will bang a massive drum (forgot what it's called) twice, and then the crowd will clap and chant "Skol!" It's pretty surreal, listening to an entire football stadium go quiet for this one chant.
Recap: Vikings 23 Bears 10
The game itself wasn't all that much to look at, which probably lends to why I got distracted by the sights of the stadium. Once again, the Bears proved that only their special teams and defense are competent, at the very least, while Mitchell Trubiskey continues to crap the bed. The Bears marched into the Red Zone twice, only to fall apart because John Fox is a friggin' idiot. Even without him though, are the Bears really that well off?
As for the Vikings, I think the offense needs a little help. They won soundly, sure, but the offense just seemed tired on Sunday. The defense was absolutely rock solid as always, but great defense needs solid offense to back it up. Other than that, the Vikings are still my favorites to win the NFC Championship this year, and not simply because I'm a fan. Rather, it's because the Vikings fanbase is strong, and their connection to the players was palpable in that stadium. They have the best defense in the league, a good mixed offense, and they have the home field advantage all the way to the Super Bowl (aside from Philly, possibly). Time to bring it home, purple people eaters.
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