On the Vikings recent playoff last-play luck, most everyone is on the bandwagon, although it still might be considered a crap shoot, as to invoke a popular song back from one of the last days Minnesota was in a Super Bowl, “traveling twice the speed of sound, it’s easy to get burned”:
— The sign a few days ago at Kozy Korner in North Hudson said it all: “We are Saints fans today.” And into tomorrow, as the sign stayed up the day after the close loss. Across the street at the Village Inn, the lot was basically full, even though this was not a Packer game, and the only number of parking stalls available was about equal to the number of losses the Vikings have had this season (not many).
— A new sign inside at The Village, right next to the one listing their specials, and showing a rather dorky guy in a suit who looks like he’s stepped out of the 1950s. “Meet Dick. Dick is a Vikings fan. Don’t be a Dick.” Also don’t be a Dick and give your support to Leigh, the owner, who is on the mend after getting in a snowmobile accident where he broke several ribs and sustained other serious injuries. He is not expected to get out of the hospital until after the Super Bowl is played.
— There was also a full house at Woody’s in Bayport, despite the blowing snow. The crowd was much like a Packer game in that for even the most mundane successes, such as the Vikings getting a first down — whether on a gain of five yards or 15 — the reaction of the crowd was huge. One can only imagine the way they went nuts on that final game-winning play, which was — and I have to say it — what had been an Aaron Rodgers specialty.
— Despite the reversal of fortune for the Vikings in the late-going of playoff games, such as the missed field goals that gave them losses in recent years, not everyone is on the trend that a Super Bowl appearance is a sure thing. My friend Matt fully expects that the Diggs divine display at the end of the Saints game will be followed a meltdown in the game against Philly, which would mean yet another postseason disappointment.
— A company whose specialty is making arrangements for renting out houses for Super Bowl visitors told me we could get up between $1,000 and $1,500 a night for our run-of-the-mill place. And those numbers could go even higher, if the “home team” somehow advances. A rep said that they’re thinking it will the Patriots and Philly, and as far as that goes, Jacksonville has a good team, too. What about the Vikes? After all, they are favored by a point or two in Sunday’s game. Can we get a little love here?!? With all that said, there is a local B and B that is asking a whopping $7,000 a night in order to stay there, as incoming football fanatics get more and more desperate.
— Do you believe in miracles? Officials at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis apparently do, while both looking heavenward and seeing the football head that way. These beliefs were bolstered after the Aaron-Rodgers-like (sorry about that reference) touchdown pass that covered most of the field and allowed the Vikings to advance against all odds to the NFC championship game. Only hours after the play in question, our family that has a member who graduated from that school got an email that specified such a miracle and said it would occur again, as the school announced holding a contest to give away a pair of Super Bowl tickets. Holy smokes!
— It’s still a couple of weeks before the Super Bowl in Minneapolis, but there already are signs of it hitting late night shopping in the area. A clerk reached for one of my night-time munchies to scan it in, and the bottom of her blouse caught on a metal edge and stretched out. She needed to quickly fix that. I quipped, at the risk of being slapped, “we already have a wardrobe malfunction.” She laughed, which these days is not a slam dunk. Copy this to Justin Timberlake, for reference involving his Feb. 4 appearance here.
— Favre jerseys that are now being worn to sports bars during the end of the Packer and Viking seasons have invariably shown him in purple and gold, not green and gold. At least there is that commonality of a Gold Standard, and it started before Green Bay was mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
— The Big Guys BBQ patron bus may have been frozen out in the (recent) cold big time, as it lately has often been parked at one of its new homes, the lot at the Dairy Queen — and its frigid treats inside and out — but way out in back, not by the stop light as in the past.
— Also, from the Fox New Year’s Eve broadcast where noteworthy deaths from 2017 were recognized, these names can be added to the list of celebrities with local ties being reported by HudsonWiNightlife: David Cassidy, who once sung karaoke with my friend and former duet partner Kara, (our choices were from the body of work of Motley Crue), and Gregg Allman, who had been known to party down at Pudge’s, (one wonders what he would think of the new digs, much better than most dugouts. See further). On this topic, also concerning Pudge’s, is the reference to all-star pitcher Jack Morris of the Twins and other teams, who had a favorite spot at the bar there. He was at long last named to the pro baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
— Switching gears to politics, recently seen late night was a rusty truck that flew a tattered-at-the-bottom American flag from its back payload, which I thought that veteran’s groups say is a patriotic no-no. However, all things considered, this display seemed to be quite fitting …
— So Trump is in trouble, yet again, for using not the F word, but the two-syllable — can I get away with describing it that way? — S and H word when referring to certain countries rife with immigrants. This spurred a debate on the FCC worthy of George Carlin about whether certain some words can be said on the air, and what exactly the word is and type of air (read media) it is on. The odd thing is the censors requiring bleeps have for decades missed certain usages of the F word in popular songs, while being hyper-zealous on others. With that said, HudsonWiNightlife gets bold and notes that there are literally millions of times The Who has gotten away with screaming, “You the fuck are you?” in one of their signature songs. One artist who hasn’t had as much success is Alanis Morrissette, when after a brief period of true First Amendment rights she got censored from posing a different question, “Are you thinking of me when you fuck her?” In my book, that’s the strongest part of an already strong song, You Oughta Know.