There will no doubt be a pretty good crowd for a Sunday, as the NFL regular season starts with a double whammy that in these parts is embodied by one true game — Packers versus Vikings.
So this is not only an opener, but an event. Great fodder for a party. Or what might as well be a picnic, fall style. Over easy appetizers, and not just the house fare at the sports bar and by the sports bar.
— News break: A neighbor was out walking Rover or some other name of dog while sporting a Rodgers jersey. At about the time the first quarter was coming to fruition. For some reason I think of, “does the tail wag the dog.” Since Green Bay was soon down 17-0, in part because one of the new and anointed by Rodgers himself trio of new receivers, and one of them dropped a sure TD pass. So I must get back to that dog. Small. Portly. Maybe should workout more with more walks: So, that’s a message to those newbie wide-outs, deep and wide, who apparently could use to work out to a much greater degree. Don’t want to raise Rodgers royal wrath, especially if, you know, he’s in a bit of the wrong stoner mood … But there will always be another game day and one more Packer-Viking game, as they meet twice a year, so see below on where to go from here, especially later in this season. So for this day and the now triumphant Purple over Green, it would be a home opener for you to see, for one of the teams, any which way. —
Various places will offer drink specials, of course, some sporting the team colors of not only Green or then Purple, but maybe even Tequila colored Gold (done twice?) Or just have a Bud. Or Miller. Or jersey colored jello shots here and there. (Served by a shot girl?) Or beer that is cheaper by the bottle when served in “Buckets.” (See below).
But that is old NFL hat. Who is also picking up the ball and running with it — in the long tradition, now on and off, of the Mallalieu Inn in North Hudson — by offering in addition a potluck, bring a dish and get other ones to sample, but there may be perchance a guideline that you not haul in lefse or lutefisk, unless you have loads or loaves of it to share? More likely to resemble a chili feed, or hotdish fest in an unusually jovial nod to the Scandahoovians?
Why the venue is T-Buckets between Somerset and Stillwater, thus taking in both ends by being proximate to both states, like being on the 50-yard line rather than seated in back of an end zone. This annual event will be a lowkey — for them — outing that is mostly the realm of their regulars, but they won’t kick out a visitor — unless maybe from contested Chicago Bears country (just kidding). Its just friends sharing stuff like a beer and a brat-based bowl, which of course means they slap each other on the back, not the face. Big rivals come together over football, we could use more of that. And this has been one of few venues to actually take the next step and list the season’s first Game Day as a separate event from the regular football fare, and bill it as such.
— But concerning such a western Wisconsin grid of games, a driver friend of mine who needs to run this whole circuit daily has made it clear. There will be no leaving at the two-minute warning even if its a Green Bay blowout. As far as driving, he will pick it up again only after the final whistle blows, thank you. —
So since this is a marquee late-afternoon game, you will have those few extra minutes to hit such a legitimate roadhouse. But if you crave other bars crammed into a small, rather than open, series of spaces and form basically a huddle, you might try downtown Hudson and its several sports bars within just a few blocks. The rub here is that the farther inland you go from the St. Croix, and up Hwy. 35 which is also the main drag, the less Viking friendly it is, although it is (mostly) a friendly rivalry. Further north means less Norse, so more unlikely to see Packer and Viking schedules linked together on the wall right next to each other. Packers usually on the left? So for Skol, historically your best bet has been Dick’s or Ziggy’s, from back when it was Pudge’s. On the geographical flipside, where throngs clamor for the specials, is the Smilin’ Moose. People come all the way from Minnesota, largely, to this popular bar founded by Twin Citians, to watch a game that is played once a year in their own backyard. In the 2022 opener, it is indeed in the Twin Cities.
The sports bars in North Hudson are well-known to be Packer bars, basically only, although Purple People have not been eradicated. The Village Inn and Kozy Korner have been the big two. They’ve long been the best place to find a likeminded “Badger” football-based brew, down to the red and white stripes on the bottle, and yes it boasts an actual Badger in the form of its mascot, and that means the bottle’s art has — bear with me as I Badger you — a great big paw sporting the colors.
But if you come via Stillwater, also, and do not follow the tried and true freeway that leads you almost to the door of T-Buckets, but jog a few blocks north off the exit ramp, there is the Next Stop tavern that is about as bi-colored as you will find on this grid concerning gridiron hues. The venue, for the record in Houlton, is no stranger to specials during square-offs, their website shows a server delivering a cheesy sandwich loaded with hot peppers, and the other half of the plate is fried cheese curds, and topically, that server was wearing a Packer jersey. It was either No. 5 or 6, couldn’t tell exactly.
But concerning such as grid, a driver friend of mine who needs to run this whole circuit daily has made it clear. There will be no leaving at the two-minute warning even if its a Green Bay blowout. As far as driving, he will pick it up again only after the final whistle blows, thank you.