Forget Big Ben-ny and the Jets, too. This Sunday football game played in London featured small town Minnesota squaring up against The Big Apple, and time zone change factors became crucial — just like during the far most prominent of those royal weddings. And don’t think that fact wasn’t referenced, just as much as eye-opener Bloody Mary specials.
So hence, sports bars were open earlier than usual for the 8:30 a.m. start time, that being CST, on top of this big-ticket game and making offerings, and not those at Sunday church services, that were planned on a more timely basis than many a bar Halloween party.
— As I got picked up at the park and ride due west of Milwaukee, and saw one of their (ouch as you will see “local” as in Badger Lines signs) emblazened at the front of the bus, at it spouted line No. 28, and you will see the reason for the reference a bit further down …
Then there is that Biblical, sorry, No. 40, as was played out during the pregame and half-time and post-game FB shows, as per their featured guest, that the killer Cowboys, hey I’ve also encountered their trademark cheerleaders, plural, even in Hudson, took on their arch-(overused term)-rival Pittsburg from Steelers (Wheel) country for the first-time encounter of any importance (playoff motive and this could be more prone to baseball?) in what. 40 years? Actually they played in 1982, so do the math, that was when Iron Maiden also from (England in the Black Country, as it is called) first got going. And hey, then The Man as in featured guest, said there was also that killer, too, upset in college of football of proportions such positioned and also Biblical, the first such in 40 years.
And how many four-year spans, in terms of decades, for things presidential? The Mets were waving their OMG banners, and I also happened to see en route to Milwaukee one that, mistakenly I hope, said not Vance Trump, but Favre Trump, in another duel of five-letter words. More on that below and in an earlier post or two.) —
The sign on the door at Hudson Tap, posted not long before the arrival of the weekend, announced that they would open at 8 a.m. rather than the usual 11 for a Sunday. The Tap does not reconvene on days such as those hosting Monday or Thursday night football, until just a few hours before, with a 2:30 p.m. opening.
Ziggy’s Hudson, well-known both locally and in the Gopher state as a largely Viking bar, a rarity here, also hit the ground running like the Viking ground game of yore, right around the same time. And yes, you could see Adrian Peterson jerseys being worn aplenty — despite that his recent financial woes meant no jet flights this time over for dozens of close friends– especially by the guy most prominently placed in his sofa seat next to the big front window, as seen from the sidewalk. RB Robert Smith’s No. 22 also has been plainly visible. The parking lot was full, despite no sign on the door announcing advanced plans, much less tickets. But as far as a draw, prominent weatherman Dave Dahl was said to be in this, the house Pudge’s built.
Put the two together, encompassing Peterson’s No. 18, and you have the number 40 … meaning a time of trial followed by redemption. Purple Jesus also invoked?
— Hey wait a minute. Wasn’t the aforementioned All Day numbered 28? Yes, but for a league where averages are everything. AP’s 28 with other teams including the Vikings is balanced out by his return-to-the-NFL Titans-worn No. 8, for an average of …18. And for more to the metaphor of 40, AP’s average time in that yardish dash is/was 4.4. —
But with a win over the Jets and the longtime adversary Aaron Rodgers, also around 40, as Minnesota jumped to an early lead then hung on to win as this man as cerebral as Smith could not quite bring his team back from the brink, extended the Vikes’ unbeaten season. You can be sure there is Super Bowl talk afloat, even as their former QB Kirk Cousins threw for 509 yards just days earlier. Georgia had for three days been on people’s minds, after that big fish with stronger arms than fins had gotten away.
There were notable exceptions to the early opening rule. Dick’s Bar and Grill, which has seen somewhat of a resurgence as serves up plenty of Bloody’s to the boater crowd, remained steady in this star-power showing, but up the side street at Agave Kitchen, the chairs were still up on the tables, at least in the lower level, and beer signs had not yet been flashing in the upstairs Bullpen Cantina — even though the front door was moveable via its open latch, next to their self-congratulation birthday drawing on the kitty-korner wall.
One only wonders about the Village Inn in North Hudson — scrapping its Back the Pack until later that day? — a bar and grill that used to sell off-sale as early as 7 or 8 a.m.
I first heard about the Vikes-Jets 8:30 a.m. start the night before, at Dick’s, and thought my friend from Hastings had it wrong and the clock would actually begin its official run at that time in the p.m. But this was London Calling, like another song by The Clash, one that I used to perform with Jeff Loven in the evening after all the two-minute warnings had expired.