Sunday gave me an opportunity to see the smooth-sailing Vikings for the second time in an eight day span. I was fortunate to have my friend Brad invite me to the game in his dad’s new lower level seats, Despite my anti-Steelers sentiment, going to any game is a good time, so I was really excited to catch up with an old friend and get to see a good game between two of the strongest teams in the NFL.

The seats were awesome. His dad’s old seats were in the upper level, so the new lower level corner seats were a fun upgrade. Oh, and it helped that the weather was perfect!

The game itself was pretty boring. The Vikings really seemed to control the game with their short passes and runs, but their inability to finish in the red zone killed them. They failed to get in on a goal lone stand, and despite both teams having at least one red zone turnover, the two that the Vikings gave away both ended up as ridiculously long, defensive touchdowns returned in slow motion. James Harrison called…he wants his royalties on that nonsense…

In reality, the Vikings probably outplayed the Steelers, but as we’ve seen too many times, the Steelers defense came up huge when it mattered. They’re effort made up for the offense’s lackluster effort. Everyone is infatuated with the early season success of the Steelers offense, but they’re really only dominating poor teams. Contain Ben, keep the blown plays outside of the pocket to a minimum, and their offense will stall.

Of course it won’t matter. I always claim the Steelers are dipped in shit and this game was just another example of everything going right for them. If Chester Taylor would’ve just closed his hands on the screen pass…

Ugh.

Until the bounces stop going their way, the Steelers are going to be tough to beat. That’s the frustrating reality for a non-Steelers fan.

This past weekend started with a nightmare and ended with disappointment, but all-in-all I had a blast with my dad in Minneapolis.

I took off Friday because I had a 6:35 flight in the morning. Unfortunately, I was unable to fall asleep, and then I slept right through my alarms. Yes, more than one alarm. After missing my flight, I was put on standby, went home, and caught up on sleep. Upon returning to the airport, I found out that my morning flight was actually cancelled due to a flight gear issue…which meant that EVERY person originally on my flight now was going to be fighting for spots on the rest of the flights to Minneapolis. After waiting on standby for two more flights, they finally sent me home with a guaranteed ticket for 6:35 am on Saturday. Even though I wasted a PTO day at work and spent nearly all day in Pittsburgh International Airport, I was content. I’m pretty sure I’ll hate Delta/Northwest for a long time, though.

I made my flight Saturday, and finally met up with my dad in Minneapolis. It was my first time in the city, and I have to say I had a great time! Granted, the weather was phenomenal for October in the Midwest, but I think I would’ve enjoyed the city regardless. The people were really nice, the city seemed pretty cool, and the food was good. I don’t really ask for much more than that. After eating a ton of food, getting drunk with my dad while watching in anger as the Yankees beat the Angels, and walking nearly every square foot of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, we were set for the real reason we made the trip…the Vikings and Ravens game!

Having never been to the Metrodome, I was really excited to experience a new team’s home field and crowd. The Metrodome was unimpressive, but it was cool to go to my first dome game. The vibe was a lot different from most of the games I’ve gone to, since the Vikings and Ravens hardly ever play. The lack of a rivalry was evident from the outset. The fans were very friendly and there was such a passive vibe during the game. There wasn’t any trash talking or anything…just pure enjoyment of the spectacle on display. Legends and top-tier players everywhere on the field – Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen, Ray Rice, etc. Waching players like that is worth every penny.

The two most memorable parts of the Vikings stadium experience was the player introductions. While the inflatable viking ship seemed a little cheesy at first, once Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song started, and the inflatable vessel started moving side to side, I have to admit…I was HYPED for some football. It gave me a serious rush. The second thing I remember was the song that they sing after every score. While a little goofy, it gives you a real idea of the traditions that these old school teams have. It’s really cool, despite it’s redundent nature (when you’re team gets scored on a lot).

Anyway, the bonus to seeing all of the great players on display was that the game itself was probably the best game I’ve ever watched live. After an awful start, where the Ravens went 3-and-out while the Vikings responded with 2 touchdowns, the Ravens woke up and faught back little by little to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, 4 things kept the Ravens from winning: Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, Sidney Rice…and Steven Hauschka.

Peterson came up with huge plays all day, but Brett Favre and Sidney Rice were the real killer. The Ravens secondary couldn’t stop that connection…especially when Frank Walker was covering Rice after the Ravens took a late fourth quarter lead. Amazingly, even after the Vikings regained the lead, the Ravens drove back down the field to put themselves into a position to win with a field goal. At this point, I’m pretty sure my dad and I were both sitting there with all of the confidence in the world. The way this game was going, there was no way the Ravens were going to lose. It just seemed like the storyline was so perfect…

Unfortunately, Hauschka sent the numerous Ravens fans that we saw in the Metrodome home questioning Harbaugh & Co.’s decision to let Stover walk away during the offseason when he hooked the would-be game-winning field goal wide left from the left hash from 44 yards out. Ugh.

It’s the third straight loss for the Ravens, but it’s hard to not be at least somewhat optimistic after a game like this. The last three games have been incredibly close, and a play here or there could’ve seen the Ravens sitting anywhere between 4-2 and 6-0. Unfortunately, they lost those close games, but if the Ravens can correct some of their mistakes, anything can happen going forward.

Regardless, I loved the trip, the city, and spending some quality time with my dad. I’m looking forward to catching the Vikings for the second straight week when they come to town next weekend to play the Steelers.

After our second week of the PSL fall bowling league, I can safely say that after a month off the Nine-Dash Heroes need to practice up…or not.

First, our bowling has been pretty bad compared to previous sessions. Week one saw our team start well enough, setting our starting average at 644…which isn’t bad considering the next closest team had a 555 average. Individually, only Meadows started with a better average than he finished with last session (198).

Unfortunately, our second week didn’t show much team improvement. While Megan, Sam, and myself saw slight pin increases that would get us closer to our last session averages, Meadows dropped 17 pins, which basically offset any improvement the rest of us tried to make. Our team average still went up 2 pins to a 646, but for a team that nearly finished with a 700 average last session we’re way off track.

Of course, this session is basically a throwaway session anyway. Why? Well, because PSL decided to change the schedule because of the G20 Summit. With protests supposed to go down on our first night, the league start dates got pushed back a week, which means the new playoff date occurs when Megan, Meadows, and I are all out of town. Without any hope of participating in the playoffs and kingpin/queenpin competition, the competitive spirit is lost, and it’s showing in our form.

This could very well spell the end of my time with PSL. I’m sick of the poor management, poor scheduling, and the poor rules and officiating. Hell, we don’t even get PSL t-shirts for bowling league anymore.

Last night was our first regular season night of volunteer work for the AE-sponsored Student Rush, and it was a lot of fun. We did a trial run during the preseason, and after asking the student fans in line what they wanted, we returned for this game with everything they asked for.

We played trivia with the fans, giving them an opportunity to win autographed pucks and hats, while also giving out Student Rush hoodies and some AE t-shirts. We brought a DJ to give the fans music, Meadows MC’d the event, and we even had Atwood drive Kunitz, Fleury, Godard, Bourque, Talbot, and Dupuis to deliver 50 Pizza Hut pizzas to the fans in line. The fans went nuts when the players showed up, but they were surprisingly cool with the guys. The media was actually more in the players’ mix than the fans.

I was on photo duty for most of the night, so I had to run around snapping shots of the fans and competed with the media for decent shots of the players delivering pizza. I did have a chance to bother Max Talbot before he headed back into the arena for a photo. Shh…

It’s a shame that the game sucked, as the Pens played the most lackluster game I’ve ever seen them play, but the experience of interacting with the fans and hooking people up with free stuff was awesome. We’ll be doing this for all 5 Student Rush games this year as AE is sponsoring the event. Who knows what our group will cook up for the remaining games, but we definitely made standing in line a little more fun…especially for the people who were there since 8 AM.