The impending Vikings playoff game this Sunday versus the Seattle Seahawks at the TCF Bank Stadium, where the temperature is expected to be in the low single-digits and the windchill temps far below zero, reminded me of one of my fondest memories of my dad.
This was back in the early 1970’s when Vikings regular season tickets were very hard to get. The vast majority of seats were held by season ticket holders, and the only way to get tickets was to stand in line out at the Vikings office in Edina in August when they went on sale and hope for the best. Somehow, back in December of 1974, my dad managed to get us two tickets to the playoff game against the St. Louis Cardinals for the game on December 21 and I was ecstatic. My hero, Fran Tarkenton, had rejoined the team, and with stars like running back Chuck Foreman, wide receiver John Gilliam, tight end Stu (Chainsaw) Voigt and placekicker Fred (Freddy The Foot) Cox, we were looking good enough to have a chance at the Super Bowl. The bad news was that the game was going to be played in Met Stadium with temperatures in the low teens, and our seats were on the third deck behind the first base line.
I was attending the U of M at the time, and was as accustomed to battling the cold as any Minnesota boy. I walked to my grade school, and had to walk a quarter mile or so from the bus to De La Salle High School, which included a bracing jaunt across the Mississippi River. And, looking back, I take some pride in my Boy Scout days which included winter camp-outs and an assortment of Klondike Derby events. So Minnesota winters held no surprises for me, but I remember a distinct feeling of dread at the thought of sitting aloft at Met Stadium for three hours in that kind of cold.
