I saw the reports of the Metrodome’s cave-in yesterday morning as I woke up. I was intrigued, but only because I wanted to see what the structure looked like without the giant teflon roof floating above the concrete structure. I wasn’t overly concerned with the Vikings losing a home game, because for all intensive purposes the Vikings season is over anyhow, and I was even less concerned with where the game against the Giants was going to be played. It wasn’t until my dad called me that I really began to notice the hysteria going on among my fellow Minnesotans.
By Peter Christian
Following the announcement that the Giants-Vikings game would definitely NOT be played in the Metrodome (after it had already been postponed a day due to the Giants charter being grounded in Kansas City for a day) my dad called me after doing some holiday shopping to tell me a story about one particular idiot spewing nonsense to his young impressionable kid.
As my dad was waiting to check out, he heard the customer in front of him tell his kid that, “we have to get home to watch football because we’re not going to have many chances left.” When his son asked him what he meant he continued to say that, “this Dome nonsense is the last straw and the team was as good as gone because of it.”
My dad (enjoys sports, keeps up on the local teams and will watch the occasional youtube video of an amazing play but is nowhere near the sports junkie I am) deferred to me for some perspective. I offered my initial reaction that the guy was connecting dots on different pages.
Hold on, let’s get back to this guy in a second.
Prior to that phone call I was scouring tweets, as I usually do on a Sunday morning, and I noticed an odd trend among those I follow. There were far more people upset that the Vikings game wasn’t being moved to TCF Bank Stadium than they were at the fact that Yahoo! Fantasy Sports’ website and it’s mobile app were either down or glitchy all morning (mind you, this week was typically the first week of the fantasy playoffs).
Now I understand the urge to keep the game in Minnesota for keeping the “home game” feel, but hoping for that solution was pretty ludicrous. The stadium wasn’t near ready for any type of game, let alone an NFL game within 32 hours, the ticket situation would have been a disaster (TCF Bank holds about 14,000 fewer spectators) and the opposing team wasn’t prepared for an outdoor game. Getting upset at the NFL for not choosing the least viable solution of the four proposed options was downright silly. Especially when people couldn’t put Deion Branch in their starting lineup because the world’s largest fantasy sports website was down.
Now, back to the guy who brings the chaos theory to a logic course.
After my dad told me that story, he gave me his opinion that he thought the Metrodome situation would actually have the complete opposite effect than the guy in his check out line (that the cave-in would lead people to want to build a new stadium more than they currently do) and that this guy was a total loony toon.
I agreed, in principle, and we laughed at the idiocy of the masses and hung up. Then I got to thinking.
How would this blizzard induced cave-in help or hurt the chances of the Vikings get a new stadium built in this state?
The fact that the roof got a tear might solidify the argument of someone who claims the Vikings need a new building because it’s out of date but that’s not really the issue that stadium proponents are rallying behind. Conversely, anyone who does point to this event as a reason the Vikings need out of the Metrodome will find their argument full of holes considering that The Dome has been exposed to multiple blizzards in it’s 29 years of being open and this is only the fourth snow related deflation in the dome’s history and the first one since April 14th, 1983.
The Vikings problem with the Metrodome is viability and income related, not with the roof.
While the delving into the issue of the Vikings potentially moving out of the Metrodome after the current lease expires after the 2011 season is a topic reserved for another post entirely, I found it curious that many people’s first thoughts about the roof caving in was how it would affect the Vikings staying or leaving Minnesota.
Then again, that exact discussion is being had in other media outlets right now.
I also found it perplexing how that guy in front of my dad in the check out line came to the conclusion that today was the day he had to get home and watch football because the Vikings were going to be leaving Minnesota due to the cave-in. As if the NFL would be stricken from our airwaves if the team did in fact leave. I feel bad for that kid.
Someday, hopefully sooner than later, he’s going to realize his dad is an idiot and that all of the wisdom he bestowed upon him was worthless. Or, he’ll just continue in his father’s footsteps and be another idiot, which is probably more likely because if it weren’t for idiots spawning idiots, we wouldn’t have shows like “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” raking in tons of money for MTV.