Vikings vs Packers Monday Night Experience

Hey everyone!

My buddy Chris Freas got the ultimate Monday night experience at Lambeau Field so I asked him to write something up about it and send me some photos. He did just that, so here is my 1st ever guest blogger...Chris Freas! *Also check out the slideshow of his photos*

Ok, this is not a picture of Chris but this is what I imagined he would look like in his game garb. Sorry Chris!

Opening Day 2008

Opening day, Lambeau Field, Monday night football, are you kidding me? The football gods were shining down on me when the NFL released this schedule back in April. Did the schedule makers have any idea what they have done? My beloved Vikings were scheduled to play the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.

I’ve been to Lambeau Field many times including on Monday night. I’ve seen the Vikings win and I’ve seen the Vikings lose, but this was special. The Vikings were being picked by many of the so called “experts” to be a dark horse in the NFC this year. The Packers traded the face of their franchise, Brett Favre, to the JETS (HAHA) and the Packers seemed to be in a state of uncertainty for the first time that I can remember and the topper of it all was that we had tickets, in the north end zone, ROW 1! My body started to tingle with anticipation; my heart rate skyrocketed with visions of Aaron Rodgers attempting to do a Lambeau leap into our end zone, only to be met with a stiff arm from me denying him. Or Adrian Peterson scoring a touchdown and seeing us in the end zone, arms wide open screaming “Yo, Adrian” and having him jump into our arms (while the theme from Chariots of Fire plays in my head) where we get a little man love from AP. All this excitement so little time.

As a Vikings season ticket holder for 5 years we have the whole tailgating experience pretty well covered. Grill? Check. Chairs? Check. Vikings Flag, flag pole and flag pole holder? Check. Tables? Check? Adult beverages? Duh! So my buddy and I began or 2 hour drive to Green Bay, WI on the Sunday before the game, Vikings flags flying proudly from my truck, which if you’ve ever been to Green Bay as a visiting fan of another team you understand that this does not sit well with the locals. The stares as we pulled into town were priceless, moms with babies shooting us disgusted looks, grandmas flicking us the bird. It makes you a little nervous dining out while wearing Vikings gear as you start to picture the cook taking offense to the fact that we as Vikings fans are dining in his IHOP and hocking a lugie into our pancakes. Oh well it all adds to the experience right?

Through our local intelligence, we discovered what hotel the Vikings were staying at and decided to put our stalking hats on and head over for a glimpse of our Purple Headed Warriors. We ended up being stuffed into a small room with all of the other paying customers that was guarded by the secret service itself. A trip to the restroom required a cavity search which I personally didn’t enjoy, but Mike went to the restroom 4 times and ended up on a first name basis with one of the guys. Wonder what that was all about? So they locked us all in a room of the restaurant, covered all the windows with black shades and there we were…5 feet from the entire Vikings team having dinner, the coaches, the owner, heck, even Greg Colman, the Ex-Viking punter from like 10 years ago was even in there….I mean if a PUNTER can hang with them..why not us?? Anyways, we did end up seeing a few of the Vikings and had one of the best dinners I may have ever had. Well worth the $39.99 price tag just for my steak….I think!

Game day is here. After a night of sharing a room with my buddy Mike and realizing that there is something seriously wrong with him, I mean I didn’t think it was possible for a human being to let out such earth rumbling sounds from within. I woke up at one point and thought there was a Polar bear in our room….only to find my fellow Vikings fan apparently forgot to mention that he snores a tad. So after a night of knocking on my headboard to wake him up every 15 minutes we began our day. 11am, Monday morning we pull into a parking lot of a bar called ironically enough “The Bar” about 3 blocks from the stadium. Now if you’ve never been tailgating or to a game at Lambeau Field then I highly suggest you put this on your “Things to do before I die” list. While I will tell any Packer fan that will listen how much I dislike that little wedge of cheese on their heads and their little “GO PACK GO” cheer and their favorite thing to ask a Vikings fan is “How many Super Bowls have the Vikings won” um…that would be ZERO! Thanks for bringing that up Cheese Lips!

Bottom line is that no matter who you cheer for on Sundays, this place is an unbelievable place to experience a NFL game. We went to the game, we watched from the front row as our Vikings lost another close game to our biggest rival but despite the final score I don’t think we could have had a better time. We walked in confidant and walked out humbled….nothing another couple hours of tailgating can’t fix right?