Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks 2021

 

Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks 2021

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 26, 2021

Sunday brought us to Downtown Minneapolis for the home opener of our 0-2 Minnesota Vikings.  It's been a tough season so far, but we were hopeful for a victory for the home team.

We showed up to the game early to walk around Vikings Village and hang out with some of the locals.  One of these days I'm going to dress like these people to a game.  My main concern is I think I'd get sick of wearing it before the first quarter ended and start stripping off my royal robes.

I like to go down close to the field before the game begins.  This time I found myself face to face with our all-pro defensive end, Danielle Hunter.  I was a little nervous about standing there too long because I didn't want to intimidate him and psyche him out for the game.  I tend to have that effect on people.

Miss Sheri went and sat with a random group of strangers so I had to coax her to get up and come with me to go sit in our seats.

I think one of the players found a frog or something because suddenly they all gathered around him to get a look.  I wish I could have seen the frog.

Our seats are directly above where the players enter the field at the beginning of the game.  They used to shoot fire out of the dragon's mouth when they did the opening ceremony, but apparently there was some kind of pyrotechnic accident at another stadium last year so they're no longer able to do it.  So now they just shoot smoke out of his mouth which just isn't the same.  It makes me feel like we have an old dragon that should be put to sleep, but nobody has the heart to do it.  

Our opponent this week were the 1-1 Seattle Seahawks.  We knew we had an uphill battle against this team because the Minnesota Vikings hadn't beaten them since 2009.  The Vikings had lost the previous 7 games against them!

Quarterback Russell Wilson had never lost to the Vikings in his career.  He was 6-0 against them during the regular season and had also beaten them once in the playoffs.  A win against him felt a little bit overdue.

The Vikings lost a heartbreaker last week after they went into Arizona to take on the smoking hot Cardinals.  They had a chance to win at the end of the game, but our 1st year kicker, Greg Joseph, decided he wanted to feel like a real Vikings kicker and missed a 37 yarder to give us the loss.  He made it up to us this week, though, going 3 for 3 on field goals and also 3 for 3 on extra points.  Hopefully he has those missed kicks out of his system for a long, long time.

A lot of people on social media were starting to say Coach Zimmer might be on the hot seat due to the team's 0-2 start to the season.  I still like him, but was glad we didn't have to see what would have happened had they lost this game.

Another favorite punching bag on social media, Kirk Cousins, had an incredible game.  He threw for 3 Touchdowns and 323 yards as he led the Vikings to a 30-17 victory over the Seahawks.  Hopefully this will keep his critics quiet at least for another week or so.

Minnesota Mankato graduate, Adam Thielen, was the recipient of one of those touchdown passes which we always like to see.  He's one of our family's favorites.

 

2nd year receiver, Justin Jefferson, is quickly becoming another one of our favorites.  He was all smiles after it was announced that he broke the Vikings record for being the fastest receiver to achieve 100 receptions.  He did it in only 19 games.  He ended up with a total of 9 receptions and another one of those Touchdown catches.  What a good day for the young man.

I got a little nervous at halftime when I saw a group of Marines suddenly storm the field.  It looked like they were ready to take over the joint, but apparently this was the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon and they were preparing to do a performance.  I've always heard you're not supposed to play with guns, but these guys made it look like a lot of fun.  I'm going to have to get me one of those and start spinning it around my house.

I found it nice observing the camaraderie between the Vikings cheerleaders.  They all look to be such good friends.  

Back at home, we've had some visitors to our house this week.  It appears a family of raccoons have moved into one of our trees in the backyard and like to invade our back-porch to load up on all the acorns that have fallen in the area.  Our Golden Retriever, Blue, really wants to go outside to play with them, but Miss Sheri won't let me open the door for some reason.  

We saw this guy sitting on a boat launch during one of our walks this week.  I'm pretty sure he's just one of our regular blue herons, but I'm not sure why he's wearing that hairpiece.  Must be going incognito or something.