As everyone who knows me knows, we’re a split family sports-wise. I’m from Minnesota, my wife is from Philadelphia. We live in Philadelphia, so it’s mostly all about the Philly teams in our house, and our two sons follow the local teams (Phillies and Eagles, mostly) most closely. But I try to instill some Minnesota love too, especially when we go there.
That’s mostly been the Twins- I’d been to Target Field every year since it opened in 2010, until this year, which I’d say is the right year to skip. But I haven’t historically pushed the Vikings quite as hard, for a variety of reasons, many of them having to do with their best player turning out to have physically abused his child who was the same age as Noah when it happened and Jonah now, and the team backing him every step of the way, including giving him additional money and years.
Still, I always appreciated that the Vikings, led by Brett Favre, had won a blowout playoff victory against the Cowboys on January 17, 2010, two days after Noah’s 11-week-premature birth, even if they’ve yet to win another playoff game since. And with our August visit this year for my mother’s 65th birthday (happy birthday, mom!) coinciding with the preseason, we thought we’d check out the brand new U.S. Bank Stadium- especially after two years of the kids wanting to drive by the construction site every time we were in town.
We had a great time at the game, we saw a win, and the boys cheered while wearing their Teddy Bridgewater and Harrison Smith jerseys, which stood out among a wildly eclectic blend of jerseys at the game (a ton of Jared Allen, a surprising amount of Tommy Kramer, some big mistakes like Christian Ponder and Donovan McNabb (the shirt I was wearing), and even (ugh) lots of Adrian Peterson. I didn’t see, thankfully, any Darren Sharper. It was a great time, and I thought maybe I’ve finally instilled some Purple Pride in my boys after all.
And then today, as our plane was landing… we got the news that Teddy Bridgewater obliterated his knee in practice and is out for the season. So now my boys REALLY know what it’s like to root for the Vikings.
Here’s a tweetstorm with my U.S. Bank Stadium thoughts:
And the links this week:
– At Splice Today, I reviewed Southside With You
– At Broad Street Review, I reviewed Amy Schumer’s new book, The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo. I also attended her book signing, which was off the record, though I can say that the two ladies in front of me in line spent 25 minutes talking about The Night Of. episodes that I haven’t watched yet, before one shared her revolutionary plan to give up drinking wine, “except for on weekends.”
– At the Farm Dog Productions blog, I wrote about When Harry Met Sally…, which showed here in Philadelphia last week.
– At Blasting News:
Why Hillary Clinton was wrong to give that “alt-right” speech.
The weird story of that “poll,” from a Canadian energy interest, that showed Trump leading in Pennsylvania.
Why I don’t think there will be a Trump News Channel.
– At Screenrant:
Ray Romano and Chris O’Dowd will star in the Get Shorty TV series, so e.g., i.e., fuck you.
The Angry Birds Movie is getting a sequel.
You can get special 3D glasses for “Rogue One.”
A look at a video essay on why Heath Ledger’s Joker was the best Batman villain.
Jack Ryan will fight ISIS in the new Amazon series.
Tommy Lee Jones almost got The Rock’s part in Fast Five:
And a new look at the most honorable man to ever host The Apprentice, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As always, follow me on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Stephen Silver, Writer 