20 December 1981
The final game at Metropolitan Stadium featured the Minnesota Vikings vs the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs won 10-6. I was at that game with my Dad. It was the last time we tailgated at a Vikings game.
Fans stormed the field after the final whistle looking for souvenirs. Walking back to the car, people passed us with sections of the goal posts and chairs which were usually in blocks of four.
Now the site is home to the Mall of America, and it’s a damn shame.
The longest running rivalry in NCAA Division 1 football continues today when the Wisconsin Badgers play the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This is the 123rd meeting between the two schools, who first played each other in 1890.
The Badgers come in heavily favored, and rightfully so, they have one of the top B1G teams, but the Gophers have their best team in probably 10 years and there is excitement once again in Minnesota. Plus, it’s rivalry time, and any time these teams play the blood gets pumping. It should be kind of cool out in the stands, with highs in the upper teens, so hopefully it’ll be a hard fought, close contest to keep everyone warm.
It’s the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Minneapolis.
It’s Border Battle time as the Wisconsin Badgers get ready to cross The River to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday at TCF Stadium.
Here’s a photo of a game between the two schools from 1900. Minnesota won that game 6-5, which is a score you just don’t see often enough in football.
Photo courtesy of Golden Gopher Football
A shout out to the University of Minnesota football program who beat ranked, and heavily favored Nebraska 34-23 on Saturday at TCF Stadium on the U of M campus. The last time Minnesota beat Nebraska was in 1960, a period that includes 16 games. The 1960 Gophers were the seventh, and last National Championship team in football for Minnesota.
Outdoor hockey returns to the Minnesota campus for the first time in 80 years in January 2014. It’ll be a double header: Ohio State vs. Minnesota in men’s hockey, and Minnesota State vs. Minnesota in women’s hockey.
Tickets for the event at TCF Bank Stadium went on sale today.
Here’s an ad blast from the past:
The Minnesota North Stars lured Gump Worsley out of retirement in 1969, where he played for five more years. Worsley was the first goalie to have 300 wins and 300 losses. He was also the second to last professional goaltender to play without a mask.
Sadly, neither The Gumper or the Met Center are still with us.
Way back in the day, when the world was young (at least in my eyes), and libraries in small midwestern towns were housed in beautiful, grand old buildings just off the main square, I had discovered something really cool. It was so cool, that none of my friends at the time understood what the hell I was going on about. This particular library in question, forced one to walk up a set of immense steps to a large porch with a set of majestic pillars, before you had to make your way past a thick wooden door to enter a world of books. The books were stacked in rooms with dark wood floors, criss-crossed with trails where the passage of thousands of feet had worn off the varnish and stain. Stair cases seemed to be in every corner, leading you up into the high ceilings to even more rooms of books. Damn, as a kid I absolutely loved that library, and my mother took me there weekly.
This library loaned far more than books, of course. It also lent out vinyl, and they had an entire room of nothing but LP’s. It was there that I was initially introduced to the world of Jazz, and the first album I checked out was by a trumpeter called Louis Armstrong. Soon after, I took up the trumpet myself, and I wasn’t all bad… when I practiced.
Armstrong inspired me to try my luck at playing, but it was Miles that really hooked me to the music. I was really young when I came across the album: “Miles Davis In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk”. It’s important to note, that it wasn’t the Friday Night Album, nor the Saturday Night Album, because I had scored the Complete Album of both nights. And I spun that vinyl over and over and over again.
I kept that double LP until 2007, when it was lost to the ages. I eventually downloaded the iTunes version, which turned out to be the really “Complete” Album, but I still missed the LP. As luck would have it, I once again stumbled upon the Friday and Saturday Night double album on vinyl recently, and I still prefer to spin that when the fire is going in the woodstove and the stars are blazing bright like they are tonight.
I wish the Blackhawk was still around. I’d like to sit back with a Scotch & some friends, and listen to some jazz there, just to know I had done it once. It must have been one hell of an experience back in 1961.
Wow. The “New” Mariucci Arena opened 20 years ago today. Damn. Hard for me to believe. I remember walking into the “Old” Mariucci Arena like it was yesterday.
21 August 1993. 20 years.
Damn.
The “new” arena is a cathedral for hockey, but I do miss the Old Barn.
Former Golden Gopher Nick Leddy returned to Mariucci Arena with the Stanley Cup. Leddy, a current member of the Chicago Blackhawks, played only one season for the University of Minnesota before signing a pro contract with Chicago after the 2009-2010 college hockey season.
Photos courtesy of Golden Gopher Hockey
In what has arguably grown into one of the best rivalries in college sports (notice I did not limit it to hockey), The University of North Dakota visits Mariucci Arena to take on the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend. Unfortunately, due to the Conference Shuffle that has been going on, this will be the final regular season series between the two schools as WCHA members. In fact, it will be the final meeting between these two programs for several years, barring a meeting in the playoffs. Both schools will be moving on to new hockey conferences after this season.
I’m disappointed to see this bitter rivalry threatened. No doubt, fans of both programs will continue to hate each other with rabid passion, but I’m convinced that the intensity of the MN-NoDak Rivalry will not be sustained after the exodus from the WCHA. I really hope that I’m wrong. Only time will tell.
Still, we have one more to revel in. Minnesota is ranked #1 & NoDak is ranked #6 in the country. Both are tied for third in points in the WCHA, but both are tied for first in Win Percentage. Both teams hate each other, both teams want bragging rights in this final series, and both teams will put on a show.
Standing room only was sold out weeks ago; Mariucci will be rocking. The puck drops at 7 CST Friday & 5 CST Saturday.
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In other hockey news: Congrats to the University of Alabama – Huntsville for being accepted into the WCHA… And congrats to the WCHA for doing the right thing by voting unanimously to add UAH into the conference. I’m glad Bruce listened to me when he was visiting Fairbanks.
