C.J. : Cabbie finally gets fare treatment from Viking picked up at strip club

A Twin Cities cabbie is much happier with Viking Fred Evans now that the taxi driver has received his fare, related costs plus a tip.

"I had to call the Vikings office, talk to the manager, then he texted me. In the end," said the cabbie who identified himself as Abdikadir Noor. "Yeah, he paid. That's good."

The situation looked a lot more dicey in the hours after Noor picked up Evans, a woman who reportedly looked like an Augies employee and another guy at Augies, ahem, Bourbon Street Cabaret on Hennepin Avenue. This was a few hours after the Vikings' Dec. 1 victory over the Bears.

"Cab driver reporting nonpayment of fare" is all the Eden Prairie police would say about the Dec. 2, 4:04 a.m. phone call Noor made from outside TownPlace Suites at 11588 Leona Road.

According to what Noor told my colleague, Paul Walsh, the ride from the strip club to the hotel was very eventful, as Evans reportedly was getting frisky with the woman.

Once the trio arrived at their hotel destination, Noor told me, "[Evans] went to the room, and he never [came] back."

Asked how he knew this was defensive tackle Fred Evans, Noor said, "He was talking with the girl in the back. He was talking about the game and she was calling him Fred, Fred, Fred."

Noor said he called Evans a couple of times in his hotel room: "He [hung] up the phone on me once. Once he told me one second, and I had to wait 30 minutes," to no avail.

Noor said he waited at the hotel until about 6 a.m. "I didn't want to go through the court system. I just wanted to get paid. Finally," Noor said, somebody at the Vikings provided him with what he called "the manager's number. I contacted the manager."

Noor says manager. You might say FIXER. I might say baby sitter (although it turns out this person knows something about securing Vikings — and probably this Evans info that's posted at www.tinyurl.com/fredevans).

"They gave me a cellphone [number] for somebody who handles things like this, when problems happen to the players, you know," Noor told me.

I called the Vikings' baby sitter on Tuesday, and he said his name so fast I didn't get it. "I'm the director of security for the Minnesota Vikings," the gentleman said, not giving his name when I told him who I was. "He [the cabbie] talked to me. I talked to Fred. There was a misunderstanding about who was going to pay for the cab. I talked to Fred, and Fred paid it."

Why not that night?

"I have no idea," said Noor.

I asked a Vikings spokesman to ask Evans that question Wednesday, but I have not heard back from anyone.

"Adrian Peterson's MRI revealed no tears. He expects to play Sunday. He is Wolverine," declared Stat Boy on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption."

UV Sriracha Vodka is hot.

"Distillery Introduces Sriracha Vodka, Because Sriracha On Your Egg Rolls Isn't Enough," reads the headline on pastemagazine.com. Then whoever wrote this got one fact repeatedly wrong: "Philadelphia Distilling Co. is no stranger to odd flavor infusions. Its label, UV Vodka, is famous for its 'off the wall' flavors (Cake, Salty Watermelon …), so Sriracha fits right in."

That's Phillips Distilling of Minneapolis, pastemag, not "Philadelphia."

A little insult before the injuries to come Sunday when the Vikings play the Eagles.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.