There are mixed feelings about saying goodbye to the Metrodome. We will transition to our new football stadium via two seasons at TCF Bank. Outdoor Vikings' football returns to Minnesota.
I was one who loved Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The parking area surrounding the stadium meant the best tailgating possible. The winter elements were on our side. No more joyous feeling can a Vikings' fan have than watching the 49ers or Rams players try and keep warm with heaters on the sideline while your team went without.
Men against boys.
When the Metrodome replaced the Met in 1982 things changed. Suddenly the Twins had assembled a team that could win on a turf field with a big baggy for a wall. Blowing air helped carry some homers out while keeping others in. Balls lost in the white-topped roof. Ground balls bouncing high into the air.
A baseball heaven.
Among the greatest Metrodome moments, many are baseball ones. Eight World Series games,two Game Sevens in 1987 and 1991, the latter a 10-inning 1-0 Jack Morris shutout (which I attended). Clinching in 1987. All-Star games. Quite a few 3,000th hits. And maybe my most favorite moment of all: the impromptu pep rally for the 1987 team after getting to the World Series via Detroit.
Baseball enjoyed the Dome. Football not so much.
The Vikings were easily one of the best teams in the decade of the 1970s. The went to three Super Bowls in four years (1973-76). When the second half of any season began, the Met became a frozen tundra. Fans took pride in going to the game, facing the elements, and empowering the team with iron will (and a few tail-gated beers). The defense, led by the Purple People Eaters, actually ate teams. The faces on the offensive players of fair-weathered opponents as they had to return to the zero degree, minus fifteen wind-chilled field, to face our defense, were priceless.
