2009.....Somehow.

Happy New Year everyone! We all made it, which is good. Another year under the belt, and we find ourselves in 2009. Let me repeat that - 2009. When I was a kid, I thought that by 2009 people would be flying around on jet packs and stuff. Or "teleporting" around like on Star Trek. Nope -I'm still tooling around in a Ford Escort (my wife usually drives the Suburban). Kind of underwhelming.

Time sure seems to be going faster each year. I like to think of years in terms of record albums and their release date. But that tends to really make me feel old. For instance, in 2009, the following albums will be this "age:"

The Replacements - "Let It Be" - 25 years old.
U2 - "War" - 26 years old.
Nirvana - "Nevermind" - 18 years old.
The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper" - 42 years old.
The Village People - "Macho Man" - 31 years old (Wow!)

Yep, that will make a guy feel old. Another thing that will make a guy feel old is staying out WAY too late at CR's place for a New Years Eve shin dig with a keg of Summit Pale Ale. I found out for the umpteenth time that I am too old for that kind of stuff. Anyway, I'm not too tired to jot down a couple of thoughts to start the new year:

1. Outdoor hockey is awesome. I attended the Wild game yesterday with The Middle Son, and saw them knock off San Jose 3-2 in overtime. They played a great game (finally) and had many scoring chances against one of the top teams in hockey. You just can't beat "live" hockey. I have spent some time today watching the (still hated) Blackhawks - Red Wings outdoor game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, which has been fantastic. There is something "pure" about hockey played outdoors. The only thing this game is missing is snow (like last year's outdoor game in Buffalo). I have heard whispers that the Wild is looking to play an outdoor game in 2010 or 2011 in either the Gophers new football stadium or the Twins new stadium. That is something that I would love to attend - the colder the better.

2. Vikings blackout? At the time of this writing, 8000 tickets remain for the Vikings - Eagles playoff game this Sunday. The Vikings have until Friday afternoon at 3:30 to sell the 8000 tickets in order to televise the game. I am rather perplexed that these tickets have not sold, considering this is the first home playoff game for the Vikings since 2001. One huge bummer is that all of the "cheap seats" for the game have sold out, which leaves only the most expensive, non-claimed season ticket holder seats to sell to avoid the blackout. Only 60% of season ticket holders paid for their own seats for the game.

But why hasn't this game sold out? Here are some theories:

**Too expensive. Minnesotans are notoriously cheap. It's a Scandinavian thing. Seriously.

**Bad economy. Yes, but it is bad in other cities where playoff games are selling out.

**Most Viking fans expect Fox Channel 9 or some corporation to buy any remaining seats so the game can be televised. They always do, right?

**Viking fans are simply bad fans. (You Packer fans can chime in here).

These theories all have some merit, in my opinion. But here is the one theory that I believe explains the unsold tickets:

**Viking fans have seen much better Viking teams choke in the playoffs throughout the years and many simply don't believe this particular team has a shot at beating the Eagles. They simply don't want to shell out big bucks to see their team get killed. Is that being a bad fan? I don't know.

I'd like to hear other theories on why these tickets have not sold out yet. Let me know.

Have a great 2009!

Jeff