|
Friday, 05/18/2012
Sung to the Tune of Florida State Chant aka the Tomahawk Chop: We were sitting in the club level for the entire game, and with just under 6 minutes left, and the Vikings trailing 28-15, our new found Saint's friends starting chanting: > "Loooooooooooooong DRIVE Home, Home, Home.... Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng, Drive Home, Home, Home" They did this to mock the fact that we had driven 20 plus hours down the Mississsippi for this lame ass performance just weeks after the events of September 11th. They were right, the Trip New Orleans was, well, a long trip. Originally planned before Sepetmber 11th, Saueey and I had booked flights to New Orleans and would be hooking up down in the Big Easy with several other Vikings Tailgate fans (CC Gal, Face Paint Gal, Kallas, Hype and Gunderson to name a few). Turns out, we drove and drove, and drove. We drove ourselves to the Big Easy and the Saints fans and the people of New Orleans treated us like celebrities. We were tourists and were part of the first wave of "outsiders" to show up to their city after 9-11. We were Vikes fans on an empty Bourbon Street and targets of good-natured teasing. Most of all we were Americans, defying the terrorists and celebrating our retaliation on that NFL Sunday when the US started bombing Afghanistan. The trip started out on Thursday afternoon at 5 pm. I went to pick-up Saueey in the green Ford Explorer (the same one we used in '98 for the Detroit roadtrip) which was loaded up with 5 cases of beer (Premium and Pig's Eye) and 2 coolers of road trip food and snacks. Our goal was to hit the Big Easy by 5 pm on Friday Night, just in time for Bourbon Street Happy Hour. The trip took us through Minnesota, into Iowa then into Illinois, and back to Iowa, then back to Illinois (we hard trouble picking a direction in Keoukok, IA) down through Missouri past St. Louis before we stopped for a quick nap. We checked into a Super 8 and crashed for 3 hours. In the morning we drove through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi (7 hours) and finally hit Louisiana. Upon arrival to the Big Easy, Saueey called his long time buddy from College and fellow South Dakotan, Scott. Turns out, a few months prior to our trip, Saueey had mentioned that we might "sort of" be coming for this game "maybe." Nothing like planning a trip in advance. Fortunately for us, Scott remembered that we might be sort of showing up. From our cell phone as we crossed that huge Lake Ponchatrain outside New Orleans, we finally confirmed with Scott that we were coming. He told us to head over to his place and he'd let us in eventually. Soon after unpacking, Scott informed us that we would be attending the game on Sunday as guests of Shell Oil company. We would be sitting in there club level seats at the SuperDome. With that good news, Saueey and I called us a cab and told the driver to drop us off at the gates of hell, "Bourbon Street." We walked around for a few hours and stopped off at some fine adult beverage establishments. We were going to meet up with our fellow tailgaters early that evening at Pat O'Briens so we started sipping on the house speciality called a "Hurricane." That's pretty much all I can remember about Friday Night. The rest is just a blur of seedy night clubs, half-naked karoake at the Kat's Meow, blowing purple chunks in a back ally somewhere or watching someone do that, or maybe that was spilled jambalaya on the stairwell? I lost Saueey on Bourbon Street but soon found him when he helped to pull off some rabid evil chick who had jumped me from behind on a stairwell, collapsed me to the ground, wrapped her thighs around my face and started riding like rabid twisted cowgirl yelling "yee-Haw, yee-haw" Good thing Saueey showed up to pull her off me because all I can remember is not breathing very well, and sort of liking it. If you haven't been to Bourbon Street, just remember that on any given Friday night you can see naked breasts and beeds, cats in a knights suit, street musicans who will play purple rain on any instrument, little kids who know for sure where you got your shoes, and stench so alluring that you can't tell if you hate or love it? Lastly, I remember a stumbling cab ride home with an evangelist driver who tried to save our souls on the trip back to suburban New Orleans. More later... stay tuned New Orleans Saints 28, Minnesota Vikings 15
Ricky Williams rushed for 136 yards as the New Orleans Saints beat the Vikings 28-15 on Sunday afternoon at the Superdome. The Vikings dropped to 1-3 on the season with the loss. Williams' 136 yards came on 30 carries and he also had five catches for 42 yards. Aaron Brooks completed 15-30 passes for 210 yards and Willie Jackson led the Saints' receivers with six catches for 95 yards. John Carney was successful on all five of his field goal attempts for New Orleans, connecting on kicks of 50, 23, 45, 28, and 33 yards. Daunte Culpepper completed 23-34 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon. Byron Chamberlain caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Culpepper in the third quarter to cap an 11-play, 80-yard drive for the Vikings and narrow the Saints' lead to 25-15, but Minnesota was unable to generate anything offensively after that. Culpepper completed passes to nine different receivers on Sunday, with Cris Carter leading the way with four receptions for 84 yards. Fullback Jim Kleinsasser and wide receiver Randy Moss each had four receptions for 48 yards. The Vikings' rushing attack struggled, gaining only 34 yards on 11 carries. Michael Bennett had eight carries for 24 yards. The Saints' defense made several big plays and sacked Culpepper six times on the day. They came up with a key play in the third quarter when cornerback Chris Oldham returned a Culpepper fumble 38 yards for a touchdown to extend their lead to 25-7. La'Roi Glover and Darren Howard each had two sacks for the Saints. Minnesota got on the board in the first quarter as Moss caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Culpepper, Moss' first touchdown of the year. The Vikings had three straight plays of 20 yards or more on the four-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Jake Reed had a 20-yard reception and Chamberlain added a 29-yard catch. Culpepper completed a 55-yard pass to Carter toward the end of the first half but he fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line and the Saints recovered the ball in the end zone, giving New Orleans possession at the 20-yard line. On the next play, Saints' receiver Robert Wilson fumbled the ball and cornerback Kenny Wright recovered. New Orleans challenged the call, and after review the officials ruled that Wilson never had possession of the ball. Eric Kelly intercepted a Brooks pass deep in Viking territory later in the possession to stop the Saints' drive at the end of the first half. The Saints scored midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Williams. Williams also had four of his receptions for 36 yards on the drive. New Orleans attempted a 2-point conversion after the Williams score but Deuce McAllister was stopped short of the end zone
Designed by Mookslider and Internetcomealive, Inc. |