10-24-2018, 03:41 PM
“Tom is looking for a partner to help him work the New York game...This is a unique experience for you to see how the production of an NFL game happens”
Interested was my response, And that’s how it began.
I heard Paul Allen (voice of the Minnesota Vikings) talk to Chris Hawkeye on the radio Monday morning say about Hawkey catching Bruce Springsteen Saturday night in New York City before the Vikings faced the Jets this past Sunday. He said “Life is about experiences man” No! I shouted in my truck driving back from Chicago midway airport. “ Life is about relationships”. This past weekend was proof for me that indeed life is about relationships. You cannot go through life alone, you cannot have life alone. Genesis 2:18 says God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” (msg) Without relationships with others this opportunity would not have been possible. Without relationships this experience would have been vastly different.
After expressing interest and being offered the “job” I began the task of figuring out the logistics of getting to New York, finding a place to stay and transportation to and from the game and back to the airport. I have a tendancy to find the cheapest option, I guess having 6 kids has conditioned me to seek the most bang for my buck. Living in southeastern Iowa doesn’t facilitate easy access to an airport with non stop flights to one of the biggest cities in the united states. The more time I spent in NY also meant more expense. My choice of flights would require me to drive 5 hours to Chicago Midway airport for a nonstop flight to Newark, NJ. so the flight was booked but I still had to find a place to stay and how I was going to get around. After hours of searching and weighing the options my choice for hotel would place me near a train station that allowed me access everything I needed. I plowed into this task on my own. I clicked on book and then went to enter my login information, when the reservation was lost and now the hotel that I wanted was 30 dollars more per night, that I remembered I had a connection in New York. In 2014 tailgating with Vikefans.com, a couple pulled in to tailgate next to us we pulled our chairs in and made room for them to tailgate next to us. They also had had forgotten to get ice. We offered them ice and cooler space and began to get to know Jon and Cordellia. It was a birthday celebration for Jon that Cordellia arranged for him. They had flown into Minneapolis from New York. So I decided to send Jon a message on FB telling him about my opportunity to “work” the game and ask him the best place to stay and get around.
Jon responded with thoughts on transportation and places to stay and then offred space in their one bedroom apartment. I would later find out that the apartment was in Manhaatan. In retrospect if I had not recalled the connection and thought about the relationship, I would have been “stuck” in a hotel in New Jersey by myself looking at the city.
Thought about working with Tom would now occupy most of my thoughts and I could begin preparing for that experience. Tom has worked his way “up” to covering all of the Vikings games. If you have not taken the time to watch his interviews, you're missing out. Tom has a unique way of doing interviews. He asks questions that are not typical they are vastly different than your ho hum reporting that we normally see from your paid journalists. Tom has built this opportunity by getting to know not only the people in the Vikings organization that are in charge but the little guys and it extends beyond that to workers on gameday from the parking lot attendant to the security guard standing outside the Vikings Locker room. Tom is building relationships left and right, he’s made himself known in the Vikings organization and is making himself known on game day. It’s admirable what he does.
I could spend hours talking about the 44 hours I spent in New York. There are so many unique things that I experienced in that short time. Game day would begin with a cup of coffee and I would then decend on Manhaatan and navigate my way through the streets to the subway station ( note to self, check to see what subway train your getting on). The plan was to meet Tom at the East Orange Train station at 8:30am where we would drive down to Met Life Stadium, the home of swirling winds, East Rutherford dust, two NFL teams and of course Jimmy Hoffa. I had plans to catch some of the Viking fans tailgating, as I knew there were two groups tailgating that morning. There were many Vikings fans scattered throughout the parking lot as we drove in. We were not in the lot that the Viking tailgating was happening, and we decided to head into the stadium. Tom said you never know when the allow you in, in this case we could not get in until 10am. So we had 45 minutes and we went back and found one of the Viking fan groups tailgating. “Each stadium does it different” Tom would say. We then discussed the appeal of the stadium we both felt it was nothing special, rather drab. It looked like a large parking structure to me.
We found one of the groups tailgating in Lot B, it was a mix of “local” Viking fans. I was expecting a lager group but was told that others were on their way. Met Life Stadium as you know is about 15 miles or so outside of New York. There is lots of parking all around the stadium and bus and train lines that lead to the stadium. Earlier in the week I kept checking facebook looking for those that would be going to the game and tailgating. It’s always great to meet those people you encounter and “friend” in person. Peter Weeks and John Couch and family greeted us and it was like we all had known each other for a long time. It’s good to “know” people especially when your traveling and into “enemy” territory. Our time quickly passed and it came time for us to enter the stadium.
to be Continued...
Interested was my response, And that’s how it began.
I heard Paul Allen (voice of the Minnesota Vikings) talk to Chris Hawkeye on the radio Monday morning say about Hawkey catching Bruce Springsteen Saturday night in New York City before the Vikings faced the Jets this past Sunday. He said “Life is about experiences man” No! I shouted in my truck driving back from Chicago midway airport. “ Life is about relationships”. This past weekend was proof for me that indeed life is about relationships. You cannot go through life alone, you cannot have life alone. Genesis 2:18 says God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” (msg) Without relationships with others this opportunity would not have been possible. Without relationships this experience would have been vastly different.
After expressing interest and being offered the “job” I began the task of figuring out the logistics of getting to New York, finding a place to stay and transportation to and from the game and back to the airport. I have a tendancy to find the cheapest option, I guess having 6 kids has conditioned me to seek the most bang for my buck. Living in southeastern Iowa doesn’t facilitate easy access to an airport with non stop flights to one of the biggest cities in the united states. The more time I spent in NY also meant more expense. My choice of flights would require me to drive 5 hours to Chicago Midway airport for a nonstop flight to Newark, NJ. so the flight was booked but I still had to find a place to stay and how I was going to get around. After hours of searching and weighing the options my choice for hotel would place me near a train station that allowed me access everything I needed. I plowed into this task on my own. I clicked on book and then went to enter my login information, when the reservation was lost and now the hotel that I wanted was 30 dollars more per night, that I remembered I had a connection in New York. In 2014 tailgating with Vikefans.com, a couple pulled in to tailgate next to us we pulled our chairs in and made room for them to tailgate next to us. They also had had forgotten to get ice. We offered them ice and cooler space and began to get to know Jon and Cordellia. It was a birthday celebration for Jon that Cordellia arranged for him. They had flown into Minneapolis from New York. So I decided to send Jon a message on FB telling him about my opportunity to “work” the game and ask him the best place to stay and get around.
Jon responded with thoughts on transportation and places to stay and then offred space in their one bedroom apartment. I would later find out that the apartment was in Manhaatan. In retrospect if I had not recalled the connection and thought about the relationship, I would have been “stuck” in a hotel in New Jersey by myself looking at the city.
Thought about working with Tom would now occupy most of my thoughts and I could begin preparing for that experience. Tom has worked his way “up” to covering all of the Vikings games. If you have not taken the time to watch his interviews, you're missing out. Tom has a unique way of doing interviews. He asks questions that are not typical they are vastly different than your ho hum reporting that we normally see from your paid journalists. Tom has built this opportunity by getting to know not only the people in the Vikings organization that are in charge but the little guys and it extends beyond that to workers on gameday from the parking lot attendant to the security guard standing outside the Vikings Locker room. Tom is building relationships left and right, he’s made himself known in the Vikings organization and is making himself known on game day. It’s admirable what he does.
I could spend hours talking about the 44 hours I spent in New York. There are so many unique things that I experienced in that short time. Game day would begin with a cup of coffee and I would then decend on Manhaatan and navigate my way through the streets to the subway station ( note to self, check to see what subway train your getting on). The plan was to meet Tom at the East Orange Train station at 8:30am where we would drive down to Met Life Stadium, the home of swirling winds, East Rutherford dust, two NFL teams and of course Jimmy Hoffa. I had plans to catch some of the Viking fans tailgating, as I knew there were two groups tailgating that morning. There were many Vikings fans scattered throughout the parking lot as we drove in. We were not in the lot that the Viking tailgating was happening, and we decided to head into the stadium. Tom said you never know when the allow you in, in this case we could not get in until 10am. So we had 45 minutes and we went back and found one of the Viking fan groups tailgating. “Each stadium does it different” Tom would say. We then discussed the appeal of the stadium we both felt it was nothing special, rather drab. It looked like a large parking structure to me.
We found one of the groups tailgating in Lot B, it was a mix of “local” Viking fans. I was expecting a lager group but was told that others were on their way. Met Life Stadium as you know is about 15 miles or so outside of New York. There is lots of parking all around the stadium and bus and train lines that lead to the stadium. Earlier in the week I kept checking facebook looking for those that would be going to the game and tailgating. It’s always great to meet those people you encounter and “friend” in person. Peter Weeks and John Couch and family greeted us and it was like we all had known each other for a long time. It’s good to “know” people especially when your traveling and into “enemy” territory. Our time quickly passed and it came time for us to enter the stadium.
to be Continued...
