Media Night Bittersweet For Vikings Fans
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Before things get serious at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday, it was time for things to get a little wacky at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Media Night is known as a circus and football fans WCCO's Mary McGuire spoke with came to see it all.
This is the second straight year that both teams have met each other onstage for the first time and in front of fans.
Even though the Vikings aren't in the big game, this hometown crowd was filled with purple pride, although the sting of that loss in Philly was still pretty fresh. At one point, some Vikings fans led a "SKOL" chant as the Eagles were being introduced.
Crowd briefly broke out into the #SKOL chant. Gosh, I love Minnesota @WCCO #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/IKHLQxdO9P
— Mary McGuire (@mcguirereports) January 30, 2018
Asked if she's still bitter, Kari Renstrom said, "I probably always will be. But tonight has been a great experience. It's been a lot of fun, people watching. It's been fun to interact with Eagles fans."
Fans in the crowd got to listen to what the players and coaches had to say through purple earpieces while sitting in the stands.
After listening to what Quarterback Tom Brady had to say, one remarked, "He's kind of a Minnesota boy. His mom is from here, he comes back and fishes. I am almost persuaded to cheer for him after hearing all of the Minnesota connections."
Not all the questions were terribly hard-hitting. Brady at one point was asked who his "man crush is," to which he actually had multiple answers, including Julian Edelman and Justin Timberlake.
Some Patriots fans, like Matt Brickman, may have been disappointed when that a famous face didn't show up. Rob Gronkowski is still under concussion protocol, so he didn't make it to Media Night. He is expected to play Sunday.
"Tom Brady is like my role model so obviously he is going to be the big one up there," fan Mario Villegas said. "James White has been great. I wish I had seen Gronk, but he's obviously not here because of the concussion."