Weather Delay

Efforts at snark, commentary, and other things are hampered by the fact that I haven't seen the sun shine since Saturday.



If only she was right.

On the bright side, it's not snowing.

And it's sad that I have to resort to that "on the bright side" statement in June.

Metrodome Caves in Under Weight of Brett Favre's Ego; Crazy Weekend Continues

Photo: KFAN Radio

MINNEAPOLIS -- As if an historic snowfall and numerous postponements and cancellations weren't enough, the mother of all crazy weekends just rolls on.

While we were sleeping early Sunday morning, the Metrodome's teflon roof collapsed under the weight of some 15-20 inches of snow that fell in the metro area Saturday.

With the snow already causing the postponement of Sunday's Vikings-Giants game to Monday night, we can thankfully report that no one was inside the stadium at the time. Even though it was around 5 a.m., there's a chance that wouldn't have been the case on a game day.

Now, you can see the sky inside the Metrodome, and there is snow and ice on the playing surface. There won't be any football played there anytime soon. This is the kind of damage that takes time to repair. It won't be fixed by Tuesday, Friday, or next Monday, when Minnesota is supposed to host Chicago.

The NFL is seeking an alternate venue for the game, with the smart money going on Detroit's Ford Field for a Monday or Tuesday kickoff.

Whenever the game is played, expect it to air on FOX only in markets that would be blacked out of a non-sellout. For Vikings fans who don't reside in the Twin Cities or Rochester markets, that means finding a place that has DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket to watch the game. Same for Giants fans outside of the New York market.

To add to the fun, Brett Favre texted ESPN's Ed Werder and told him he wouldn't have been able to play had the game started at its regularly-scheduled time of noon. Of course, he'll magically heal in the extra day or two this chain of events is giving him.

Here is video of the dome's collapse, which aired exclusively on FOX NFL Sunday.

Snow Day

MINNEAPOLIS -- When I packed the bags for this short trip to Minneapolis, I made a last-minute decision to throw a case of 12 DVDs into my clothes bag.

Turns out it was a pretty good call.

UMD lost 3-2 to Minnesota last night, which is enough to make one's skin crawl, and now we get an extra 21 hours to think about that stupid game.

Well, at least I end up thinking about it.

Anyway, this is the view out of my fifth-floor hotel window on Saturday afternoon. Lots of white stuff laying around and flying through the air, eh?

We have over a foot of snow so far in the Twin Cities, and while it's shown signs of slowing down, it's still coming down, and it's still looking pretty brutal outside. This shot looks over Washington Avenue (under the overpass, which takes you to 11th St. in Minneapolis and pretty much to the front door of our hotel), and it's not like Washington hasn't been plowed today. The crews just can't keep up with the snow.

The Twin Cities University of Minnesota campus closed earlier Saturday afternoon, and all events scheduled were cancelled, except for a noon-hour men's basketball game that went on as scheduled. Our game will be played Sunday at 4 p.m., giving us plenty of time to kill.

For now, it's a chance to enjoy the UMD football game (CBS College Sports and Fox Sports North) and relax. I've done some research and plenty of reading (including Ross Bernstein's wonderful "Raising Stanley" book, which is on sale now and will be the subject of our second intermission interview Sunday).

These are interesting days, largely because they don't happen often. Hopefully, UMD can respond with the extra rest and play well Sunday.

By the way, UMD sophomore defenseman Dylan Olsen is back at the hotel with his teammates. He was scheduled to fly to Toronto for Canada's World Junior camp, which starts Sunday. I would assume he will try to fly out Sunday so he can take part. Hopefully, this isn't a lame excuse for Canada not to take him. I have to think he'll get there tomorrow and all will be well.

CUE THE WHINING

Would you rather they sat and waited all night?

Really?

You would have waited four hours for the rain to stop and for them to get the track dried?

Quit looking for something to complain about.

Congratulations to Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth.

IKE'S COMING - PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN

You may remember the summer of 2005, when I offered a couple stinging posts on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. To this day, I feel the response of our federal and local officials was ridiculous, and it showed a complete lack of any forward thinking and preparation for such an event.

On this Friday night, there is a monster on its way to Galveston and Houston. It's Hurricane Ike. While it's "only" a strong Category 2 storm with winds at "only" 110 miles per hour, it's going to devastate much of the Texas coast.

Ike is a large storm with a huge field of hurricane- and tropical storm-force winds. The storm surge will be that of a major hurricane, even though Ike may not officially cross that threshold. The reason for that is that it has such a wide range of high winds from the storm center, meaning it's churned up an insane amount of water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Much of that water is going to end up being pushed up Galveston Bay.

(I am not a meteorologist, but I have done some research on tropical weather. Please don't take any of this as being an expert's opinion or anything.)

This is setting up to be a huge catastrophe for this area, and I implore you to monitor developments. If you have DirecTV, you can watch a simulcast of KHOU-TV on Channel 361. It's much better than the sensationalized crap you see on the news channels or the Weather Channel, though if you want to see Geraldo try to get blown away by the storm, you will probably have to watch Fox News.

If things are as bad as the "experts" think, we then need to unite as a real country and help these people. Give money, donate non-perishable food items, help gather supplies to send down there, give blood. Whatever you can. It's not about being a Democrat or a Republican or an Obama person or a McCain supporter.

As I said in 2005, you know these people would get in line to help you should something bad happen in your area. Please show them the same courtesy.