The area around the Metrodome oscillates between two lousy poles: it’s either packed with cars and football fans, or it’s deserted. On Sunday evening, catching a ride back into town after visiting family, I had my first experience with the former. We made the mistake of taking the Washington exit off of 35W, and immediately found ourselves in traffic.
I sort of enjoyed it, from an anthropological remove. A large purple RV (“The Hürd”) tried to nose out of a parking lot in front of our vehicle, almost ramming the front bumper. They honked at us for about a minute straight. Life in the big city!
Two days later I revisited the old Dome for the groundbreaking of the Peoples’ stadium, or at least, I tried. I got there a half hour late and everyone was already gone.
I can’t remember where I read this, but whether or not it’s true, I like the metaphor. On a farm, when a dog kills a chicken, the chicken is tied around the dog’s neck and allowed to rot, in order to dissuade the dog from killing anymore chickens. Well, Minneapolis is kind of like a dog that loves rotten chicken. What can you do?