I had the game on but was afraid to be in the same room with the TV. I had plans for the evening so chose that time to start getting ready, and I took a long time doing so. By the time I peeked around the corner and looked at the TV it was close to half time and the Vikings had the lead and Seattle had zip…a little concerned about the reliance on field goals but hey, points are points.
After half time I wasn’t quite ready to commit to watching the game exclusively, I can’t even remember what I did. I would sneak a look once in a while and things were looking good so I decided it was silly to watch the game horror-movie like through my fingers and things OK so decided to actually watch.
That didn’t last long.
When Seattle recovered from botched play I had a bad feeling, I couldn’t take it so I turned it off. Thankfully, Starz had an Outlander marathon so I watched that. I didn’t even turn the game back on, I checked StarTribune online, figured that was it and got the definitive text that the Vikings lost.
(I know, I know, the picture is old, but it fits.)
It was hollow feeling, and I didn’t know the circumstances, and I couldn’t believe that once again it was a missed field goal that did it. What the hell?
I don’t know what to think…is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Is Blair Walsh to blame? If you look at it from the perspective that his task was to make that field goal, and he didn’t yes, he is. I’ve screwed up a time or two (ok, maybe more), you get taken to the woodshed, but you get back up, figure out a way to fix it, and prevent it from happening again. And if the people close to you are remotely human, they don’t remind of the screw up every five minutes or throw it in your face five years later.
In my experience when things go wrong it is hardly ever just one thing. It is usually a series missteps prior to THE thing that happens that gets all the attention. Football is a team sport, maybe if a touchdown or two would have been scored instead of relying on field goals, we might be singing a different tune. But, I wasn’t on the field, I was hiding from the TV, so I really can’t say much. All I can say is I’m sad it turned out the way it did, and really, really wish the Vikings fans were exuberant and we would be watching them play in Arizona.
I think one thing we can do is take in the wisdom of some first graders.
So if the Vikings losing that heartbreaker wasn’t bad enough, the next morning I was completely destroyed when I found out via Facebook that David Bowie passed away. The first thing I saw that made me go “huh?” was a picture of Bono kissing David Bowie on the cheek and he wrote “Planet earth is blue.” I kept scrolling then I saw the news, then I couldn’t stop scrolling, and so many of his lyrics were so fitting:
“The stars look very different today”
“Look at me I’m in Heaven.”
“Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.”
David Bowie always knew how to get our attention, and he sure caught mine.
I first became a fan of David Bowie during the 80’s, I specifically remember the videos for “Let’s Dance,” “Modern Love” and “Changes.” I didn’t know much about his previous iterations, but discovered “Space Oddity” my freshman year of college. That best drives to and from Duluth were when “Space Oddity” came on the radio and I would blast it, the’84 Buick had great speakers and it sounded amazing. Out of the older stuff “Space Oddity” was favorite, followed by “Rebel, Rebel” and “Suffragette City.”
The last time he came to the Twin Cities on tour was 2006, and I remember distinctly I wanted to see him perform live but for some reason I couldn’t go. David Bowie was one that I really hoped I would see perform live, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
Later I read through the Facebook tributes and the tweets, looked at pictures and watched the news with a lump in my throat and a few tears on my cheeks, and thought about those drives when David Bowie sang to me to and from Duluth.
I feel strange being so sad and carrying on about someone I didn’t know, and didn’t know me, but he was part of my life, important parts. I first became a fan when I first started really liking music, and discovered a different part of his career when I was in college trying to figure out what kind of person I was going to be. It’s not just me today that’s sad, it’s the intermediate school-aged me and the college student that lost someone they admired.
I retweeted two things about David Bowie yesterday because they summed up how I felt pretty well.
BecauseXM: “If you feel sad, remember that the world is 4.54 billion years old & you managed to exist at the same time as #DavidBowie.”
Gianfranco Ravasi: “Ground Control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (David Bowie)”
Indeed. May God’s love be with you, David.
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