Can someone who was at the game...

[Aussie Seahawk]

Hi everyone,

Thanks to all for the interesting posts. I can't imagine sitting for 3-4 hours in cold like that. Just like to add that in a room-sized walk-in freezer there is a strong breeze from the aircon unit. I used to have to spend short periods of time looking for things in there when I worked in a research lab, but short periods was all. Changing a flat tyre in 48C/118F is my worst weather experience, but I digress.

Just relieved to get the win!

Charles

 

[seahawk Dan]

I was in section 209 behind the Vikings bench so we were in the sun and it was still ungodly cold. I had 4 layers on with hand warmers taped all over my body and it was just warm enough. I didn't eat or drink anything because there was no possible way to pee with all the layers on.

Minnesota had a significant advantage by having their bench in the sun. Our guys were in the shade all day and you could tell they weren't prepared for that type of sustained cold.

The Minnesota fans were fantastic. They stadium was packed and no one in our section (or anywhere I could see) sat down the entire game. Not as loud as the C-Link due to reduced capacity and no roof, but they brought it. That city is one of the few places in the league where you can wear your gear without constantly being hassled. Lots of respect from Minny fans and heard more than once that the Hawks were their second favorite team to cheer for. On the tram to the game both Hawks and Vikes fans united in a "Packers suck!" chant.

I got the feeling that the weather had a massive effect on our level of play and that you just flush this one and move on to the Panthers. After all, we just beat a team that won their division, 11 games, and was hosting you for the second time in five weeks...in an ice box.

I had the same experience. Minni fans had a lot of class

 

[blazen2392]

My friend posted a picture of her beer that froze up right after she opened it. How do you handle such conditions?!

Me and my sick mind are wondering what it would be like to pee outside in these conditions. Wonder if it would freeze midway

 

[KiwiHawk]

There are times when the game conditions are so bad that the skill differential between the teams is minimised. At that point it just becomes a coin-toss as to who wins or loses.

The rain game in Kansas City comes to mind, where tackled players were in danger of drowning if they landed face-down. Extreme cold is another "equaliser". It's not good for the game to play in conditions like that. We all respect how manly and butch NFL players are - apart from a certain Rams punter - but there are limits.

 

[sam1313]

My friend posted a picture of her beer that froze up right after she opened it. How do you handle such conditions?!

Me and my sick mind are wondering what it would be like to pee outside in these conditions. Wonder if it would freeze midway

I think that you can find videos on youtube where people thow a cup of hot water into the air at those temperatures, and it is more like an explosion of fog than anything else.

I know being in about -20 that my wet hair froze almost instantly just walking out to the car so....

 

[Ballz]

I was there with my wife in Section 240, Row 1, right on the rail. Around the 45 yard line on the Seahawks side in the shade all day. I can echo a lot of the earlier posts. My hand warmers wouldn't activate, and my beers were frozen in minutes. Without a doubt the coldest I've ever felt in my life.

While the game was happening, it wasn't too bad since there was a distraction. During TV timeouts and halftime, it was brutal. Had frost on my eyebrows and eyelashes, and my toes were numb from halfway thru the first quarter on. After the field goal was missed, we stuck around for about 45 minutes after the game and went down to the field, and amazingly I didn't even notice the cold once during that time. Was surreal to just be celebrating with a bunch of fellow 12's.

I would have to agree that the Minnesota fans were by far the most hospitable I have encountered when traveling to a road game. They were super friendly throughout the game, and gave us props for making the trip all the way from Seattle. Overall, we had a great experience, and an amazing trip!

 

[ChrisB Bacon]

We flew into Minnesota at 5am Sunday morning... It was -9 degrees when we landed. We stepped outside for about 45 seconds, still in Seattle clothes, to get a cab and the inside of my nose literally started to freeze. You could feel the snot turning to ice. That's when I knew the cold was for real.

As for the game, I wasn't cold at all. I had 3 under armours, 3 sweatshirts, and a jersey on top, leggings, jeans, and snow pants on my legs, 2 pairs of socks, and boots for my feet, gloves, beanie, and a balaclava, so definitely layered up. We were in section 212 on about the 35 yard line on the Vikings sideline, so we had the sun shining on us. Unfortunately Minnesota doesn't sell alcohol in stores on Sundays so we weren't really able to pregame. Got a few beers from generous Vikings fans at the tailgate, and the Vikings fans across the aisle in the stadium were giving me pulls of brandy so I had a bit of alcohol armor from the cold.

I actually took my gloves off in the first quarter and for whatever reason my hands never got cold. I took off my shirts after the Baldwin touchdown on a bet with my friend. Peterson fumbled next possession and I couldn't just put them back on, so I went shirtless for the last 12 minutes of the game. The combination of alcohol and adrenaline kept me warm enough, but even the people from Minnesota thought I was crazy. I probably am.

The Vikings fans were great for the most part. Got our fair share of them yelling at us after the game, but definitely nothing out of the ordinary for losing an NFL playoff game like that. One drunk dude kicked me in the shin on the way out, so I told him he kicked like Walsh, thankfully his friends held him back or that could've gotten ugly.

Great experience all around though. Coldest temperatures I've ever been in and it's not even close.

 

[rideaducati]

My friend posted a picture of her beer that froze up right after she opened it. How do you handle such conditions?!

Me and my sick mind are wondering what it would be like to pee outside in these conditions. Wonder if it would freeze midway

I remember doing this as a kid in Minnesota and the pee would freeze like a reverse ice cycle and there would be these yellow sticks sticking up out of the ground.

 

[KARAVARUS]

There are times when the game conditions are so bad that the skill differential between the teams is minimised. At that point it just becomes a coin-toss as to who wins or loses.

The rain game in Kansas City comes to mind, where tackled players were in danger of drowning if they landed face-down. Extreme cold is another "equaliser". It's not good for the game to play in conditions like that. We all respect how manly and butch NFL players are - apart from a certain Rams punter - but there are limits.

I was at both of these games. The rain game was miserable, for sure. I remember being one of the last to leave my seat, avoiding 70,000 KC fans in my Galloway jersey. The stairs were waterfalls and the field had waves on it. Having been through it, I'd take that 100 times out of 100 times over the cold playoff game.

GEAR: I took my kid and her boyfriend, both 18 years old. I was bundled with an under armor shirt, a hooded north face jacket, a seahawks zip sweat shirt and two jersey's. I wore jeans with sweatpants over them and a pair of hawks shorts over that. I had a blanket as well. On my head I wore my hawks beanie and the hood from the jacket. Also a handmade hawks scarf. Standard gloves and then my real mistake. I wore one pair of ankle socks and some canvas shoes. All my warmers were worthless...

GAME: It looked miserable. The equivalent of what looked like 50,000 people or whatever, who were all smoking. I couldn't even grab the hot chocolate that was being handed to me. My limbs and digits just didn't respond. I couldn't imagine grabbing, catching, tackling, any of it in this weather. The few plays that were made were electric. I am proud of everyone who was on that field. Kudos for putting up any points at all.

FANS: They were nice around us, but at least in my section (front row 227) in the opposite endzone of the kick, they were not very educated football fans. I have examples, but nothing that really needs to be posted. I was having trouble with my scarf coming undone and not being able to move to fix it. A Minnie fan saw my struggle and from behind me, they helped me get things straight. After the kick, they were obviously shocked. They were celebrating pretty hard after the penalty and long pass play to Rudolph. Some shook our hands and most said, "you better win the effing super bowl".

I got some, "Oh, you guys really earned that one." I just said things like, "I'm not going to apologize." A few fans were screaming obscenities at us as we walked back to the car. Other fans apologized for them and asked us not to take that away from the stadium as typical Vikes fans.

 

[floreshawk02]

It was brutal.

You can tell by the punts...something was happening to the football. They would go up and all of a sudden drop like a rock and you can see that when Russ threw his passes.

Now that we watched the Turning Point you realize the hits Russ took may have made him rush and thus not had the best grip.

We had fun at the game even if they lost, we had a fun weekend.

Took me two days to feel my toes again.

 

[Aussie Seahawk]

Karavarus,

Was there not lightning in the Rain Game, too? I can't remember what year it even was, but vaguely remember KC received about 7" of rain in total(?)

Charles (who does not remember what rain looks like)