As most of you know, my wife Gayle has the best relatives in the world in Minnesota. Unfortunately, Gayle now has a leg up on them and one of them wrote me a scathing letter as we both put our tongues firmly in our cheeks.
Last Saturday Gayle’s two close cousins, Linda and Karen, and Linda’s husband Armand, came to visit us. We had Gayle’s two local brothers and their wives join the party. We had a nice dinner at the Rusty Pelican and all nine of us walked across the parking lot to Billy’s at the Beach to continue talking about the old days.
Gayle tripped over a small-unseen curb and severely broke her femur in her left leg. This was much more entertainment than the family wanted and the ambulance and Newport Beach Fire Department was called.
Gayle was taken to Hoag Hospital and admitted early Sunday morning. At noon she was operated on to put a rod and pins, etc., in her leg.
At 4:30 she came back to her room disoriented and agitated. I finally made it home Sunday night. It is now Monday morning and I’m almost afraid to go back as I hate to see her so uncomfortable. She was due to come home yesterday (Wednesday) and I know it will be tough on her with a two-story home and Mr. Domestic (me) trying to take care of her.
Her family has been so supportive and great. Both of us certainly appreciate it during this rough time.
Now I will get to the sports part of this sports column. Armand Peterson wrote me a note a while back that I will share with you. Armand is a sports fiend, like me, and the author of “The Vikings Reader.” It is a really neat book about their storied NFL football team that I grew up hating because I was a Rams’ fan.
So, here is his letter to me: “Don, I know you unfortunate Los Angelinos are still suffering without an NFL team, and thought you might enjoy the enclosed copy of “The Vikings Reader.” You might as well root for our home team! But who knows? The Vikings’ Metrodome lease expires after the 2011 season. You stole the Minneapolis Lakers. Maybe the Vikings will be next.” Sincerely, Armand.
Now wait just a darn minute. First, you don’t call an Orange Countian a Los Angelino. How could anyone do that? We have enough problems. First the Los Angeles Rams played for many years in Orange County. Then the new owner of the Angels went to court to authorize the name, “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.”
Now I have an author and relative from Minnesota calling me a “Los Angelino.” Oh how low can we go! And the only reason the Rams left was that their owner was a nutcase. That and they didn’t win enough games to compete in a sports-saturated market so there were a few empty seats at the games.
That does not mean a thing to you. You Minnesotans stick with your team through heat and snow. We are just a little more particular.
We will get a team someday. You and I may be watching our teams in the great press box in the sky when it happens but its got to come.
Okay, I’ll look at your book. Damn! Its good. Your purple covered book does take me back to the “Purple People Eaters” and your four Super Bowl defeats. Now if I want to be fair here, I could point out that that is four more Super Bowl visits than a lot of teams have. But I won’t.
Yes, Fran Tarkenton was one of the best quarterbacks I’ve ever seen. But what I like was your inclusion of the pre-Metrodome snow pictures. Were you bragging or complaining?
I don’t know if Armand was being subtle or not, but when I see those pictures of the fans sitting in freezing weather, ice literally formed on their heads, cheering on their Vikings, it does bring a whole new meaning to the term “fair weather Southern California fans.”
Okay, the book is great, Armand. But that’s the last compliment you’ll get out of me until we get an NFL football team here!
Now I’ll get back to Hoag and see Gayle. I sure hope she’s better today.
Don — Thanks for the nice words about the Vikings book. Sorry if I offended you by the “Los Angelinos” comment. I guess we’re not that sensitive out here in flyover land — our major league baseball team plays in a stadium in Minneapolis financed by a sales tax imposed on residents of Hennepin County, yet we call the team the “Minnesota Twins.” (Of course, “Twins” refers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. However, Ramsey County, the home of St. Paul, escaped the stadium sales tax.)
I’m still confused, though. This weekend the Twins are playing a team from California that our newspaper calls the Los Angeles Angels — but the TV announcer keeps calling them the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Are there two teams from Los Angeles? Or are Orange County residents that insular? Using similar naming logic, we would call our baseball team the “Minnesota Twins of Minneapolis and the Seven-County Mosquito Control District”.
Your Minnesota friend,
Armand