Nothing says home like the feel of your favorite chair, and I’m finally sitting in it again, after a nine-day excursion to the land of 10 thousand lakes.
Minnesota became my second-favorite place, just behind the spot where that chair sits; the people are both friendly and authentic, the food is both great and plentiful (especially at Mancini’s Char House in St. Paul), and the cold is both temporary and invigorating. The entire region should be proud of the way everyone handled the entire Super Bowl experience, especially since it would have been very easy to be salty about the Vikings coming tantalizingly close to playing in the game.
The magnificence of the stadium justifies another Super Bowl; a climate that will include endless whining and current-temperature screen-shotting from some members of the media counts as a bonus.
So congratulations to Minnesota, the Vikings, and the NFL. You put on a unique and memorable event, from a fan-friendly Radio Row experience (thanks to everyone who stopped at the PFT Live set to say hello) to an easily-traversed Twin Cities, to a seamless Super Bowl Sunday.
And now that the season is over, the real work begins. The Scouting Combine looms, free agency follows, the draft comes next, OTAs will pop up throughout the league, and then -- eventually -- a short-term calm will emerge before the next 267-game storm commences.
We’ll be with you every hour of every day, just as we have been for the past 16-plus years. Your support makes all of this possible, and we hope to keep you informed and entertained for many Super Bowls to come.