Scott Taylor

MINNEAPOLIS -- Big Syd Davy got an early visitor on Sunday afternoon.

Just five minutes and seven seconds into the Minnesota Vikings' 35-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Randy Moss had his first touchdown of the game and Davy, the Transcona Canadian Pacific Railway engineer who sits behind the south end zone at the Metrodome, had the football player in his lap.  And, of course, our intrepid Winnipegger was front and centre on the FOX national TV broadcast. Can't forget that. Nobody catches the football better than Randy Moss and nobody catches Moss better than Syd Davy.

With Gus Frerotte starting at quarterback in place of the injured Daunte Culpepper, the Vikings scored on their first possession Sunday. In the end, Minnesota put away the 49ers early to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2000, and "The Freak" caught eight passes for 172 yards and three TDs.  It was not only a huge victory for the Vikings, but also for more than a few busloads of happy Vikings fans from Winnipeg.

In fact, it was quite a Canadian Sunday in Minneapolis. More than 2,000 fans from such diverse football outposts as Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Portage, Steinbach, Selkirk, Brandon and Regina were estimated to be in attendance as the Vikings clobbered former Grey Cup champion quarterback Jeff Garcia and the 49ers.  Not only was it an excellent party, it was also good for business.

"Wins like that are huge for the sports tour business," said Kevin Kessler, the former U of M Bisons linebacker who founded All-Season Tours, the sports travel operation that his wife, Sharon, now runs.   "Sharon's already had a great year. The Denver and Green Bay games are either sold out or almost completely sold out, and for that Detroit weekend (Nov. 22-23), we'd have sold more tickets if we could have acquired more Wild hockey tickets. The Wild play the Red Wings that weekend and it was a perfect opportunity for fans to get a chance to see the Wings and the Vikings. We still have football tickets left, but no hockey tickets.

"The trouble with the Wild is that they sell out every game and there just aren't any tickets available. They really don't care about our market, either. They aren't like the Vikings and Twins, who have always made an effort to help us out. If we had more hockey tickets, we'd sell them all.   "In the meantime, as long as the Vikings are winning, business is good."

With the Blue Bombers enjoying the bye week, this past weekend was a perfect time to make the trek to Minneapolis. Most tour operators filled their buses and even radio station 92 CITI-FM sent a full bus south. Among the Winnipeggers in attendance was Kristy Parker, the marketing and promotions assistant for the football club, as well as the Bombers' director of media relations, Shawn Coates.

For Parker, an NFL game at the Metrodome was a stunning revelation.   "I had no idea it was this big," she said, her hand against her mouth like a little kid on Christmas morning.  "And so loud. I've never heard anything so loud. I can't believe the noise. I just didn't expect this. Shawn told me how big it is, but I had no idea."  Mark Reimer of Steinbach is the special projects manager for Granny's Poultry and a Vikings season ticket holder. For him, it was just another Sunday at the Metrodome.

"Most people think that I'm nuts to drive down to all the games," he said. "If they only knew the excitement and the buzz that is created on game weekends, they'd know that there is just no other feeling like it.   "I'm a huge Blue Bombers fan as well, but as you know, they just don't do it up here like they do it down there."  Winnipeg's affection for the Vikings dates back to 1967 when beloved Blue Bomber coach Bud Grant went south to take over the Purple.

scott.taylor@freepress.mb.ca