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Lynn G. -> RE: Vikes Water Cooler Thread (5/23/2014 10:43:53 AM)
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ORIGINAL: JT2
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ORIGINAL: Lynn G.
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ORIGINAL: JT2
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ORIGINAL: Lynn G.
I went to the garage sale at Bud Grant's house this afternoon. The sale was supposed to start at 5:00 and by the time I turned onto his block at 4:30 the street was lined with cars and as many were leaving the neighborhood as were coming in. There is a cul de sac at the end of his block and we all were doing the same thing - driving down the street looking for a place to park and turning around in the cul de sac to drive back out. I was tempted to pull into one of his neighbor's driveways and offer them a crisp 20 dollar bill if they'd let me park in their driveway, but most of the houses looked at a glance like no one was home.
Bottom line I ended up parking a block over and walking, and I still got to his driveway before they lowered the rope to let people in (first garage sale I've ever been to with security people and a rope line).
CLASSIC Bud Grant - he came down the driveway to talk to the crowd (I'd say about 75 people had gathered by that time) and thanked us for coming, commented on the nice weather, joked that he hoped we'd spend some money so he could get rid of a bunch of stuff - and then he asked everyone to be respectful and not push when they lowered the rope. He said that he was going to blow the whistle at 5:00 to start things (smiling the whole time at the joke) and again asked us all to be respectful. I suspect he didn't want some kind of day-after-Thanksgiving stampede or something, and remember that Grant was the coach who didn't let his players spike the ball in the endzone and was adamant about standing at attention during the Star Spangled Banner - so respect is part of Grant's DNA.
And sure enough, when he blew the whistle, everyone just casually walked forward and headed to the tables.
They had split the stash - the Viking stuff was on one side and the hunting/fishing stuff on the other - so that was a good way to spread the crowd out. At first I was disappointed because there were too many people who headed directly to the clothing/hat table so I figured there was going to be no way I was going to get any Viking shirts or other good stuff - - - but they brought more things out gradually so I actually ended up with three t-shirts in the end (one for my brother, the Viking fan stuck in Chicago Bearland). Grant stuck around to sign anything that anyone wanted but that line got so long I bowed out, but at one point I was standing right next to him (I wasn't in line - just looking at some things at a table) and he turned to me and thanked me for coming.
The consumate gentleman and such a cool guy. He's moving pretty slow these days and now that his wife has been gone a few years I got the impression he was going to sell the house where they raised their family for the past 50 years or so. I have enjoyed having him as a fellow resident of Bloomington all of these years, and I loved the fact that his kids attended the same public school that my brothers and I attended. Grant was a regular in our stands at basketball and football games and it was always cool that he was there cheering for MY school (mostly for his sons playing of course).
So that's my story!
Bush Lake Rd is my shortcut home to avoid 169, and every time Bud has a garage sale the shortcut turns into a nightmare. Buyers, fans, gawkers and freaks line the narrow passage way.
I'm probably one of the freaks.
I had you penciled in as fan/gawker.
Probably a bit of that too, although I've seen Bud Grant up close hundreds of times. I ended up being a buyer that day too.
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