The "Unofficial" Chris Walsh Fan Club

The game was exciting on several fronts. I arrived at the dome around 5:30pm for the 7:20pm game and already the place was crowded. I waited in the first row of the south endzone waiting for some players to wander out. My brother and I got interviewed by Channel 11 (KARE) about the cold weather and tailgaiting. I said keep the dome, Trevor babbled.

After waiting around for a few minutes with my brother, we went back up to our seats. As I was looking around for a good spot for my Chris Walsh Fan Club banner, I checked out the field and spotted who I thought was Walsh himself. Without a big "81" on his chest and back, he's a little tough to spot from 30 rows up.

I cruised down the stairs like it was an olympic event with my banner in hand. Just as I got to the field, Walsh started warming up, headed for the opposite endzone. I waved to my brother to come down and join me and by the time Trevor made it, Walsh was chatting with someone on the 50 yard line, right on the new NFL logo. I held up my banner and even though Walsh seemed to be looking right at me, he did not react. My brother yelled "hey Walsh!" and whomever Walsh was chatting with looked up and started nudging Walsh pointing in my direction.

Walsh squinted for a momment and figured out what it said and gave out a yell, raising his fist in the air. Trevor and I waved and we hoped Walsh would come over. Instead he headed for the sideline, in a warm up trot catching a pass from his friend. He threw the ball back and headed over to our end zone.

"Hey, you've got your own fan club now!" I yelled as Walsh came over. He smiled, shook our hands and said hello. I asked him to sign my banner, which he replied, "sure, real quick" as he wanted to get back to his warm up routine.

My brother provided the pen which he thoughtfully borrowed from my girlfriend before coming down and Walsh picked a spot and signed it. As he was doing so, my brother asked if Walsh had seen this site, to which Walsh responded "I'm not on the internet yet." And with a smile, he ran back out onto the field to finish his warm up.

We ran back to our seats to show off our new autograph and then headed for the upper deck to hang the banner. It was in the south endzone, east side of the field.

Once the game started, the excitement didn't stop. Jacksonville decided to run back serveral of the kickoffs that had come down in the endzone. Walsh ended the day with 3 special teams tackles.

In the second quarter, during a punt converage, Walsh was lined up at the right winger position. The two blockers forced him out of bounds, which is not unusual, but as Walsh tried to get back in bounds, he collided with someone on the Jacksonville sideline. When the play was over, Walsh was making a "Come On Ref!" suggestion and the ref waved Walsh over to him. After a brief discussion, Walsh trotted off the field with no flag being thrown.

Later in the second quarter, the Jacksonville punt returner made what looked like a fair catch single but took off running when he caught the ball. Walsh made the tackle and the returner did not get up for several minutes.

Also in the second quarter, Jacksonville had a really nice punt return called back because Walsh got held as he came down the field.

Walsh came in for the two point conversion attempt that the Vikings attempted.

In the third quarter, Walsh was man-on-man for a punt coverage, again at the winger position. Walsh faked outside and clearly beat his blocker to the inside. Walsh had a free run down field, but headed back to the outside and was nowhere near making the tackle. Obviously, he was just running to a spot and stayed home, protecting against any reverse plays.

Around the 6:20 mark in the third, Walsh alternated playing and watching for three plays, in for play-sidelines-in for play.

The Vikings scored a touchdown with a four receiver set which included Walsh. Some guy named Cris Carter got the touchdown though. Walsh has a way to go to get 101 touchdowns.

After a Jacksonville fumble, Walsh came out for his customary wide reciever during a running play position. It was a one yard touchdown run.

I spotted two people in my section (118) with actual Chris Walsh jerseys. I'm not sure where they got them, but I'm afraid to speculate they got them custom made. That's just too expensive for me!

I'm considering coming down early for the first playoff game if Walsh is healthy. It would be cool to meet him again, plus be a little more prepared on what I'd like to say.