Sunday, March 23, 2008

Air Travel: Big Tall Guy in the Center Seat

I have a bad habit of forgetting holidays when booking travel. Tonight I found myself battling my way through airport security among families of infrequent fliers. I knew that my flight from Houston to Minneapolis would be completely full because of the Easter holiday, but my outlook became even more grim when I realized I would be spending the next 3 hours scrunched against the airplane window with a big, tall guy in the center seat. Halfway through the flight I found out that I was sitting next to Sidney Rice; a player for the MN Vikings.

Now... I'm sure a few of the guys reading this immediately recognize this player, but I had no clue. This man could have been the MVP from the Superbowl and I wouldn't have known any different. The woman sitting on the other side of him was just as clueless. It must have been a bit of an ego bust to him, but he took it in stride. The in-flight conversation was typical of any other... are you married? do you have kids? where are you from? When he found out that I was from Mankato, the grin on his face clearly told of training camp memories.

I've never really followed NFL football and I don't have any plans to start, but the next time I'm stuck watching a Viking's game with a die-hard fan I'll at least have a anecdotal tale to share about the time that one of the players was stuck sitting next to me on a cramped flight from Houston.

Oh... and for the rest of you that have no clue who I'm referring to... view Sydnie Rice on the Vikings' Web site

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