Mark Hamilton, a retired owner of five wildlife galleries in North Dakota, will drive nine hours--506 miles--from Minot, N.D., to 8134 Oakmere Road in Minneapolis, so he can go to a yard sale.
Bud Grant's yard sale.
"Nowhere else in America can this happen," Hamilton said Tuesday, preparing for his journey. "Bud's a Minnesota boy, and he's revered. He's not just a Minnesota treasure. He's a national treasure. Cars are backed up on both sides of the road, and all they want to do is rub shoulders with an icon."
And buy stuff. Grant, the Hall of Fame football coach who has not been in any sort of limelight since retiring as Vikings coach 31 years ago, turns 89 on Friday. He'll celebrate by having 5,000 of his closest friends (best guess) over to his house on Oakmere Road for a yard sale, for the 12th spring in a row.
Today at 5 p.m., Grant will blow a whistle -- his old coach's whistle, in fact -- and somewhere between 500 and 1,000 early arrivers will flood his yard. No one can come onto the property until 5 p.m. exactly. "They'll be respectful," Grant said. "We're Minnesotans now, not New Yorkers."
The renowned outdoorsman in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Manitoba and Saskatchewan wants to deal his hunting and fishing and sailing stuff this week.
"Got some canoes this year," he said. "And paddles, and all sorts of fishing equipment. You want fishing lures? We got fishing lures!"
Cash and checks only. "In 12 years, I haven't had a bad check yet," Grant said.
"Imagine this," said Bob Hagan, the Vikings' long-time public relations director. "He's the most famous person in the state, a guy you've loved for years, and here he is, inviting you into his yard once a year. Stay as long as you want. Who does that?"
Tiger talk
Tiger Woods played five holes when he opened his golf course in Houston, and he plays at home at the Medalist. But he says he still hasn't played an 18-hole round since his two back surgeries last year.
He might be patient when it comes to his recovery, but that doesn't carry over to the golf course.
"I go out there and just play holes and mix it around," he said Monday at Congressional to promote the Quicken Loans National. "Usually at this time of year, it's a little bit on the packed side, so we're only playing a few holes here and there, and skipping around. But no, 18 consecutive holes, we run into enough groups where I just don't have the patience."
Woods said he has gotten close to 18 holes, just not in order.
"We're just moving all around the golf course," he said.
Arms and legs
From Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com:
"MLB bans Rougned Odor 8 games, Jose Bautista for 1. So if you want to take someone out in baseball, use your legs not your hands."
Sports quiz
What professional football team did Bud Grant coach before taking over the Minnesota Vikings in 1967?
Sports answer
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL
Sports on 05/19/2016