Minnesota fans are spoiled. You would have had pandemonium in Chicago, Buffalo, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, New England and anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line where the fans don’t depend on a stadium to be as warm as it is in their hot toasty cars and homes.

I argue that the Super Bowl itself should be held in an outdoor stadium in a cold-weather city instead of in the semi-tropics (or in domed stadiums up north). It is a autumn-winter sport after all.

Yeah, I wrote #9 in pedant mode. Sorry.

I had never heard the Dylan/Dinkytown story, and I responded in surprise, not anger. My undergraduate days at the U more or less coincided with Bob Dylan’s rising stardom. Though I have no documentary proof of Dinkytown’s etymology, I can offer two bits of anecdotal evidence. My parents — both of whom attended the U during WW2 — testify that “Dinkytown” was in common currency in the 1940s. And this past summer, I sorted through boxes of my Dad’s college paraphernalia (notebooks, snapshots, etc). I am sure I saw references to Dinkytown in old copies of the campus newspaper (the Minnesota Daily). Alas, I threw them out, so I can’t scan them for proof. Still, I betcha $200 that “Dinkytown” appears with high frequency on microfilms of the Daily dating back to 1945. (And probably decades earlier).

I share your abhorrence to the sale of naming rights to the campus stadium, though the practice is of a piece with how other campus buildings are named for wealthy donors. I save my rage for the malevolent effects of Big Athletics on the academy. The football & basketball programs are nothing but farm teams for professional sports, and have nothing to do with higher education or scholasticism. Better to evict them from American campuses.

I do recall the story that he used to play where the Burger King is now at. And I believe the Dinkytown Business Association was created in the ’40’s, if one desired documentation.

Positively 4th St. was not written about a music store in the area.

Local lore (“it is said”) has it that Dylan named Dinkytown. That is not incorrect. The lore may be wrong (probably is). Your correction of the lore is appreciated, and expected, but please target your corrections more accurately in the future.

By the way, I’ve heard the lore that Dinkytown was named Dinkytown before Dylan was around, but I’ve yet to see proof. Do you have any? That would be great. Something in writing, a sign, a letter, a song, anything. When and from where did you first hear that it is wrong?

And, why dinkytown?

And another thing: Dinkytown is like Uptown, or for you Easterners, Cape Cod. The boundaries are expanded by those who would but don’t live in them. Updown does not touch Franklin. People fight over Bourne: Those who live there say they live on the Cape, but they don’t. Does Dinkytown go to Como or not?

Also, Dylan lore gets extra points for being Dylan Lore. I mean, after all, who are your parents? Bob Dylan? I don’t think so.

You do get that my references to TCF Bank as a former Gopher, war hero and U president, and my reference to “Stadium” in a similar manner are jokes, right?

Thanks for the background on TCF. I came here after the name was changed, and I had assumed it was “Twin Cities” something or another.

I dropped them as a bank the last time they gave access to my ATM account to some random individuals (fortunately, that person only made deposits, but whatever….).

What I left out of my amusing post was a rant about naming rights. I mean, really. I RESENT TCF for doing this, and Target for doing that, and all of it. If you are a big corporation you can have a whole wall of advert in the lobby if you want, but for goodness sake, name the damn thing after a worthy person or thing.

Like Bob Dylan Stadium! Or even The Dinky Dome! (Oh wait, that’s taken.)