Last October 31st, some friends and I decided to make the most of a Halloween on a school night, even though we were too old to be collecting free candy from adults. Upon hearing that Greg Jennings, the wide receiver who had recently been acquired by the Minnesota Vikings, lived with his family around the Rolling Green area, we decided to seize the opportunity to meet him. After all, Halloween is really the only night of the year where it is justified to ring a stranger’s doorbell.

We pulled up across the street from his huge house at about 7:30 p.m. There was only one light on inside, but it was encouraging because we knew someone was home. We rang the doorbell once and to our dismay, the light was immediately switched off. To ensure our trip to Rolling Green wasn’t a waste of gas, however, we waited a minute, and then rang the doorbell a second time.

The door swung open and Jennings stepped outside. He was pretty angry. “C’mon guys, my kids are asleep, and we’re out of candy. Don’t come here again, and tell your friends to stop coming here as well,” he said. I guess we hadn’t been the only people audacious enough to ring a National Football League player’s doorbell that night. “Nice game last weekend,” added then-sophomore Cole Harris as we were leaving his driveway.

At first, we all doubted his excuse. “It’s Halloween night, and his kids are asleep at 7:30? Live a little, dude,” said junior Tripp Peterson.

However, a simple Google search of Jennings will prove that he does in fact have kids. He has three daughters named Amya, Alea, and Ayva, and a baby son named Aice. So maybe his anger was called for.

Although it wasn’t the experience I was expecting when I rang his doorbell, I am now able to say that I have met Greg Jennings, which is pretty cool if you ask me. I also met Christian Ponder at Chipotle, but that story can wait for another day.

Happy Halloween and Skol Vikings!