Tag Archives: Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

I’m from Minnesota.  And my heritage is, in some part, Nordic.  And I love the Vikings.

I love watching them play, I love watching my son watching them play.  I love me throwing to Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Ahmad Rashad, Sydney Rice and Dirtball Darrin in my back yard.

I love watching him spike the ball when he gets both feet down in the corner to score 6 as time runs out in Green Bay.  Love it.

And I rarely consider what the image of the Viking means; or even what it means to BE a Viking.  Like, a real Viking back in the day.  I don’t consider how they waged war, or how they treated enemies conquered.  I don’t know if they perished by the sword, the disease or famine.  I don’t know much.

But when I do consider why the team decided to go with the name “Vikings” I suspect it’s because they realized that there was a history of Nordic nature in Minnesota.  Many people originate from Sweden or Norway or Denmark in Minnesota.  And – and this is important – they wanted to celebrate that condition of character that stood out as desirable in combat.  Or competition.

I find it … cool that my football team is named after a nation of gifted warriors who were courageous and feared in battle.

And it would seem as if I am among a 90% majority:

Nine in 10 Native Americans say they are not offended by the Washington Redskins name, according to a new Washington Post poll that shows how few ordinary Indians have been persuaded by a national movement to change the football team’s moniker.

As Dan Snyder pointed out:

The Washington Redskins team, our fans and community have always believed our name represents honor, respect and pride

 

 

Adrian Peterson – Should He Play

Minnesota Vikings

Adrian Peterson, a  running back for the Minnesota Vikings has been inactive and suspended for much of the season after reports surfaced that he ‘switched’ his child too the point of welts, open wounds and bruises.  Adrian lives in Texas where such discipline  is legal as long as the child is not in danger.  That being said, a grand jury indicted him on felony child abuse charges.

Today Peterson pleaded no-contest to misdemeanor charges which will let him off with no jail time and a minimal fine.   This result, while not surprising, is sure to upset a number of fans and child advocates.

My take- Adrian Peterson was disciplining his child in a way and manner consistent with a parent’s right.  That said, the parenting technique of switching or even spanking, is an old one with significant studies showing that such techniques are counter productive.  Peterson was raised in an environment where such disciplining techniques were, and remain, common.

Adrian Peterson is guilty of ignorance, not child abuse.

Now, what do the Vikings do?  My hope is that they partner with Peterson and local and national child advocate s and launch a parenting awareness campaign.  If they can use AP’s profile in the hopes of educating people on the proper use of discipline, the conditions surrounding the unfortunate events can be transformed into a positive.

Adrian Peterson

Minnesota Vikings

You have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard about the Adrian Peterson events in the last 5 days.

Regarding Peterson and his punishment comes a comment that adds a great deal of levity.  Courtesy Althouse:

Isn’t it ironic that outrage at the unfair punishment inflicted by Adrian Peterson distorts thinking about how to punish him? Emotional overpunishment — it’s the problem, not the solution.

Indeed.

The Single Most Depressing Chart I’ve Seen In At Least 10 Years

Playoff chart

For those who have poor eyesight and are not Vikings fans, the data shows that we have the 2nd most playoff appearances in football.

Zero Super Bowls.

Gawd.

There Is No End To Political Correctness

Chris Kluwe

For the record, Kluwe and I share the same position on gay marriage.  We both feel that folks of any sexual preference ought to enter into marriage as far as the state is concerned.  Further, Kluwe and I advocate our positions in social media; me on Facebook, this blog and sometimes Twitter.  Kluwe too.

Our primary difference, aside form the fact that his influence is significantly higher than mine, is that he is engaged in a profession that has a fantastically low career life-span and one that is over the top performance based.  To further tip the scales in my favor, my company faces no arbitrary salary cap or limit to “active employees”.

This week, Chris Kluwe was released from the Minnesota Vikings.  And the PC world is going nuts, including the governor of Minnesota:

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Gov. Mark Dayton thinks sports teams, like politicians, should be honest about decisions that are being made.

“Yeah, I don’t feel good about it,” said Dayton when asked about the Minnesota Vikings decision to release outspoken punter Chris Kluwe on Monday.

“I’m not in a position to evaluate the relative punting abilities, but it seems to me the general manager said, right after the draft, they were going to have competition,” Dayton recalled. “Well, they bring the one guy in, he kicks for a weekend and that’s competition?”

Serious.

The governor feels the need to weigh in on the personal moves of a professional sports team.  I can’t imagine many things less concerning to a governor than that.  However, in true liberal form, he makes his point and then “covers himself” at the same time:

“That’s their decision to make,” Dayton concluded. “They don’t give political advice. I don’t give them coaching advice.”

Yeah, perhaps you should have taken your own advice before you opened your mouth.

Football Stadiums And WHo They Are Built For

There was talk that the Minnesota Vikings were going to move.  The Metrodome is old and not built to take advantage of the revenue streams available in today’s market.  Further, the dome collapsed recently and is showing it’s age.

Given the popularity of the team in Minnesota, the state legislature, run by republicans at the time, along with the governor, a democrat, passed legislation that created a publicly assisted stadium to be built.

At them time I was conflicted.  I hate it that private business is able to successfully lobby the government to get taxpayers to build them infrastructure while keeping all the profits.  But given all the money going the other way, I felt a guilty and legitimate pleasure on being on the receiving end of the public dole.  I don’t like it but I do get to keep my team.

But now the governor is expressing his disappointment in the Viking’s management:

Gov. Mark Dayton wrote a stern letter Tuesday to the owners of the Minnesota Vikings threatening to undo the stadium deal if they pass on the cost of building the $975 million project to the fans.

“The project’s strong support came from many regular Minnesotans, not just rich Minnesotans, because they believed the Vikings are also their team,” Dayton wrote. “If a new stadium were to betray that trust, it would be better that it not be built.”

Dayton sent the letter to Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf.

I refuse to be shocked and outraged over the fact that the governor feels the Vikings ownership is going to increase their wealth as a result of the Viking’s stadium being built with taxpayer money.  But the governor continues to prosecute the issue:

“I strongly oppose shifting any part of the team’s responsibility for those costs onto Minnesota Vikings fans,” Dayton wrote in his letter to the Wilfs. “This Private Contribution is your responsibility. Not theirs. I said this new stadium would be a ‘People’s Stadium,’ not a ‘Rich People’s Stadium.’ I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

The stadium legislation gives the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which is working with the team to oversee development of the project, the right to own and sell the seat licenses, although the revenue then goes to the Vikings construction costs. “Reportedly the purpose for this arrangement is to shield revenue from taxes,” Dayton wrote in the letter dated Nov. 13. “If true, I deplore it.”

He added that since it is the Authority which will make the decision on whether to sell the licenses, “I will urge its Board not to proceed.”

I don’t know what kind of tool thought otherwise; of COURSE building stadiums for sports teams is being done for the rich at the expense of the non-rich.

More Fight Than The Whole Team

The Vikings are horrible.  The whole team sucks.

And the worst part of it all, this guy, THIS guy has more fight than the whole 2011 squad combined.

According to media reports from Canada, former Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp got into a fight on the dais at a Canadian Football League banquet on Friday in Vancouver.

Kapp, 73, and former rival Angel Mosca, 74, had to be separated when Mosca didn’t take kindly to flowers that Kapp offered him.

He’d probably make the team if we offered him a shot.

The Greatest 14 Seconds of Football Ever

TK.

#9.

Better drunk than sober.

Down by 1, 14 seconds and 80 yards.

But we had Ahmad.

By the way, how did the Vikings win the NFC central against the Browns?

What the what?

A Job Well Done

Son:  Dad, wanna go outside and play some catch?

Me:  Sure, get your shoes on.

Son:  Dad, you can be thrower #7 –> The Viking’s new rookie QB Christian Ponder..

Me:  Thanks!  Who are you?

Son:  Me?  I’m Ahmad Rashad.

Me:  Wiping away a tear.

Son:  Daddy…?  What’s wrong?

Me:  Nothing son, nothing at all.

Minnesota Vikings: Corporate America

I bleed Purple.

Much of my childhood is wrapped around the beat of the NFL football season.  It permeated everything as I grew up.

My church, bless their souls, scheduled the late morning service at 10:45 so that it would end at 11:45.  There isn’t a home in town that’s more than 10 minutes away; we all could get back in time to watch the Vikes.

We played scratch on the streets.  We kept our feet in-bounds by the feel of the curb even as we layed ourselves out on the boulevard to catch that pass.  We ALL were Ahmad Rashad.  We didn’t even TRY to be Page, Eller, Marshal or Larsen; they were simply too mean.

Bud Grant is simply the coolest human being in all the world.  He won championships in the NBA AND the CFL.  He played in the NFL.  Dude flat out nails macho.  And Minnesota.

I died when Drew Pearson Cheated.  And then winced as they twisted the knife with Herschel.  By that time I didn’t care that they took my Stars, what the hell, right?

I’ll die all over again if the team moves.  The team that BEAT Chicago on their first game; you kidding me?  I’ll just die.

But we can NOT buy them a stadium:

 Gov. Mark Dayton said Friday that National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell told him Los Angeles’ desire for a football team makes it all the more important for Minnesota to resolve the Vikings stadium issue.

Dayton said that no threats were lodged in Thursday’s conversation with Goodell, but the implications of no action were clear.

“If we don’t act in some way and get a stadium project going, it’s unrealistic in my opinion to think that we are not going to face competition for the team in the near future,” Dayton said.

The Vikings are one of several teams being mentioned as possibly relocating to Los Angeles, where there are competing proposals to build an NFL stadium.

I give massive props to the Democrat governor.  He is an equal opportunity State spender; the arts and the Vikings.  But as much as a abhor the State sponsoring of the opera, so too do I abhor the idea of the State paying for a private football club’s stadium.

I’d just die.