Minnesota Vikings: Das Boot
And I thought 1998 was a bad year.
So before the season began, before pre-season even, sports writers were picking the Vikings to take their division, and believed them to be real conteders for their conference. Moss was out, Culpepper was the clear leader, a revamped defense could only bring things to a higher level, and the new owner Wilf was energetic, engaging and not the tightfisted miser that McCombs was. The team had new life, a new direction, and there was talk of finally moving out of the Metrodome and into better facilities.
Then the season started.
The Vikings look hopeless. Culpepper only posted a lower quaterback rating when he sat on the bench his first year. The offensive line allows so many sacks you'd think they were all bagging your groceries at Safeway (or Rainbow if you live in the Twin Cities). Turnovers and interceptions and a host of penalties per game have turned a team that could be dangerous on offense into a unit that's as threatening as curdled milk. There is no running game whatsoever, and the retooled defense is ineffective. Head coach Mike Tice knew he was in a tough spot at the beginning of the year when he was nailed for scalping SuperBowl tickets. Now his team is 1-3 and during their bye week, 17 players were named in some sort of sex boat scandal.
Newly acquired from the Redskins, cornerback Fred Smoot hired two boats for a cruise around Lake Minnetonka. Investigators are currently looking into whether players or others who were guests on the boats participated in illegal activity.
Maybe I don't have the pro atlete mentality, but if your team is expected to accomplish great things and you are falling embarassingly short of that anticipation, it seems likely that you would (1) do whatever is necessary to improve your performance and the performance of your team and (2) keep a low profile. I'm not certain what a team that's 1-3 is celbrating anyway, unless they've all been instructed to take a huge messy dive so as to erode any interest in keeping the team in Minnesota and moving them to another market.
Needless to say that the team's crappy results on the field and their outrageous behavior off the field has probably derailed any sort of commitment in building a new stadium. Wilf had generated enough interest from community, civic government and business leaders to proceed with an estimated $625 million sports etnertainment complex in Anoka. A team that's 1-3 with no discernable leadership on the field or on the sidelines that's now embroiled in a sex scandal is not likely to receive such a boon now.
I'll wait and see what the investigators turn up. Some of the Vikings are apparently acting like members of the Dallas Cowboys circa 1992, though they're not putting up the stats that the Boys did. One semi-positive thing I can say is that the NFC North is a litterbox of broken and ruined teams, so the Vikings still have a chance to win their division. Any success they may have, though, is overshadowed by acting in such a classless, low-rent way as this boat ride behavior suggests.
I feel that pretty soon I'll be saying "Go Chiefs!" in the years to come...
So before the season began, before pre-season even, sports writers were picking the Vikings to take their division, and believed them to be real conteders for their conference. Moss was out, Culpepper was the clear leader, a revamped defense could only bring things to a higher level, and the new owner Wilf was energetic, engaging and not the tightfisted miser that McCombs was. The team had new life, a new direction, and there was talk of finally moving out of the Metrodome and into better facilities.
Then the season started.
The Vikings look hopeless. Culpepper only posted a lower quaterback rating when he sat on the bench his first year. The offensive line allows so many sacks you'd think they were all bagging your groceries at Safeway (or Rainbow if you live in the Twin Cities). Turnovers and interceptions and a host of penalties per game have turned a team that could be dangerous on offense into a unit that's as threatening as curdled milk. There is no running game whatsoever, and the retooled defense is ineffective. Head coach Mike Tice knew he was in a tough spot at the beginning of the year when he was nailed for scalping SuperBowl tickets. Now his team is 1-3 and during their bye week, 17 players were named in some sort of sex boat scandal.
Newly acquired from the Redskins, cornerback Fred Smoot hired two boats for a cruise around Lake Minnetonka. Investigators are currently looking into whether players or others who were guests on the boats participated in illegal activity.
Maybe I don't have the pro atlete mentality, but if your team is expected to accomplish great things and you are falling embarassingly short of that anticipation, it seems likely that you would (1) do whatever is necessary to improve your performance and the performance of your team and (2) keep a low profile. I'm not certain what a team that's 1-3 is celbrating anyway, unless they've all been instructed to take a huge messy dive so as to erode any interest in keeping the team in Minnesota and moving them to another market.
Needless to say that the team's crappy results on the field and their outrageous behavior off the field has probably derailed any sort of commitment in building a new stadium. Wilf had generated enough interest from community, civic government and business leaders to proceed with an estimated $625 million sports etnertainment complex in Anoka. A team that's 1-3 with no discernable leadership on the field or on the sidelines that's now embroiled in a sex scandal is not likely to receive such a boon now.
I'll wait and see what the investigators turn up. Some of the Vikings are apparently acting like members of the Dallas Cowboys circa 1992, though they're not putting up the stats that the Boys did. One semi-positive thing I can say is that the NFC North is a litterbox of broken and ruined teams, so the Vikings still have a chance to win their division. Any success they may have, though, is overshadowed by acting in such a classless, low-rent way as this boat ride behavior suggests.
I feel that pretty soon I'll be saying "Go Chiefs!" in the years to come...
posted by Robovike @ 12:31 PM
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