I would like a copy of this book, The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund so I can write a full review of it on this site, and  for BlogConsulting.com.

I am also a big fan of how Chris Moody set up a social media contest to give away the same title on his blog. Some people just get it. Check out the comments I wrote on his site and how quickly he responded. Very nice.

From the editor of the book the Vikings Reader, Armand Peterson through his publicist Heather, here are some more compelling stories included that would be of interest to Vikings Tailgaters:
1. Marquee running back Hugh McElhenny’s arrival at the team’s first training camp in Bemidji in 1961, humorously described by Jim Klobuchar in “A Dutchman and 36 Stiffs.”

2. Younger Vikings fans who have suffered possible TV blackouts of home games may enjoy reading a chapter two story from 1970, “Viking Spectators Felt the Cold, but TV Viewers Saw the Snow,” by the Star Tribune’s Brian Anderson. In those days the NFL required that no home games could be televised, but rabid fans and establishments tried to pirate TV signals from as far away as Des Moines.

3. The story is 20 years old now, and some fans may have forgotten the players’ strike of 1987, when NFL owners hired replacement players. In chapter four the Star Tribune’s M. L. Smith described the scene at the Vikings first home game with the replacements in “Union Workers Join Football Players on Picket Lines.”

4. Also in chapter four, Gregg Wong described GM Mike Lynn’s 1990 plan to send the Viking to a clinic in Santa Fe, NM normally used by Fortune 500 companies in his Sporting News story, “Attempt to Foster Unity Puts Vikings on High Wire.”

5. Remember when Dennis Green declared he was “the new sheriff in town” and the Vikings built an advertising campaign around his tough, new approach? The Star Tribune’s Dennis Brackin described fans’ reactions in “Most Fans Enjoy Vikings’ Get-Tough Ads.”

6. Some controversies have erupted over the years about playing games on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.In chapter seven, Lutheran minister Peter Geisendorfer-Lindgren put things in perspective in his poem, “Thanks to Football, a Really Silent Night,” written to the rhyme of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Of course, there are game stories and pre- and post-game analyses from the highlights and lowlights of Vikings history.

1. The euphoria of a victory in the franchise’s first game in 1961 — “Vikings Blast Bears 37-13 in Debut,” by Jim Klobuchar.

2. The crushing defeat in Super Bowl IV, seen through the eyes of Sports Illustrated’s Tex Maule in “Wham, Bam, Stram!”

3. The LA Times’ Jim Murray disrepect for the Vikings on the eve of Super Bowl XI, “Vikings: Super Losers.”

4. The astonishing “hail Mary” pass from Tommy Kramer to Ahmad Rashad to clinch the Central Division title in 1980, described by the Star Tribune’s Joe Soucheray in “Vikings Win Title Again, but . . . It Was No Less Than Astonishing.”

5. Who can forget the Herschel Walker trade? In case you did, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King brings the memories back in “Sudden Impact; a Megadeal Sent Herschel Walker to Minnesota, Where He Ran Wild.”

6. Vikings fans were on top of the world during the improbable run in 1998, when backup quarterback Randall Cunningham led the team to the NFC championship game. Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy wrote of Cunningham’s remarkable return after a year away from the game in “Second Coming . . .”

7. The Pioneer Press’ Nick Coleman wrote of the devastation following the overtime loss in the 1998 NFC Championship Game, “Facing the Unfortunate Truth: We’re Minnesotans, So We Lose.”

8. Vikings’ fans are eternally optimistic. They jumped back on the bandwagon again in 1999 and in 2000. The Star Tribune’s Randy Furst described the euphoria in 2000 in “Vikings Fever on the Rise.”

The book is also full of profiles and stories of Vikings players and officials, such as Tarkenton, Zamberletti, the Purple People Eaters, Grant, Kapp, Lurtsema, Siemon, Foreman, Marinaro, Kramer, Wilson, Steckel, Lynn, Green, Headrick, McCombs, McDaniel, Moss, Carter, Randle, Smith, Stringer, Birk, Tice, Wilf, Culpepper, Childress, Allen, Peterson and many others.

There are 2 upcoming events for this book (so far):

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
7:00 pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-822-4611

Thursday, September 10, 2009
7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
HarMar Mall
2100 N. Snelling Avenue
Roseville, MN 55113
651-639-9256

Go to the book’s web page on the University of Minnesota Press website, , or call 1.800.621.2736 to order by phone.

As a group of tailgaters for the modern day Vikings, we often forget our history. In particular we often forget about our hardy parking lot ancestors who popped beer cans with pull tabs and cranked tunes on an 8-track casette. Whenever I discover historical documentation about these Met Stadium Forefathers, I am compelled to share it. So it is with great delight that I recommend a new book called “The Vikings Reader” edited by Armand Peterson, University of Minnesota Press.

I consider myself lucky to have been asked to do an advanced reading of this book, due out in September 2009. I had a tough time putting the book down, immersing myself into stories about the Old Met and the early Vikings teams and fans. The book reads like a complete history of the team in Minnesota without the corporate spin of the Vikings Public Relations department. It is a compilation of articles written by the best sports writers from the Twin Cities and National Media. Starting from the teams inception in 1961 to the current day, the author ties all the stories together with commentary to provide an excellent flow through history.

It is the quintessential book of Vikings football legacy in Minnesota. If I was a professor of State history I would add this book to the required reading list.

For tailgaters who visit this blog, there are several things to glean from stories in the book. In a chapter two story, from 1971, “Pigskins Preceded By Pâté on Asphalt,” Sports Illustrated’s Jerry Kirshenbaum wrote that Minnesota had supplanted Green Bay as the tailgating champion of the NFL. My favorite part of this article described a Minnesota tailgater wedding in the parking lot of Met Stadium with a post ceremony feast of “steamed lobsters and three varities of oysters.”

Later the book describes the last great tailgate party at Met Stadium. After the Vikes lost to the Chiefs in 1981, St. Paul Pioneer Press’ writer Ozzie St. George described the extravagant set up of one tailgating camp. In the article “The Party’s Over,” he wrote,

“The (44 –foot semi) trailer was equipped with color Tvs, one with a six foot screen, folding chairs for 30 persons and a videotape machine… At the far end of the tailgating spectrum- a lone can of beans sat unattended amid a few glowing charcoal brquets piled in the snow.”

There is so much more than tailgating in this book. From the early days of Fran Tarkenton to the rushing records of Adrian Peterson, from the bleachers of Met Stadium to the locker rooms of the Metrodome, The Vikings Reader revels in the plays that have brought generations of purple and gold fans to their feet-or left them groaning in their seats-and brings Vikings football to life for fans everywhere:

• Fran Tarkenton’s four touchdowns as the Vikings beat the Chicago Bears in their first game on September 17, 1961
• the inspirational “40 for 60″ team of 1969 and the Vikings’ first Super Bowl appearance
• the dominance of the 1970s, the vaunted “Purple People Eaters” defense, and three more crushing Super Bowl defeats
• the 1998 Vikings’ NFL scoring record, led by Cunningham, Carter, Moss, and Smith
• roller-skating cheerleaders, the “Last Great Tailgate Party” at Met Stadium, ownership controversies, and Adrian Peterson’s single-game rushing record
• classic reportage from Jim Klobuchar, Sid Hartman, Frank Deford, Patrick Reusse, Peter King, Jim Murray, and many others

There are also 2 upcoming events for this book (so far):

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
7:00 pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-822-4611

Thursday, September 10, 2009
7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
HarMar Mall
2100 N. Snelling Avenue
Roseville, MN 55113
651-639-9256

Go to the book’s web page on the University of Minnesota Press website, , or call 1.800.621.2736 to order by phone.