Originally published in the Mac Weekly (Macalester College), March, 1987 this is Part 2 of a series of articles that were written to chronicle a trip of three college buddies to Orlando, FL for Twins Sping Training games.
March 23, 1987: The next morning we drove to Vero Beach, alias Dodgertown. Los Angeles players were walking around and socializing with the fans before their exhibition game that afternoon. It was like a softball tournament!

Someone once told me that Dodgertown was the Disneyland of training camps. They were right. What a setup. It is a baseball country club. Read more…

In his 2008 story about pre-game festivities for an NFL game. Brian Murphy immersed himself into our tailgate lot, telling us he wanted to write a positive story about Vikings and Packer fans in a long-standing border battle.
Read on…

Every so often, in the fall, I am reminded of cool it would be to have a country house and make it into a tribute to the Minnesota Vikings. The passion of NFL fans in the midwest is unheralded, and if I ever win the lottery, you can count on me creating a unique theme park for sports fans with elements like this included. I know, I know, it’s crazy, but I do think it would be cool. There is just something about this that I identify with.

By: Brady Mallory, WDAZ

Polk County Man’s Collection Shows His Love for the Minnesota Vikings
With the kickoff of Football season, we’re reminded how every team has a few die-hard fans, and one man just outside of Crookston Minnesota, wants everyone who passes his house to know which team he has pledged his allegianceIf you’re driving on County Road 44 just outside of Crookston Minnesota, you’ll notice you’re in Vikings Country.

” It’s a Vikings game! Vikings Sunday and we’re hoping we win,” said Ronnie Trudeau in front of his massive collection of Vikings memorabilia.
” We’ve been collecting for probably ten years now, been adding every year. I buy, my wife buys, the guys buy, ” said Trudeau.

Ticket stubs, trading cards, hats and even a few blow-up dolls as lawn ornaments, every piece of his collection is for one reason.

” We just bleed purple,” said Trudeau’s brother, Dale Trudeau.

” He is showing loyalty to his team. He has been a Vikings fan as long as I can remember.”

A collection this big, it’s pretty clear what team he is cheering for, but Trudeau and his friends say every Sunday is about more than just a football game.

” It’s to keep the group together. We have our busy ways going one way or another. Sundays we get the family together and enjoy what we all love,” said Trudeau’s friend and fellow Viking fan, Jeff Sundeen.

Sundeen is proof Trudeau has another collection: his friends and family. Each Sunday he shares his love of the vikings and his big screen TV. His big Vikings collection serves as the perfect setting to have everyone over to watch the game.

” We all just love Minnesota sports and love the Vikings. We’re hoping they do well this year,” said Dale Trudeau.

Even if the team does no’t do well, it will not be enough to shake this group’s faith in their team.

” We always have a shot of E & J to toast them and then go from there,” said Sundeen about their pre-game ritual.

” We started a little hurt, but I think we’re going to come around,” said Trudeau about the Vikings’ start to the season.

Last week, I was in  San Francisco for a work event, and I read an article in the daily the paper that got my attention.
No offseason in this overblown league

I agreed with most everything in this story, and posted a comment on my Vikingstailgate.com Facebook fan page. Lately, my thoughts about the NFL have been souring. It all started years ago, when the first labor disputes caused stoppage of the games, and then came to a peak this last January after the NFC Championship game. I had attended a house party with some fellow tailgaters, and just witnessed an terrific game with another horrendous and devastating result. (Nothing new here for Vikings fans by the way)

I came home from the party in self-depressed, alcohol-induced, walking coma, wearing NFL licensed merchandise from head to toe, and reeking of Grain Belt Premium Beer and cigar smoke. The next morning, I woke up on my basement Vikings Dreamseat, with a DVD of the game replaying at a super high volume, and thought,

“Well, how did I get here?” (que Talking Heads “Same as it ever Was”)

“G-DAMN VIKINGS! EVERY FRICKIN YEAR, SAME OLD STORY, SAME OLD SH*T!”

Now granted, every Vikings fan in their sober mind, probably felt the same way, but for me in was a revelation of epoch proportions.  I love the purple, but the purple don’t love me back. It’s like that movie “Fever Pitch” where Jimmy Fallon realizes that his passionate following of the Red Sox was going to cost him the lady of his life.

I had to make adjustments. I had to stop investing so much time in a sport that did little to serve my basic human needs other than to full my humanly inherent narcissistic pleasures.

I will always dig the Vikings, and other pro sports (Twins, etc.) but my role as a father (and dare I say, husband) merits more attention to them from me during upcoming NFL seasons. I committed then to focusing on more positive ways to fill my Fall Sundays. Until my son is old enough to go to Vikings games with me, I will no longer spend every game day in a tailgating lot with a beer in my hand. For 2010, I have pared it down to just 3 home games, and one road trip- games on the road are the way to go. I will post more about that topic later.

For many years, I have seen the NFL evolve into a Super Giant Business entity. I am sure the benefactors of the money rolling in are happy with the results. But for me, just an average Joe SportsDaddy, I feel that league has reared it’s ugly head as a business way to often for my taste. They just a “take, take, take” from the fans and provide little amenities, or catering in return. Businesses that operate this way eventually become like Rome and fall hard when they least expect it.

Before I continue a bash rant post against our beloved NFL, let me preface it by saying “I love the game, and I love being a Vikings fan.” I am a very passionate Vikings fan, but I am just sick of the NFL’s business first, fans be damned mentality.

Red Sox Bloggers from NESN make live comments as the Twins lose 2-1 at the City of Palms Park. It looks like Mauer and Morneau sat this one out, so they could be ready for tomorrow afternoon’s game at Hammond Stadium.

I have ran into several Red Sox fans, and they are all very vocal about the crappy park where their Sox hold Spring Training.  To a person, they all say that they like coming over to Hammond Stadium to watch the Twins because the tickets are easier to get. Go figure.

C’mon Twins fans, get down to Fort Myers and blog like crazy would ya?