Posted on 11/19/2017 8:42:11 AM PST by OneVike
In this video, you will see the Minnesota Vikings standing at attention and the fans all singing the national anthem. It was Dec 1973, and the Vikings were set to play the Cowboys for the NFC Championship. The Vikings would win and go on to their 2 Superbowl where they lost to the Miami Dolphins. Grant always had the Viings doing this, from the first day he took over as coach in 1967.
As for Kaepernick, back in April, Bud Grant didn’t mince words when asked about his actions. “He’s trash,’’ said Grant. “But this is a free country. They can’t put him in jail. Maybe he should go to Mongolia, Bolivia or Bangladesh. Maybe he can find a flag he can stand up for there. Right now, he’s trash in this country.’’
He has since tempered the descriptive words he uses to describe Kaepernick, but not his position that it's wrong. He did say he preferred the way the team handled it by standing, “We’re unified. We don’t have to spit on the flag to make a point.” said Grant. It was a directive from the commissioner that a team must either stay in the locker room that day, or stand locking arms or kneeling together during the anthem. The team chose to stand in respect of the flag and anthem together.
It is important to point out that not one player of the Vikings has ever kneeled, and as a group they agree they never will, because they understand that playing a boys game for a career is a privileged that many in America do not have. As the team comes on the field before every game, a different player is always carrying the flag, but never kneeling to disrespect it or the fans in the stands.
At 90 years old, Grant was raised in a much different era, and like many of us he served in military. For him it was at the end of WWII in the Navy.
Grant instituted rules for the way the Vikings would honor the flag and the anthem in 1967, and when he did he chose Catl Eller, who had served in the National Guard, to be his “inspector general.’’
“I was responsible for getting (players) lined up and at attention and in the proper stance, so there was uniformity,’’ Eller said. “Basically, everybody had to stand on the sideline with their helmets off and under their right arm, with the left hand down by their side. Their feet were together and everybody stood together and there was uniformity.’’
The Vikings went so far as to practice standing for the anthem during training camp at Mankato each year before the first preseason game. Fans were on hand to watch.
Before a Monday Night Football game once, ABC had the schedule changed so the Vikings would be in the locker room when the anthem was played. Grant complained so loudly to the NFL office that the schedule was revered back to allow the Vikings to be on the field for it.
“When we stood up there, we looked good,” said running back Chuck Foreman, who played for Minnesota from 1973-79. “Some people might have laughed and said, ”Look at those Vikings.’ But you know what, it was a sense of pride and that was part of our winning tradition.”
On Dec. 20, 1975, the Vikings played the Bills in Buffalo in a nationally televised game to close the regular season. As Usual, Grant had his players line up before the game in the Vikings Formation by standing at attention during the national anthem.
Players held helmets in their right hand with chinstraps tucked inside while lined up along the sideline. They stood with such precision it looked as if it had been practiced, which in fact it was — each year during training camp.
“We were all standing at attention,’’ Grant said. “Nobody was wearing jackets, nobody was moving, nobody was chewing gum, nobody was rocking and rolling. On the Buffalo sideline, they were over there, some of them huddled around heaters, some wearing parkas, some with their hoods on, some with helmets on. They were milling about, weaving, bobbing, stomping their feet.’’
CBS cameras captured both sidelines during the anthem on a snowy afternoon. There was plenty of reaction.
“I have never gotten more letters in my life, or should I say the Vikings never got more,’’ Grant said. “I got files of letters from American Legion groups, from Veterans of Foreign Wars, boy scouts and veterans. They were complimenting the Vikings’ respect for the anthem and for their country.’’
Many claim that the Vikings have not been back to the big dance because ever since they went inside a building to play they have been jinxed. I disagree, I think they were jinxed after Grant retired the second time, and they stopped his tradition of honoring the flag and anthem as Bud had trained them to.
I became a Viking fan the year Bud grant was hired in 67 when I was 11. Oh I watched them before, but didn't become a true fan until I saw Bud Grant standing on the sideline with the players standing at attention during the national anthem. In time the football world would refer to him as, "Stone Face". I was always proud of the way they would stand at attention, and seeing the other teams walking around talking and ignoring the anthem just made me a bigger Viking fan.
As a kid who's father went to prison, I had thoughts that he would be an ideal dad, one I never had. I lionized him, and idolized him, and even to this day my heart glows with pride when I see him. I see similar qualities in the new coach, Mike Zimmer, I remember seeing the first time I saw Bud Grant.
I am still a Viking fan, 50 years of loyalty does not die easy. It's my prayer that the league comes to their senses, but I know they never will. The left has gotten their mitts on it, and like everything they touch it too is going to hell. I stopped watching all other games, but the Vikings. As for the pregame shows, I stopped watching them years ago. Now I have decided that win it it all or not, this will be my last year. I hope that they win it all finally, then I will put away my jersey and my memorabilia to never watch them again. At least if they win it all, I can then go off into the sport sunset knowing they finally won the big one. The NFL, is the last sport I still held onto, after I stop, there will be no sports in my home again.
If they fall short again, this phrase I have learned to embrace, "The Pain And Suffering That Is The Life Of A Minnesota Viking fan", will never have been so clear.
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I dropped the word ,”no”, where I wrote Bud Grant minced words.
Should say, “Bud Grant minced no words,,,,,,,”
Nice story. You should write to him. Let him know what he meant to you.
Koepernick belongs on the cover of MAD Magazine and that’s about it.
long ago and far away
As for Kaepernick, back in April, Bud Grant didn't mince words when asked about his actions. "He's trash," said Grant. "But this is a free country. They can't put him in jail. Maybe he should go to Mongolia, Bolivia or Bangladesh. Maybe he can find a flag he can stand up for there. Right now, he’s trash in this country." ... "We're unified. We don't have to spit on the flag to make a point." said Grant.
You mean the NFL used to have mostly WHITE players? Hmmm, wonder if that has anything to do with it?
He was only at home games. The game was in Dallas Stadium.
The similarities are endless. To name a few, both of these losers:
-were in the Big League of his/her profession,
-spouted off such that most recipients of their hateful message were repulsed,
-got cut from their team,
- kept yammering on after getting cut to the detriment of the people still in the game,
-think they're motivating the statists when they're in the news, yet they're actually galvanizing normal Americans,
-have few people who give a rip about their existence.
Best. Election. EVER.
The gif I made is from a home game, but if you go to the video, I took that from the NFC championship game they played in Dallas.
Interesting video clip. Might just be timing, but pretty much all white guys. In fact there are more white players in that clip than the average total on any NFL starting line up.
+1
in “73” o believe something like 85% of the players were still white
I meant to say “any NFL starting line up TODAY”
The old Met stadium had steam pipes that ran under the hash lines. They were an attempt to thaw the field when it was below freezing. The Vikings designed their offense to stay on those pipes, where the ground was a bit softer. And their defense was designed to keep opposing teams in the middle of the field. On the frozen ground
And the old Met stadium had a statue of Odin on the scoreboard. Bud did not allow heaters on the sideline. When it was really cold, they would stand along the sideline, in short sleeves, and chant “Odin. Odin. Odin...” to the statue. Opposing teams thought the Vikings were nuts
The Vikes lost so much of their mystique when the moved indoors
BTTT
True, but who knows, maybe, just maybe this is the year. Or for me it never will b.
I was a Packer fan for over 50 yrs. I blame the coaches for this crap show. I can’t ever imagine Bud Grant, Vince Lombardi, or Tom Landry, putting up with these miscreants and their actions. A real coach would instruct his players that if you can’t stand at attention for the Flag of our Country, then your place in the lineup is on the end of the bench.
I haven’t watched a game this year, nor plan to in the future.
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