Posted on 12/15/2010 10:25:44 PM PST by OneVike
Faced with the prospect of playing on a frozen field Monday night at TCF Bank Stadium and so far not given a voice in the decision, Vikings players shared some of their concerns on Wednesday.
"I just hope it's a safe environment to play in," tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said. "That it's not going to be hazardous to the players when it comes to field conditions."
Vikings owner Zygi Wilf expressed optimism that the game against the Chicago Bears can be held on the University of Minnesota campus, but nothing has been made official and there clearly are obstacles and concerns that have to be overcome.
Among them is the fact that the FieldTurf at TCF Bank Stadium is not equipped with heating coils in the sod, as cold-weather venues such as Soldier Field in Chicago or Lambeau Field in Green Bay are. That means that even with the plan to remove all the ice from the field before Monday, there almost certainly will be areas that freeze again once the game begins.
The National Weather Service calls for a high of 17 on Monday with a slight chance of snow and then a low around 5 degrees at night. Another forecast calls for the low to be zero.
"Is that really a home-field advantage for us? That's the question," Shiancoe said. "But at the same time, we have to go out there and play, and we'll play hard."
Linebacker Ben Leber, one of the Vikings' assistant player representatives, said he has not been asked about the choice of venue.
"They haven't consulted us, and to my understanding they haven't consulted anybody," Leber said. "I talked to a few guys, and nobody has been asked what our opinion is.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
“Lambeau Field in Green Bay is HOW COLD????”
No one bothers to measure it cause no one cares.
Thanks spankalib, I will check the book out. Like the Dodgers aren't the true Dodgers; the (baseball) Giants aren't the true Giants; Rams aren't the true Rams; the Colts aren't the true Colts; the Jazz aren't the true Jazz; the (football) Cardinals aren't the true Cardinals; the A's aren't the true A's; the Braves aren't the true Braves...
...for starters.
There is a difference, what makes the Vikings the Vikings was when they played outdoors in the winter.
Basketball and Baseball are different weather type teams. Football is unique in that aspect, especially when they play up North like Minnesota, GB, Pitt, Chicago, New England etc. etc. etc. I will agree that the Colts fit the statement however because they went from outside in Baltimore to indoors in Indy.
Truth is, as far as I am concerned, they have not been the true Vikings in over a quarter of a century. Four Superbowl appearances, and not one since they became a dome team.
Redskins have sold every home game out since 1966. Only the Packers have a longer sellout streak (1960).
Believe it or not, I actually have a 1978 Sears color portable at home and I sometimes watch football on it by attaching the digital cable box. But even on an HDTV, you can still hook a box up to it and watch in analog for that oldschool feel.
BTW, during Sunday’s Bengals-Steelers game, one of the commentators said “Coming up next on CBS, most of you will see New England at Chicago. So don’t touch that dial. Although I don’t think anyone has dials anymore.”
I just said to myself “That’s what you think.”
I'm using a small vise-grip.
“You got a dial?!?!”
Well not really when you’re using a digital cable box and you have to have the TV on channel 3 or 4.
There are a few advantages that a disco-era TV has over HD sets, namely the fact that the picture doesn’t look like Lego blocks and there’s no motion blur or upscaling lag.
In some ways, we’ve gone forward technologically, in other ways backwards.
“I’m using a small vise-grip.”
I don’t get it.
The plastic knob on the channel selector broke, so a vise-grip on the post from the tuner is used as it is too hard to turn with just fingers.
“The plastic knob on the channel selector broke, so a vise-grip on the post from the tuner is used as it is too hard to turn with just fingers.”
I see. I actually did something similar once with a dot matrix printer that was missing the paper feed knob.
What’s the make and vintage of your TV?
I once knew a guy who used a vise-grip as the hot water knob in his shower......for years!
Ok. My father had a 19” Sylvania from 1979 to 1992 that he got rid of after it developed tuner problems (the knobs didn’t fall off; it had trouble locking onto channels).
He had a Commodore 64 that required a video stabilizer box to work with this TV, which didn’t like the computer’s video signal (something to do with the sync pulses). The picture would roll without the box. In fact, the user’s manual for the Playstation 2 still included a warning that you might get a rolling picture on some TVs.
The user’s manual for the Wii no longer includes such a warning.
“It was an Admiral. I don’t still have it, but I just had to poke fun at someone who was braggin’ about havin’ a DIAL”
Admiral is an old-time brand. I think it was gone by the ‘70s. This Sears TV isn’t the only set I have of course, but it still allowed me to snicker a bit when I was looking at the shiny new HDTVs in Wal-Mart last week and they were running a demo that said “Sports is better in high definition.”
But hey, anyone who wants to can hook a box up to their 52” Sony Bravia and watch in analog.
To some extent I hear you. On the flip side, I just have a hard time spending boatloads of taxpayer money to build a stadium for a franchise that has never won a super bowl and has always ultimately turned out to be a major disappointment.
As far as I’m concerned CA can have them. Go ahead and call me short-sighted, but I really don’t see the economy doing better with them here and MN going deeper into the red vs. without them here and not generating whatever revenue they supposedly did. I haven’t been to a stadium to watch anything in so long I can’t remember it. It’s just too damned expensive! A cheap night out for two to go to a sporting event, concert/show is easily 150 - 200 bucks all things considered. That is, unless you buy the worst seats possible and take the bus there and back, then it’s still easily 100 bucks without anything besides tickets.
Too much money for too little return in most cases and that’s exempting the hassle of it all.
The time for the Vikings to grasp what could have been a stellar future was then, but Mike sold the team, the fans, and the state out for his own personal gain. The handwriting was on the wall, but even the NFL was involved so nothing could have stopped it from happening.
The NFL had rules that someone had to have a majority ownership of a team, but allowed Lynn to set up a ten member ownership group as long as he was the one with the last word. Well shortly afterwords members began selling their portions and the new owners never agreed to the old deal and the NFL refused to step in to enforce the agreement they had with Lynn.
Thus many bad decisions were made as would be the case whenever you have 10 individuals trying to do what they want to do. For those who want to know the truth, history now shows us that Mike Lynn killed what could have been one of the best franchises in the NFL in the '80's when he continually made bad decision after bad decision to appease ten men who could never even agree how much to pay a great player to keep them.
Anymore, I root for the name of the team, not the player, not the owner,and not the city or state. Move, change the players or ownership and I will still pay somewhat attention. Drop the name Vikings, and I will walk away to never look back again, because it is the Vikings that turn my head, not the NFL or any other team anymore.
Even at that I have become somewhat of a fair weather fan through the last few years. I am also convinced that my desire to put up with lazy socialist millionaires demanding more for less will weigh heavy on my mind when it comes time to allocating my entertainment time in the future.
This was the first year since 1996 that I did not purchase the NFL ticket which living in California was the only way to see the Vikings play usually anyway. Even the fact that I have Direct TV with TIVO, means that I never watch a game live anymore, so it's easy for me to fast forward and skip the talking heads. What that does is remove my heart a little farther from a sport that was once my religion.
I realized my devotion to the NFL was bordering on a idle worship back around 2001 after 911. Since then I have drastically revised my priorities to reflect Him who truly means everything. So now I pay attention more with a jaundiced eye that allows me to be more critical and honest then I used to be.
OV (Chuck Wolk)
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