Brought to you by Mr. Cheer or Die and the Vikes Geek, welcome to the
Views and Personal Photos on the Vikes from the Inaugural Hall of Fame fan.
Brought to you by Mr. Cheer or Die and the Vikes Geek, welcome to the
Artist rendition by Shane Nackerud
To: Daunte Culpepper
From: Mr. Cheer Or Die
Re: Please Come Home
You were a no show for the 11/6 victory against the Lions. You were nowhere to be seen when the Vikes beat the Giants. Must have missed the flight to Green Bay when the Vikes beat the Packers on Monday Night Football. We all missed you when the Vikes rolled to their fourth straight victory over the Cleveland Browns.
But then Reggie Fowler stops and gives you a lift to Detroit. You stop on the field and give a brief interview to Greg Coleman and greet your teammates. The teammates are thrilled to see you. You make an appearance on television during the game and you are looking great.
I’m thinking you have finally snapped out of your funk and all is right with the world again. But, hold the fort.
Injured quarterback Daunte Culpepper declined Tice's invitation to speak to the team Sunday at Ford Field.
Why would you not want to speak to the team? We've seen you mope on the sidelines when things aren't going well during a game. Are you still languishing now? If so, snap out of it and make yourself visible to your teammates and fans. Let us know how you are doing through the media. If you don’t want to speak to the media, feel free to contact me and I’ll put you on a podcast so you can speak to us, your adoring fans. Let us all know that you expect to be back next year. That the injury will not get you down.
We need you on the sidelines to serve as a second set of eyes for Brad Johnson who is old enough to need reading glasses when studying the play book. We need you standing on the bench, ala Burleson, waving a towel during the games and wearing a headset listening to plays. We need you in the face of your teammates, ala Matt Birk, as the Vikes try and make the playoffs.
So, snap out of it Daunte. Get back into the swing of things. Yes, you have a long road back but you will find it easier if you share your feelings and pain with your teammates and fans.
Daunte, if you wait too long, you might just find that there will be no one to greet you at the door to Winter Park when you do decide to pop in.
Playoff Ticket Requests
I was just commenting to The Commish the other day that I should be expecting my playoff ticket deposit request any day now. Well, it came:
Wow. For my seats that would be $100 a seat for the first playoff game and then $145 a seat for the NFC Championship game. A total deposit of $490. Of course, I receive credit for games that are not played. But, it is perhaps the worst time of year to have to worry about coming up with that kind of dough!!!!
And look at that rise in the price of attending a potential NFC Championship game. In 1998, that price was $62. In 2000, had the Vikes actually hosted instead of traveling to New York, the price would have been $80. Now it will be $145 if they host this year. A mere $83 increase. I think I want to be a NFL owner!
There is always the blood bank down the road......
Coming Friday
Come back Friday for VU Podcast Thirty-Two. I'll be speaking with Vikes Geek about Terry Bradshaw's comment about Mike Tice being considered for NFL Coach of the Year honors. And, as a very special treat for all the VU listeners, you'll be able to hear Brad Johnson sing a duet with JoDee Messina called "I'm A Survivor". How very apropos! Call it a VU exclusive. See you then!
Posted by maasx003 at December 8, 2005 07:49 AMI agree with you on DC. This is the second most perfect time to step up and say "I'm the team leader IT IS ME and I care whether I'm on the field or not!". He's not, I've said before and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, "You are not annointed a leader, through job title, through promotion, or anything else you have to earn it" just as the military finds out who truely is the leader in the heat of battle so do many other organizations, and a football team is one of them.
This leads me to another train of thought. Was DC on the raunchy "Love Boat"? Does he and Zygi know something that the rest of us don't? Will he be back again? Or is his "posse" just inept at advising him on what it takes to recover, show leadership, do and say the right things?
Imagine the team going 11-5 (I do!)making a run deep into the playoffs, possibly the Super bowl with BJ (or anyone else this is not a trditional QB debate) as a team member doing what I love and winning, IMHO it would be hard to think that DC could come in and say "I'm back large and in charge". I guess what I'm saying is I just wouldn't accept it. Prove it, with quite a bit of doubt in my mind. Doubt because he by all accounts was not the team leader before the Moss trade, doubt because was having a bad year before the injury, and doubt because of how severe the injury was. In my mind I would be thinking I didn't see him do any rehabbing or get any input from him for a year and a half. That trust/leadership takes time to build. Now he is making his fans, teammates, and front office wait to do it during the season in which he returns. If he can.
IMO that is wrong and selfish. Sorry for the rant and football is not life or death, but in this little blog it is, so I treat it like it.8>)
Okay.... There are some who are making general assumptions and judging when and how Duante should do things. Why should he feel he needs to talk to the team when they are on a roll? There is no reason Duante needs a voice right now and I am sure he is having more interaction with his teammates than we know of.
Vikings have beaten only one team with a record over .333 (the Giants); and we didn't even score an offensive TD in that game. I like the way the defense is taking shape, but lets not reserve those NFC championship tickets just yet.
And I have to trust that Duante is watching and learning... seeing that maybe he can let his teammates help him win a game and he dosen't have to do it by himself.
Daunte dosen't hold the NFL record for most combined yards for a QB in a year because he is fat! He is a pretty good QB and has proven he can rally the team.... Some have already forgotten last year I quess.
Posted by: Thomas K at December 8, 2005 01:35 PMI haven't forgotten last year, 8-8. Not a dominating year. I guess I just don't follow someone because he is appointed the leader, they need to prove they can. What I'm saying is he hasn't, not to me and I doubt the team although I can't speak for them (but I have been in simular situations alibi not the NFL). Leading is not hiding and this is were we probably agree to disagree, to me he his hiding.
Posted by: Lonnie at December 8, 2005 04:49 PM