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October 22, 2004
Donald Watkins Part II and some links
• Did anyone catch the news about Denny Hecker and Reggie Fowler today? No? That's because there isn't any. If you've forgotten, about two months ago it became well known that Reggie Fowler, an Arizona businessman, was interested in purchasing the Vikings. In order to assuage the fears of Minnesota Viking fans he partnered with Denny Hecker, a local car salesman, and said that the two of them would have a proposal for purchasing the team "soon." Well, today the Star Tribune reported:
Two months after publicly revealing his interest in joining an ownership group to purchase the Vikings, local businessman Denny Hecker continues to mull his options.He acknowledged Wednesday that there has been no significant movement in broaching the issue with owner Red McCombs, but Hecker added, "We're still working on it behind the scenes."
McCombs is seeking in excess of $600 million for the team, a price Hecker and Arizona entrepreneur Reggie Fowler do not appear ready to meet.
Does this mean that they don't have the money, or that they have the money but are unwilling to pay $600 million? I'm beginning to think they don't have the money. Forbes recently valued the Vikings franchise at $600 million. Red McCombs will not lower his price. Unfortunately it seems that in Reggie Fowler and Denny Hecker we have another Donald Watkins on our hands. They are all talk, and it looks like they may never make an offer to buy the team. Without some Minnesota ownership, the Vikings have absolutely zero chance of securing stadium funding from the legislature. Even with a Minnesota owner it will be difficult. I'm not saying Fowler and Hecker are the answer, but I definitely know Red McCombs is not.
• I'll be visiting my best buddy Curt this weekend. I'll "talk" with all of you next week. In the meantime, here are some links for you to enjoy:
- This is a great article. This guy has created a device, called TV-B-Gone, that will turn off any TV in the area. Interesting social implications and reactions.
- Here is the TV-B-Gone website.
- This "who should you vote for quiz" takes quotes from Bush and Kerry and asks you which ones you prefer. The catch is you don't know who said the quote. Revealing? Perhaps.
- Need a site to help you convince your mom not to vote for Bush? Try ConvinceYourMom.com.
- There are a lot of plans to give America energy independence. Personally, I feel along with health care issues, alternative sources of fuel and retooling the car should be two of our government's highest priorities.
- A detailed review by someone who has seen "The Last Starfighter: the Musical." This is so cool! I wish I could go! Check out this quote:
It is difficult to describe the feelings as one sits through this production. For vital minutes at the beginning of the show, your mind reels, over and over: "I am watching a musical production of The Last Starfighter. I am watching a musical production of The Last Starfighter". This said, however, I found my half-smirk and wide eyes quickly overcome with the poignant, powerful song sung by Zur to his estranged parent, "Father to Son". It speaks of his rightful place, his hereditary throne denied him, his pain at being left in the cold and lost without meaning, which is why he now intends to destroy the very world he was rejected from. It is strong. It is touching. It is, at the end, a very real song delivered by a very real performer.
Awesome! You can't make that kind of stuff up! As many of you probably know, I recently purchased The Last Starfighter on DVD. My kids and I watched it last weekend and I must say it hasn't lost any of its magic. Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Zur and the Kodan Armada...
- 50 great Halloween songs for you to download and enjoy. Amazing collection.
- This is incredible, but Iran has endorsed Bush. Very odd.
- The biggest sunfish I have ever seen.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Posted by snackeru at October 22, 2004 7:53 AM | Links of the day | Vikings
Comments
It will be a long, lonely weekend without you Shane. My wife will be gone most of the weekend as well (although I know it's not with you), and I have the kiddies. Here I was hoping to get together with you. But I guess your "best friend" Curt is more important. Oh well, toilet-papering your house it is!!
Posted by: Cheesehead Craig at October 22, 2004 2:31 PM
Shane,
I'm a voter in St. Paul and I'm interested in knowing who are the anti-stadium candidates in the area. Do you know these off the top of your head? I'd like to let them know that me and my wife are not supporting them this year.
Before anyone gets huffy about how important this election is, allow me to point out a long-running hypocrisy. One of the most commonly cited reasons for officials voting against a stadium is that the reps are afraid of getting voted out of office by angry voters. Wait a minute, that sounds familiar... So it would be okay for those voters to "waste" their vote and punish the official for being pro-stadium, but I shouldn't "waste" my vote to punish someone for being anti-stadium. I fail to see the difference. If those officials are afraid of voter anger for approving a stadium it is only fair that we make them afraid of anger over failing to get this done for the last 518 years.
Sorry for the rant, but I just got into it with a friend who still says he doesn't like using tax-money to build the XCel Center. He even admitted that he has been to concerts and Wild games and watched them on tv, etc. In other words, he has been to the XCel approximately 20 times more than the old civic center but can't see how the XCel is an amenity. On top of that, he had no idea what his tax burden actually was. man does that get under my skin.
Posted by: Grant at October 24, 2004 12:07 AM
Grant--
I actually don't know off the top of my head who you should vote for in St. Paul, but I like your stance. I also vote a "stadium ticket" and am quite angry nothing has been done yet by the do-nothings at the capitol. Your story about your friend who uses the X but still doesn't support its funding really gets me riled up. I have friends I work with who tell me, "I'll never go out to eat in St. Paul again if they build a stadium." I just ask them, "Do you eat there now?" Of course they answer yes and I just say "So you don't mind your tax money going to pay for the X then?" That usually dumbfounds them into silence. It sounds like your friend, though, is a tough nut to crack.
The hypocrisy is stunning, but what upsets me even more is by waiting so long our fine legislators have almost priced Minnesota out of the running for a new stadium. Any savings they thought they could get by forcing Pohlad to cough up more has only been eaten by inflation and the ever rising costs of building stadiums. If they would have just figured something out in 1995 they probably could have saved $200 million! And by waiting so long they now have three stadium messes to solve instead of just one. I could go on and on (and I will, but not right now).
I will put you in touch with someone who does know who to vote for in St. Paul. He also comments on my site every now and again: "Jim in St. Paul" is what he goes by.
Stay tuned for some stadium rants in the week ahead!
Posted by: Shane at October 24, 2004 5:32 PM
So, Reggie Fowler is another Watkins? The subconscience of Minnesotans is so funny and telling.
I beleive Tom Clancy was the one who made an offer withut any money.
Google the guy and his businesses, find out for yourself if he has money- he also has very rich partners.
I beleive you compared the two because both are black. You may now deny this.
Marc
Posted by: Marc at January 19, 2005 11:16 AM
Marc--
Thanks for the comment, although you are a little behind. I wrote this post back in October. I've written a lot more about Reggie Fowler since then, and as recently as yesterday. Although I still think Glen Taylor is Vikings' fans best bet, I would welcome a sale to Fowler. Since October he has made it abundantly clear that he would keep the team in Minnesota and it also looks like he would work towards getting private financing for a new stadium.
I'm not sure what you meant by your last sentence, and I'm not sure I care for what it is implying. I compared Fowler with Watkins because Watkins gave Twins' fans a whole lotta hope, even visiting us at the Mall of America, before seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth. We've never heard from him again. Back in October, it had been months since we had heard from Fowler and I was beginning to feel that my hope was being dashed again. That is what I was referring to.
Shane
Posted by: Shane at January 19, 2005 11:27 AM
