Could the Twin Cities support two NHL Teams if... (Minneapolis: colleges, move)

[knke0204]

recsteiner-

Where you around when the Vikes were created?
How were they received right away by Minnesotans and the Twin Cities?
Does anybody remmeber the early 1960s and what it was like to get a NFL, MLB and NHL team all within a few years?? Anyone with answers or input would be GREAT~!

I suppose down in GA, the team of choice is the Falcons, are there any Vikes fans down there??!

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by knke0204

recsteiner-

Where you around when the Vikes were created?
How were they received right away by Minnesotans and the Twin Cities?
Does anybody remmeber the early 1960s and what it was like to get a NFL, MLB and NHL team all within a few years?? Anyone with answers or input would be GREAT~!

Great book on this subject is... "True Hearts and Purple Heads" by Jim Klobuchar. Carried mine with me for years until it finally disintegrated from use. Always meant to get another copy and read it again.

Book begins with the inception of the Vikings and Norm Van Brocklins psychotic training camp methods up near Bemidji State with a rookie QB from Georgia whose name escapes me at this time. Recall it covers up to and including their first super bowl loss to KC. Great insight into Bud Grant, The Purple People Eaters and what it was like to play and watch games at Met Stadium.

shouldn't be hard to get a more extensive review sonewhere else but for someone who wants to know about those early teams and their fans fans, this book is a must read.

Amazon.com: True Hearts and Purple Heads: An Unauthorized Biography of a Football Team: Jim Klobuchar: Books

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by knke0204

recsteiner-

Where you around when the Vikes were created?

Nah. I'm only 47 (born in 1962).

I suppose down in GA, the team of choice is the Falcons, are there any Vikes fans down there??!

I've run across a couple of Vikings fans, sure, and seen some stickers and tee shirts. The ones I've met were from MN and Nebraska. Lots of transplants like myself down here.

I've learned, though, that there are still some bad feelings down here about the 1994 World Series (Twins vs. Braves), mainly about the Kent Hrbek/Ron Gant play at first. Folks here seem to respect the Twins and consider that Series to be a great one and a very even match, but that was seen as a dirty play.

I personally think the Braves just needed better training in "Staying on First Base 101".

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Nah. I'm only 47 (born in 1962).
...I've learned, though, that there are still some bad feelings down here about the 1994 World Series (Twins vs. Braves), mainly about the Kent Hrbek/Ron Gant play at first. Folks here seem to respect the Twins and consider that Series to be a great one and a very even match, but that was seen as a dirty play.

I personally think the Braves just needed better training in "Staying on First Base 101".

That's great news, our own version of the "Hail Mary Pass" and with about as much in the way of a legitimate complaint. I've seen this play countless times with a great deal of satisfaction (grew up in Hrbek's neighborhood and went to school with his older brother) and about all Hrbek could be accused of is applying a tag with a bit extra pressure on Gant's thigh and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of shoulder pressure.

Hrbek had claimed for years that upon retirement he was going to join the WWF and wrestle under the moniker of T-Rex. I have even seen references to this tag being called "The T-Rex Tag". There is a bar at the new Twins stadium called Hrbek's that he is associated with to some degree. One of the menu-offerings is the Rex Burger; "a one-half pound, all-beef burger stuffed with caramelized onions and pepper jack cheese, served on a brioche roll".

Tell all of your friends to come up here for the Braves series this June and pay a visit to Hrbeks, first beer's on me to the gentlemen wearing a scripted "A" hat.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

Great book on this subject is... "True Hearts and Purple Heads" by Jim Klobuchar. Carried mine with me for years until it finally disintegrated from use. Always meant to get another copy and read it again.

Book begins with the inception of the Vikings and Norm Van Brocklins psychotic training camp methods up near Bemidji State with a rookie QB from Georgia whose name escapes me at this time. Recall it covers up to and including their first super bowl loss to KC. Great insight into Bud Grant, The Purple People Eaters and what it was like to play and watch games at Met Stadium.

shouldn't be hard to get a more extensive review sonewhere else but for someone who wants to know about those early teams and their fans fans, this book is a must read.

Amazon.com: True Hearts and Purple Heads: An Unauthorized Biography of a Football Team: Jim Klobuchar: Books

Oh interesting, I'll definitely check that out tonight at Barnes and Noble. Another question, you mentioned training camp near Bemidji, where else have they been? I know Mankato hasn't ALWAYS been the home.. A few years ago they pushed for River Falls, WI as the place..What a travesty that would have been, training camp in Packerland?

[IRV007]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Yeah, the old Duluth Eskimos, too bad the Hollywood Movie 'Leatherheads' sucked so bad.

Just like in other major sports, NFL has had it's era's, and I never include (either do sports references) the pre- Super Bowl era, it was just a totally different game.

So, I guess, EDIT: The Vikes are one of the original Super Bowl era expansion teams, or PRE MERGER teams...

Go take Jim Thorpe and put him on a field now, he would be destroyed.

Plus, people who can remember the early NFL days are probably dead now or too old TO remember those teams such as the Chicago Cardinals,..... Duluth Eskimos, etc.

I'm old and not dead...I remember the Chicago Cards.

And Jim Thorpe and MOST of the early football tough guys would kick a$$ in any era.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by IRV007

I'm old and not dead...I remember the Chicago Cards.

And Jim Thorpe and MOST of the early football tough guys would kick a$$ in any era.

My apologies, I intended for it to mean that it was such a long time ago that they may be forgotton...

And after a second thought, I agree with the early tough guy statement. Just now-a-days, guys are quicker, faster, and bigger.

[smith21]

I think the twincities could support 10 NHL teams!!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by knke0204

My apologies, I intended for it to mean that it was such a long time ago that they may be forgotton...

And after a second thought, I agree with the early tough guy statement. Just now-a-days, guys are quicker, faster, and bigger.

But will they play with pain like an old-school player?

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

But will they play with pain like an old-school player?

Ha, exactly!

I think back to the days of the Steel Curtain and Purple People Eaters. Not old enough to remember, but from pictures, stories and videos, it is clear that those were some tough MFers.

Playing with dislocated fingers and wrists, gashes in the face, missing teeth....

Now-a-days they are all prima donnas