Author: David Shama

5 p.m.  I enter the press box and hope to avoid a certain media guy.  It’s a big place with lots of hiding places.

5:40 p.m.  Wow!  The stadium is filling to capacity and the atmosphere is electric.  The crowd has been yelling, “Let’s Go Gophers!”   The marching band is greeted with a roar of approval.

5:50 p.m.  The crowd explodes with noise, singing the Rouser!

6 p.m.  The honorary captains are introduced including Bud Grant who played for the Gophers’ great 1949 team.  The spectacular video board shows enough detail on Grant’s face to see tears in his eyes.  Later a former coach said: “The ice cap melted.”

6:02 p.m.  Minnesota’s Troy Stoudermire returns the opening kickoff 36 yards to the 50 yard line and a new era in Gopher football is official.

6:23 p.m.  The Gophers score the first points ever in the stadium when junior Eric Ellestad kicks a field goal with about four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

8:23 p.m.  DeLeone Eskridge runs seven yards for a touchdown to move the Gophers into a 10-10 fourth quarter tie.  Earlier, with the game seemingly turning in Air Force’s favor, the stadium had become so quiet I could hear a fan cough on the other side of the field.  (Well, not really).

8:30 p.m. In the play of the night, the Gophers Brandon Kerksey shakes the ball loose from Air Force’s Tim Jefferson.  The ball falls to the surface and bounces up perfectly for the Gophers’ Nate Triplett who scoops it up and runs in for a touchdown.  The Gophers lead 17-10 with about 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter and go on to win the game 20-13.

10:15 p.m.  I walk out of the stadium and there are still lots of fans everywhere enjoying themselves on a never to be forgotten evening.  I think about the ghosts of Nagurski, Bierman and Giel.  Do you suppose they helped with that fumble?  Do you think??

Sunday: 9:03 a.m.  It’s time for all things Favre.  There’s a picture of Brett Favre on Star Tribune.com.  Gosh, his hair is really gray, even for a guy nearing 40.  His agent, Bus Cook, (what a great Southern name) could be talking endorsement deal with Just for Men right now.

9:05 p.m.  Thought I might receive a last minute call a few days ago from a friend who has a private jet.  He runs free transportation to Vikings and Gophers games.  I’ve always wanted to see Cleveland in September.

9:45 a.m.  KFAN’s Dan Barreiro is pontificating about how talented the Vikings are and the test coach Brad Childress faces to have this team realize its potential.  In his fourth season, looking for a first playoff win, Childress is on the spot—at least on talk radio.

10:26 a.m. I assume Childress has decided who will be the No. 2 quarterback today.  The easy choice here is Tarvaris Jackson.

12:14 p.m. Favre’s first regular season play as a Viking is a handoff to Adrian Peterson.  Moments later he completes his first pass and not long after is sacked for the first time in Purple.  Life has its ups and downs.

12:32 p.m. Favre and wide receiver Sidney Rice are out of sync on a potential touchdown pass.  The easy explanation is Favre hasn’t been practicing with the team long enough.  Vikings settle for a field goal and a 3-3 first quarter tie.

1:20 p.m.  TV color man Brian Billick asks, “Will the Vikings let Favre be Favre?”   Billick never answers his own question but on this day Favre doesn’t force a lot of passes and the Vikings offense stays conservative.

2:12 p.m. Favre shows his child-like passion for football after throwing a six-yard touchdown pass to rookie Percy Harvin.  Favre piles on top of Harvin after throwing the pass that puts the Vikings ahead 24-13 in the third quarter.  It’s evident the Vikings have a special trio developing in Favre, Harvin and Peterson.

2:45 p.m.  With typical determination and speed, Peterson runs 64 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away as the Vikings take a 34-13 lead over a mediocre (charitable description?) Browns team.

2:46 p.m. Peterson is a swell runner but I can’t rate him ahead (yet) of all-time great Jim Brown who played nine seasons for the Browns in Cleveland before starting a forgettable acting career.   Brown, with a cane at his side, watches this game from the sidelines.

Cleveland, drafting at No. 3 in the 2007 draft, was one of the teams that let Peterson slip all the way to No. 7 where the Vikings said, “thank you.”  If I am a Cleveland fan, I am ticked off even though the Browns did choose Joe Thomas, a Pro Bowl offensive guard.

3:16 p.m.  Childress is asked on his KFAN radio post-game show to describe Peterson who ran for three touchdowns and 180 yards.  “He’s relentless.  That’s the thing that comes to mind,” Childress said.

5:11 p.m.  Sports Headliners emerges from a two-hour post-game analysis with this: the Vikings didn’t dazzle today but their talent prevailed with the promise of more difficult days and also better performances ahead.  Next week they play at Detroit against the NFL’s train wreck franchise, the Lions.  Who could blame Favre if he’s thinking this schedule is a pleasant way to begin life as a Viking.

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Fran Tarkenton still cheers for the Vikings and has no jealousy of Brett Favre despite his strong criticism earlier this year of the team’s new quarterback.  Tarkenton, the franchise’s greatest quarterback, spoke to Sports Headliners about his new book, Everyday Is Game Day, and other subjects including Favre during a telephone interview.

Tarkenton received national attention earlier when he criticized Favre for his indecisiveness about playing for the Packers last year and his more recent hesitation in signing with the Vikings. The hall of fame quarterback turned businessman insists it was unfair of Favre to not inform both organizations about his commitments to them.  Tarkenton was quoted by espn.com as saying:

“We have responsibilities. We’re just not athletes that are in it all for ourself.  Football, is it not a team game?  Isn’t it all about team?… And here comes Brett Favre riding in on his white horse, doesn’t go to training camp, doesn’t come to off-season workouts and he’s gonna come on his white horse and bond with all these players.”  https://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4409512

Tarkenton quarterbacked the Vikings in three Super Bowl losses while the prospect looms of Favre helping the franchise win its first Super Bowl.  Tarkenton ranks with the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks ever but Favre holds most of the league’s major passing records.

Tarkenton was asked during the Sports Headliners interview how he would respond to someone who suggested his criticisms were based on jealousy.  “I have no jealousy of anybody about anything,” he said.  “I gave my opinion.”

Why did Tarkenton speak out so directly?  “I spoke out because I had a conviction,” he said.  “People didn’t have to agree with it or not agree with it.  I wish nobody harm.  I think the Vikings are going to have a terrific season, with or without Brett Favre.  And it looks like it’s going to be with Brett Favre.  They’ve got a tremendous football team. They’re the best rushing team in football and the best against the rush in football.”

Tarkenton said he doesn’t know Favre and regards him as a “great quarterback.”  He also said if the Vikings have a special season the success will be predicated on a lot more than quarterback play and that quarterbacks receive too much “ballyhoo.”  He talked about playing for six seasons with the Vikings, then five with the Giants without much team success.  Then he returned to the Vikings and joined a roster with great players like defensive linemen Jim Marshall, Alan Page and Carl Eller.  The Vikings, with Tarkenton quarterbacking, won six division titles and went to three Super Bowls in seven years.