Vikings Up the Pressure for New Stadium, Drop Minnesota from New Apparel Line

The proverbial "Cold Omaha" is looking a little warmer these days as the Minnesota Vikings upped their not so subtle pressure on Minnesotans to build them a new stadium. About a week ago I got an email from the Viking Locker Room, the team's pro shop, announcing their new line of apparel manufactured by Nike. Going to their web site I was shocked and a lot pissed off to see that Ziggy had started to play games and our minds.

As someone born in Minnesota and raised during the Bud Grant era, I bleed purple and would be crushed to see a team which is synonymous with the state and its Scandinavian roots go the way of the Lakers and the North Stars but I do not like to be blackmailed and this page was torn straight out of Norm Green's playbook.

Norm Green, for those with short memory spans, is the most hated and despised figures in the annals of Minnesota professional sports. Green, a Canadian real estate developer had purchased the North Stars vowing to improve the team and what he needed to accomplish this task was a new arena with bigger revenue streams i.e. cheap real estate that he could develop. When Green did not get his way, the Minnesota North Stars became the Stars. One sexual harassment case and a king sized beer dumped over his head later, the team was in Dallas.

Let's just hope that Ziggy isn't feeling frisky and parched these days.