Monday, January 7, 2013

The year in review

Monday January 7th was a sad day for me as I know the players clean out their lockers and conduct the final interviews. I follow this team with a passionate heart and from late to July to know it is hard core football. 2012-2013 is over but I would like to reflect in what I saw.

The season of 2012 was full of firsts, lasts and records broke. The sport of football is 365 a year so with the NFL network I can keep up with league action and everything involving the Vikings. KFAN is great to listen to with Paul Allen and his insight is wonderful to listen to.

My first interaction as a fan came Thursday April 26th when the draft party was held at the Metrodome for the first time in history. I have not missed a draft party whenever the Vikings have offered for years. I really enjoy when it is held at Winter Park but the dome was something special. The big screen was set up with Paul Allen hosting and having guests along the way including Adrian Peterson making a visit. I will never forget when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell making the announcement of the Vikings taking Matt Kalil. The place went crazy which has not always been the case at draft parties. I was thrilled with the pick. I was surprised when the Vikes moved up to take Harrison Smith out of Notre Dame but the way he panned out I will take the surprise.

The Vikings later in the year move into Mankato and Gage Towers on Thursday Jul 26th. It is history as this was the last season the Vikings will ever stay In Gage. They will be taken down this year and in 2013 the Vikings will have a new dorm.

The Vikings had changed their normal practices of long morning and short afternoon to a first for the team as they switched. The morning was short practice and afternoon long practices in the heat. I was concerned about this but you know as the season did go on the injuries were way down and the team had stamina through week 17.

This was my 19th training camp and in the last 16 years I have only missed 5-6 days. This season I made it every day. I take the whole time off from work and make my 80 mile round trip each day.

I have been able to get a picture with over 400 different players through the years and this season I met each draft pick and got a picture with them. It has been since 1998 I have only missed getting a picture with 3 of the picks and Randy Moss was one of them. He had told me he does not do pictures which I understood.

The football schedule is about to begin with my 12th season of season tickets as I have only missed 1 game in this time and that was a preseason game.

I will never forget the first game of the regular season for many reasons. The first came with the announcements of the offensive starter. I will never forget Adrian Peterson’s name called and how the crowd reacted. It was pandemonium in the dome.

The memory of the first game and a win in overtime over Jacksonville as rookie Blair Walsh not only kicks a 50 plus field goal to send it to overtime, but then adds the game winner. Is this season even though the first game going to go different?

I know as a season ticket holder the team does not owe me and I cannot control the winning and losing but I sure got my money’s worth this season.

A 7-1 home record was such a treat as I was hoping for an 8-0 at home. The one disappointment came on Thursday night football with Tampa Bay here. It was a first for the NFL network to carry a Vikings home game. The whole football world is watching and we lose. The world did not see the team that showed up the other 7 games.

The year saw the Vikings go from getting swept by the Bears, Lions and Packers the year before to coming out with a 4-2 record. The last game against the Packers will go down as the best game I have ever seen at home.

I cannot say I was disappointed with the road record because I know we have not been a good road team. I really think our two best chances to win on the road came in week 2 against the Colts. We come back to tie late only to watch Andrew Luck drive the Colts down and get a game winning field goal.

The game in Lambeau would be the other blown chance. This season came close to watch the Vikings sweep the Packers. Adrian has 210 rushing and we lose and of course are another statistic of a team with 200 yard rusher and lose.

A year in which the Vikings set a record with the biggest jump in wins from one season to the next as the team jumped 7 games. Wow, is all I can say.

It was a year where we saw Tight End, Kyle Rudolph show fans what his future looks like. He is young and has loads of potential.

It was a great draft conducted by Rick Spielman with 8 of 10 picks making the team. They not only made the team but contributed all season giving them experience for next season.

The running of Adrian, the blocking of fullback Jerome Felton along with Christian Ponder making strides in the last 2 regular season games is very exciting for me. The fact the offensive line played all 16 games together is a huge plus going into next year.

The emergence of the steal of the draft, Blair Walsh and his cannon leg setting Vikings and NFL records was a huge boost along with the booming kickoffs, many which went out of the end zone. The special teams really help set up the opposition with bad field position.

A year that saw Percy Harvin start out with MVP numbers only to see his season end on IR. The emergence of rookie speedster Jarius Wright was a positive.

The defense played solid for the majority of the year showing up big in the 49ers home game. Chad Greenway is a treat to watch the way he hustles.

Jared Allen, if we had 11 players with his heart and hustle this team would go undefeated. His relentless pass rushing and although his sack numbers were down he still had a great year making the quarterbacks running for his life.

Brian Robinson set a personal record with sacks, and how about Everson Griffen’s month of December? We need to lock him up as soon as possible.

The safety play was improved thanks to the efforts by rookie Harrison Smith. I like the hustle of Jamarca Sanford and Mistral Raymond back there as well.

Coach Frazier has got to be in the mention of coach of the year. The 5th youngest roster in the NFL and he got those boys to play some ball.

I attended the Green Bay playoff game and am proud to show my support. It is not fun to see a loss and the season end but I am thankful for the thrills this team gave me. I am optimistic about the future of this franchise. A fan is there win or lose never forget that.

Next up: Thoughts on what is needed for 2013

Thanks for reading
Purplestick



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