Club Members,
 
Team News:
Well the Cardinals really took it to us. Not much you can say here but, we got beat.
 
As I listened to the football talking heads I came to one real conclusion – they don’t mean squat. In a way I’m glad we flushed all the band wagon fans – we don’t need them. If you don’t bleed purple – you’re nothing but a fake. I heard last night that Green Bay would relish the chance to play us again – well, so do I. A good year is beating Green Bay once, a great year is beating Green Bay twice and a fantastic year is beating them for a third time. I for one don’t believe this game with Arizona reflects this team. We were flat in all areas – this will be corrected and we will be a force to be reckoned with.
 
I have to spend some time talking about E.J. This injury was the worst I’ve seen in a long time. I’m sure my reaction was the same as many, but here’s what I felt when I saw the play and the replay on Sunday night. My first feeling was nausea – this injury showed the real physics that is happening in today’s football with all these great athletes. I literally didn’t care about the score of the game (still don’t) – I just felt ill. My second reaction was OMG this could be career ending. You can ask the people I was sitting with – this one play changed the entire game for me, it showed on my face. At this point I haven’t watched any video of the injury and I don’t plan too in the future. Basically I’m praying for a full recovery.
 
I’m not sure how many of you follow all the little side stories of Viking football, but, E.J. is one of those special guys; the type you’d like to have as a neighbor. Here are a couple of examples of what I’ve read about E.J. He was voted by the team as the Viking Community Man of the Year. He won this honor primarily for his help with inner city youths. E.J. started a youth foundation to help underserved children in the Twin Cities. (A little aside – this is a similar program to what we support with the Link, the foundation that Jim Marshall and Oscar Reed help form.) Now E.J. didn’t win the award for just starting a foundation in name with good intentions – he actively supports the foundation with a lot of his time, he is very aware of what they do and how they help. This is not all that he has done to help his community (although he has great passion for the foundation). He has helped as much or more as any Viking in recent years. It’s been reported that he’s been involved with the United Way, Police Athletic League, Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, Arc Greater Twin Cities, and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities. This is a guy you’d like to call a friend.
 
And lastly on the subject – I have read some good news. First of all it was reported that E.J. only had a broken leg – no ligament or cartilage damage. Now it’s early and the reports may be questionable, but this is good news. I also read that a doctor, who has worked with skiers, was predicting that E.J.’s bone could be healed in eight weeks and he could start running in twelve weeks and training camp next year is possible. All this is speculation, but, it helped me with my feelings – maybe it will help you also. We’ll all know more in the coming days.
 
Club News:
We have a treat for you this weekend – Brent McClanahan is planning on joining us for the Bengals game. For the young ones in our group – Brent played running back from 1973 to 1980. He played on three Super Bowl teams and only once in Brent’s career the Vikes did not win the Central Division Championship. Brent is now teaching at South High School in Bakersfield and is one of the charities we support. Brent is now a business teacher and he helped create the Keyboarding Club – the non-profit arm for raising funds for this department at South High School. For most of you; you realize that business classes are not core classes in California and therefore our tax dollars do very little to help – that’s where we come in and you can also. Any person wanting to donate to the Keyboarding club; please see me and I can get you the tax ID number, your donation is tax deductable.
 
I also got some good feedback from one of you. The comments or questions were regarding how the club operates, what are the club philosophies and how does that pertain to finances.
 
I want to outline a few of the club’s philosophies today. To start with we are a legal non-profit company licensed with the State of California. Nobody related to the club makes anything – its 100% volunteers. If anyone in the club runs errands – they don’t get mileage, all the board members donate their time and in some cases minor expenses. Every board member pays dues and we’ve had multiple board members donate 100’s of dollars at times – this is a real special board. The dues primarily go to support the office supplies and related expenses to keep the SCVC open for business (we have a club phone and a website). As a club we do pick up expenses for doing our taxes and we have club award plaques each year that we purchase. All major office items are donated by the board members (I had to buy this computer to complete this letter – not the club). Our philosophy is: as a person you’re going to have these items in your life and using them for the club is honing your skills so we figure that’s good enough (Lord knows I need the practice).
 
Because the California dinner is what instigated the thoughts – here’s my comments in light of this event. As a club we primarily raise our funds through drawings at each game to support this event. Every dollar spent on game days helps support this effort. The only expense, for the dinner, we pass along to the members is the cost of their meal. The club pays for flying the players and their spouses out to the event, we pay for all dinner expenses for the players and their families, we pay for all the hotel rooms for the players and we pay for the banquette room rental (along with ant incidentals I may have left out). What we have never paid for (or ever plan on paying for) is a fee to get players to come out. Our philosophy is: we won’t pay anyone to come to our event, but, it shouldn’t cost them anything either. The players are volunteering their time.
 
And to finish my thoughts – at a minimum we’ll donate $2000 to charities, sometimes we’ll donate more. I know this is a very quick overview and probably spurred more questions; hopefully answered a couple. To help with the possible questions – I’ll stay after the Bengals game to answer any questions. I’ll also bring a couple of copies of our last taxes if anyone wants to see the club financials in greater detail. (I would like to bring current numbers, but, I can’t at this time – we lost our volunteer bookkeeper this year. So if we have a bookkeeper or an accountant that is interested in donating their time – we’ll have a board opening next year, so much for the shameless plug for help.) It’s also our philosophy to be as open as possible to club members – so anyone interested please stick around after the game and we can talk.
 
This is truly a great club and it’s because of you more than me.
 
Next letter I’ll bring back the fun stuff and get off my pulpit – well I’ll try anyway.
 
See you all at Northwood,
 
Wm. R. Martin
President
Southern California Viking Club