Minnesota Vikings Team News:

I'm pretty sure everyone has noticed we haven’t played our game in the second halves so far this year. I’m not sure I understand why myself, but I do know that the first half of the Detroit game was the best I’ve seen the Vikings play in a couple of years.

Here’s an interesting stat: Detroit’s Matthew Stafford has been sacked five times in three games; three times by Jared Allen and twice by Brian Robison, that’s it. The Vikes D-Line played good – in fact Jared almost singlehandedly won the game for us, clearly he was the standout player in this game. I have to mention the one sack that Brian put on Stafford was perfect; I mean perfect, this group looks good. Which makes me think having Kevin back on the line had to have helped. I didn’t do any research, but, it’s a pretty safe bet Kevin was on the field during the quarterback hits and sacks gobbling up blockers.

The real big news out of the team this week is the announcement that Chris Doleman is going into the Vikings Ring of Honor. Chris will be inducted into the Ring of Honor on October 23, 2011 at halftime of the Green Bay game. It only seems right to talk about the Vikings defensive line tonight; it does bring you back to the great players of the past and Chris is truly one of them. In 1989 the Vikings recorded their team record of 71 sacks in a year – Chris had 21 of them and led the NFL. If any club member (from the Minnesota area) records the Ring of Honor ceremony; let me know, I’d like to see it. For those of you reading this not from California – the NFL doesn’t cover halftime events and we’ll only get traces of the event. I’ll see if the Vikings are going to create a DVD of the event.

53/70 HOF Quest:

Please see my 53/70 HOF Quest attached letter.

Club News:

Hold the faith – our team is good.

Now’s seems like the right time to bring up our Code of Conduct. When our team loses; it’s easier to slip into an emotional spot where you don’t want to go. Remember – we respect this team, the owners, the coaches, the players and even the guy who sweeps the floor of the locker room. We are a club of respect and it’s one of the best places to teach our children how to behave.

These losses are tough on everyone – including us fans, but what makes us different is how we deal with the adversity. If any club member has trouble with their choice of language during a game (for example) – you may want to think about your responsibilities to every other person in the room, they matter also.

Our Code of Conduct is important to us and will be enforced and you don’t want to be known as the person without faith when our team starts winning.

Endless Food and Fun and our club are learning to work together. I think it’s important to know that Andrew and Endless Food and Fun are opening the place early for us – his normal hours start at 11:00 am. He’s learning how our early group is affecting his kitchen staff that supports the rest of his business.

For those of you that didn’t notice; the omelets special changed last week. So; here are the current hours of operation for the food service.

The Omelet special will only be available from 9:00 am to 10:00 am. After 10:00 am if you want an omelet – you need to purchase a buffet wrist band. The omelets will be available, but we’re opening the entire buffet at 10:00 am.

You can eat off the menu at any time – pay attention to specials and timing, not everything may be offered on Sundays.

We’re looking for some help with the club. We have two open board positions and would like to start grooming some nice folks to possibly fill those positions next year. What we’re looking for is a person to help with our website; primarily uploading pictures and preparing behind the scenes stuff. You’d work closely with Rick Conwell in this effort. So if you like computers and want to learn how to make a first class website – this may be for you. I’d also like to find someone to help out at the games, signing people in, selling drawing tickets – that sort of thing. It’s nice to have some additional folks who wouldn’t mind helping – even if you’re not interested in the board position, especially during the Holiday’s.

I’m also looking for some help from each of you. When you sign in on Sundays – let Chris and Kent know how many people came with you. At times it get busy around the sign-in area and we’d like to get an accurate count of how many folks show up and still let the sign-in guys watch the game. Also if you have a guests (or spouse) show up; please let these guys now an additional person showed up.

For those with kids – check the center table area for Toyman. Toyman shows up with his bag of goodies and any child that says “Go Vikes” gets a free toy.

And to celebrate our first victory of the season this Sunday – I’ll bring in an Adrian Peterson autograph this week for our drawings.

See you all at Endless Food and Fun Sunday.

Talk to you soon,

Skol

Wm. R. Martin
President