After the Vikings and punter Chris Kluwe put together a video of the negotiations with Donovan McNabb for his Number 5 jersey, we decided to poll the TC Huddle staff on some of our favorite Vikings videos that did not involve live game plays. Here are some of our favorite non-game Vikings’ videos. (Clearly, we’re still tortured from years past.)
John Randle was a fixture on NFL Films with his crazy on-the-field personality. I mean, he really was straight up crazy. The guy’s motor never stopped.
But one of my favorite off-the-field moments came from one of the craziest on-the-field players in Vikings history. The spot was for Nike, airing in the mid-1990s, in the heat of the Vikings/Packer rivalry (when both teams were good). Favre was winning MVP awards, and Randle was one of the few guys in the league that could get to the then-young gunslinger.
The ad starts like you would expect any commercial with a NFL defensive lineman: in a fabric shop (of course, right?). You see Randle reading off a list of fabric to a nice old lady. The orchestral music starts, and you see Randle slaving away over the sewing machine. Intrigue sets in. What is big John doing? He looks like he is taking this all pretty seriously…
It’s then revealed the fierce D-lineman was sewing a very tiny #4 Packer Jersey. It elicits a chuckle–with a dose of confusion. Here I am, a huge Viking fan, while most of my family consists of Packer fans, wondering why is Randle sewing the enemy’s jersey. But finally, the punchline–It’s a jersey for a chicken. As the music builds, we see John Randle chasing the #4 jersey-doting chicken around a coup. Classic. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better – the cut to a shot of a grill, on which Randle is making himself some chicken.
I can honestly say seeing that ad for the first time in the TV room with my Packer-fan father was one of the more satisfying :30 TV ads I have ever seen. Great commercial. Great moment. Well played, Nike.
Dan Buri
I don’t know who posted these two videos and I don’t know Tony Lee, but Mr. Lee, I don’t think you’re hilarious as the title suggests. I think you’re correct. I think your emotions were exactly what all of us felt at that moment in January of 2010. I think in two short videos you show all of the emotions of a Vikings fan through each game, each season, and our entire franchise history.
The first video encapsulates the feelings of all Vikings fans right when the interception happened. There’s the plea for Favre to run the ball, as if there may a way to change the outcome on the replay. There’s the dejected throwing of the hat to the floor, not quite angry, just depressed. There’s unrestrained anger exhibited through screaming f-bombs at the televised Brett Favre. And in the middle of the video, there’s the seemingly innocuous comment: “And we’re lucky we caught him.” Even during this horrible moment in Vikings history, while it is actually unfolding before Tony Lee’s eyes, his comment is both resigned to the fact that the Vikings will always fail and simultaneously holding on to hope because the Saints didn’t score a TD.
In the second video, Mr. Lee is quickly positive again. He immediately calls for a 3 and Out, but there’s a twinge in his voice that leaves you doubting that it can happen because most likely he doesn’t believe himself that it can happen. He knows the writing is on the wall. It’s always right there on the wall in front of us for us Vikings fans. But like Tony Lee, we continue to be positive. We continue to think this year is our year. And we always do so with a little humor. No rice this year, Tony, but let’s hope AP is in MVP form.
Most Vikings fans thought it couldn’t get worse than Gary Anderson’s wide left in 1998. And then Favre threw a horrifically inexplicable pick in the 2010 NFC Championship. This video is a fake advertisement, with Favre shopping for a television at his local Sears and doing what we would all love to do…replay that interception for him. Over…and over…and over…
In a classic postgame press conference, iconic Vikings head coach Jerry Burns has the meltdown of all meltdowns. Five minutes and seventeen effenheimers later…he rests his case. (Oh, and by the way, the Vikings won this game.) Imagine if Burns had to live with the 24-hour news cycle after this. Effers.
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