2010 NFL Season

[Seadragon76]

LOLZ @ the Vikings asking FANS to help clear the snow out of TCF Bank Stadium.

Wait...what??

Yeah. The Vikes are asking the few fans they have left to help pitch in and clear out TCF Bank Stadium... Hell, the school may have to provide shovels if need be.

You know your team has hit rock bottom when the college team whose home stadium you are borrowing is going to provide shovels to help out.

[Sport]

I'm just happy there's going to be outdoor football in Minnesota again, albeit for one game. I haven't seen an outdoor game in Minnesota at the professional level in my life and growing up on NFL Films I've been promised awesomeness. I hope it snows a lot.

[KDubK414]

Vikings fans this could be your quarterback on Monday...

Vikings reportedly sign Patrick Ramsey

[dfwabel]

I'm just happy there's going to be outdoor football in Minnesota again, albeit for one game. I haven't seen an outdoor game in Minnesota at the professional level in my life and growing up on NFL Films I've been promised awesomeness. I hope it snows a lot.

With 3-6 inches of snow predicted for tonight, and that field not having a heating system underneath, I would not be surprised if this game is at Lucas Oil Stadium since Irsay as said they are ready to host it this morning.

[rams80]

I'm just happy there's going to be outdoor football in Minnesota again, albeit for one game. I haven't seen an outdoor game in Minnesota at the professional level in my life and growing up on NFL Films I've been promised awesomeness. I hope it snows a lot.

With 3-6 inches of snow predicted for tonight, and that field not having a heating system underneath, I would not be surprised if this game is at Lucas Oil Stadium since Irsay as said they are ready to host it this morning.

There are these magical things called snowblowers dude. That snow will be gone by Monday.

[TopCat]

If I was the required 18 years old and had nothing better to do, I'd definately be out there shoveling! It'd be a fun time and an odd part of NFL history.

Live video feed of the snow removal effort:

http://www.gophersports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&id=411649&catid=0&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=8400

[TopCat]

LOLZ @ the Vikings asking FANS to help clear the snow out of TCF Bank Stadium.

Wait...what??

Yeah. The Vikes are asking the few fans they have left to help pitch in and clear out TCF Bank Stadium... Hell, the school may have to provide shovels if need be.

You know your team has hit rock bottom when the college team whose home stadium you are borrowing is going to provide shovels to help out.

Okay, you sound dumb. (Geez, coming from me.) The "few fans" the Vikes have have been selling out the Dome for the past 15 seasons straight.

The roof collapsed. That's not the team's fault really. There's a beautiful stadium within walking distance of the Dome that can be used. I don't see what's so rock bottom about getting to work and getting a field ready for your next game when all hell breaks loose on your regular place. Also, Minnesotans are more than happy to show up and bring their own shovels and help dig the place out! You bet!

[Seadragon76]

LOLZ @ the Vikings asking FANS to help clear the snow out of TCF Bank Stadium.

Wait...what??

Yeah. The Vikes are asking the few fans they have left to help pitch in and clear out TCF Bank Stadium... Hell, the school may have to provide shovels if need be.

You know your team has hit rock bottom when the college team whose home stadium you are borrowing is going to provide shovels to help out.

Okay, you sound dumb. (Geez, coming from me.) The "few fans" the Vikes have have been selling out the Dome for the past 15 seasons straight.

The roof collapsed. That's not the team's fault really. There's a beautiful stadium within walking distance of the Dome that can be used. I don't see what's so rock bottom about getting to work and getting a field ready for your next game when all hell breaks loose on your regular place. Also, Minnesotans are more than happy to show up and bring their own shovels and help dig the place out! You bet!

OK, let me explain this to you in a way that is understandable for you since common sense is obivously lacking here:

I don't sound dumb here. Why? Because I realize that this situation is pretty damn bleak. Having to resort to asking the fans to show up and do anything outside of rooting for your team is.. Well, it's not a good idea.

Oh, and happy to dig the place out? I doubt they're happy. They're probably bored because if it wasn't for the Twins and the Gophers basketball team, there is NOT a lot to crow about in the Twin Cities...

T-Wolves? SUCK!

Wild? They probably SUCK!

Gophers Football? Total. Massive. Joke.

Gophers Hockey? Equally as big of a Total. Massive. Joke. (I should know. Nebraska-Omaha made them look bad)

Vikings? If it wasn't for His Greatness King Brett the First, the Vikings would of been forgotten by now.

If anything, they have fallen far. Kinda hard to argue against the circumstances here, TC.

[IceCap]

Agreed. Having to ask fans to do manual labour on your behalf isn't a good sign.

[TopCat]

They're getting paid, so I don't really get how it's that bad? If they wanted they wouldn't even have to pay, people are just nice like that and would do it for free.

[IceCap]

Most people will not shovel snow for someone else for free.

You seem to be missing the larger issue, however. A NFL team should not have to ask their fans to perform manual labour. They usually have employees to do that for them.

Oh, time to update your signature

[TopCat]

It's not like the Vikings have a staff already assembled for snow removal, they play in a frickin' dome!

And I'll change my sig after the season.

Edit: I didn't even know this, but they're only taking volunteers tomorrow.

"Individuals interested in helping with snow removal should arrive at TCF Bank Stadium for one of the three four-hour shifts on Thursday. The shifts begin at 8 a.m., Noon and 4 p.m., respectively, and workers should meet outside the Lincoln County entrance to TCF Bank Stadium prior."

[IceCap]

It's not like the Vikings have a staff already assembled for snow removal, they play in a frickin' dome!

TCF Bank Stadium doesn't have people on staff for this sort of thing? The city of Minneapolis doesn't have people who could handle it? It's just unbecoming for a NFL team to have to beg its fans to help with manual labour to prepare a field for a game.

It would be like the Wild, at the first intermission, announcing that they don't have any Zambonies on hand, and that it would be really swell if some fans with a bucket of water and a mop could come down to the ice to prepare it for the second period.

Edit: I didn't even know this, but they're only taking volunteers tomorrow.

"Individuals interested in helping with snow removal should arrive at TCF Bank Stadium for one of the three four-hour shifts on Thursday. The shifts begin at 8 a.m., Noon and 4 p.m., respectively, and workers should meet outside the Lincoln County entrance to TCF Bank Stadium prior."

If they aren't paying people I wouldn't expect a large turnout. Shovelling snow isn't fun.

[dfwabel]

It's not like the Vikings have a staff already assembled for snow removal, they play in a frickin' dome!

TCF Bank Stadium doesn't have people on staff for this sort of thing? The city of Minneapolis doesn't have people who could handle it? It's just unbecoming for a NFL team to have to beg its fans to help with manual labour to prepare a field for a game.

It would be like the Wild, at the first intermission, announcing that they don't have any Zambonies on hand, and that it would be really swell if some fans with a bucket of water and a mop could come down to the ice to prepare it for the second period.

Edit: I didn't even know this, but they're only taking volunteers tomorrow.

"Individuals interested in helping with snow removal should arrive at TCF Bank Stadium for one of the three four-hour shifts on Thursday. The shifts begin at 8 a.m., Noon and 4 p.m., respectively, and workers should meet outside the Lincoln County entrance to TCF Bank Stadium prior."

If they aren't paying people I wouldn't expect a large turnout. Shovelling snow isn't fun.

The stadium does not have the staff because they are not build to play a game this late in the year. The surface is FieldTurf, thus you do not need to as large a grounds crew. Sure, the university has a Grounds Department, but they are unionized and sure are not going to do it for free or the $10/hour they are now paying. The stadium's sponsor TCF Bank has given 700 shovels to the project.

As for the city, they need to more worried about using their staff to make sure roads are clear for police/fire first, garbage removal second, then making sure that people can commute to work/school third.

[Cujo]

The "Tripgate" scandal continues. Sal Alosi has now been suspended indefinitely as new information has come to light in regards to building sideline walls during punt coverage.

Heard something on Sirius NFL Radio about former Dolphin Zach Thomas claiming the Jets were doing that.

Thomas was right. Turns out Alosi was the mastermind behind this practice. He instructed players and other assistants to form the wall during punt returns. Now it becomes a question of if Rex Ryan knew about this.

Forming a wall out of bounds hardly seems illegal...

Aside from tripping a player on purpose, I agree, building a sideline wall seems almost harmless. But apparently wall building is some sort of 'unwritten rule', because Mr. Alosi went from suspended four games to all-but fired once they found out he was doing this.

[TopCat]

I love your avatar so much.

[crashcarson15]

The game could still be played somewhere else, as I've heard the bathrooms at TCF Bank Stadium are not insulated, and the pipes in the bathrooms could possibly be frozen, which would be an issue.

Oh, and if I was 18 and lived in Minneapolis, I'd sure as hell be out there shoveling snow for the experience.

[BBTV]

It's not like the Vikings have a staff already assembled for snow removal, they play in a frickin' dome!

TCF Bank Stadium doesn't have people on staff for this sort of thing? The city of Minneapolis doesn't have people who could handle it? It's just unbecoming for a NFL team to have to beg its fans to help with manual labour to prepare a field for a game.

It would be like the Wild, at the first intermission, announcing that they don't have any Zambonies on hand, and that it would be really swell if some fans with a bucket of water and a mop could come down to the ice to prepare it for the second period.

Edit: I didn't even know this, but they're only taking volunteers tomorrow.

"Individuals interested in helping with snow removal should arrive at TCF Bank Stadium for one of the three four-hour shifts on Thursday. The shifts begin at 8 a.m., Noon and 4 p.m., respectively, and workers should meet outside the Lincoln County entrance to TCF Bank Stadium prior."

If they aren't paying people I wouldn't expect a large turnout. Shovelling snow isn't fun.

Working at a cold-weather stadium (albeit not in a climate as bad as MN or CHI or GB) I can tell you that we do not have a snow-shoveling staff ready to go. When we get hit with massive snow storms (there was around 22" before the 2004-season NFC Championship Game, 23"+ before the game vs. the 49ers last year, and usually at least one large storm per season every other year if not more) the team solicits the stadium employees to act as "supervisors" for the snow-removal process. Said process is performed by regular stadium employees who get paid, but are not obligated to put in the time if they don't want to, and literally anyone else who shows up that can place their mark on a waiver. You get a lot of (what appears to be) homeless or low/no income people, a few legit fans, and some absolute wackos. They do get paid - but a very low wage. I think it was '04 where one guy didn't even have gloves, and when they tried to give him a pair of their gloves (knit half finger gloves with the mitten pull-over) he refused, and subsequently lost both thumbs due to frost bite. He then sued the team and got some kind of settlement. Anyway...

So basically - you're being a little too hard on them in this case. It's a one-off situation and since sports teams rely on event and facility staff who (most anyway) only do the job part time in addition to their real jobs, it's extremely difficult to put together a contingency plan to deal with this kind of thing.

[dfwabel]

The game could still be played somewhere else, as I've heard the bathrooms at TCF Bank Stadium are not insulated, and the pipes in the bathrooms could possibly be frozen, which would be an issue.

Oh, and if I was 18 and lived in Minneapolis, I'd sure as hell be out there shoveling snow for the experience.

This is why the NFL has not committed to the game there as of tonight. In fact, the Vikings are trying hard to save the game there for so many reasons. If they have to relocate, they prefer Atlanta! because Indy, Detroit, and St. Louis are "too close for Bears fans".

[BBTV]

Eagles-Vikings 12/26 game has been flexed to SNF... for some reason.