Old School Tailgating: 2000 Opening Day Bears vs. Vikings

Old School Tailgating: I am going through the content on Vikingstailgate.com with intents to scale it back and eventually rebuild. As I do this, I am finding lots of cool stories from the old days of Washington Avenue. These features and pictures will be shared for historic perspective. I dedicate all these stories to our Varsity tailgate founders; Stier, Saueey, Rocky, Chester, Hagen, Farrell, the Schmidty's, Notre Dame Dan, O.J., Bill, Cindy, Barnie, Lil Buddy, Stripper Skipper, Tammy, Face Paint Gal, CC Gal, Steve and the hundreds who followed....

This is one is from 2000, Opening Day vs. The Chicago Bears:

The Tailgating Grinch That Almost Stole Opening Day By Marcus "Mookie Vike" Anderson
The Berserkers have been tailgating in the Washington Avenue parking lot for over 5 years now, and NEVER, and I mean EVER, have we been greeted with such rudeness from a Parking lot attendant as we had for Opening Day 2000.
Opening Day greetings are supposed to be friendly and courteous if not at least cordial, but when we showed up to pay our $12 tailgating fee at 6:30 am there was no person in the booth to collect the money. Seeing others already scattered throughout the tailgate lot who were setting up their camps for the day, we assumed we could drive in and pay the attendant when they drove around to collect the fees. No sooner had we started our drive past the booth when a large pick up truck with even a larger man behind the wheel came barreling in from behind us and slammed on his breaks after cutting in front of us. The large Santa Claus figure jumped out of his truck and started SCREAMING at us like a dissed housewife on a Jerry Springer repeat.

"No, NO NO! Back this out of here, Can't you dumb son of bitches READ? The lot is closed, and I ain't opening it up until 8:30!"

Speechless and in disarray, we backed out of the lot and wondered how it was possible for us to be dismissed while others remained in the lot without disciplinary action. We saw the fat ass hole in the truck tear into the lot and screech around to everyone who had found their way into the lot to lecture them with the same tirade that we had just endured. Noticing that he allowed them to stay after he "tore into them" we were completely frustrated. We drove around to the opposite entrance of the lot and paid our fee without issue.

As we drove through the lot to find our normal spot near the entrance that would not open until 8:00 we all were commenting on the behavior of the frustrated attendant.
"Good God, if the man showed up late for work, it is not our problem, and he shouldn't take it out on us!" commented Rocky,
"Hell, I left my wife at home so I wouldn't have to here yelling like that", joked Saueey.

After the complete "dressing down" we managed to gather our senses and get back on track to the task at hand, but we write this to forewarn all other Viking tailgaters on Washington Avenue to BEWARE OF THE TAILGATING GRINCH!

Pregame Tailgate:
AWESOME. It seems that every year, the tailgating gets more intense and the seriousness of the Viking faithful gets taken to extremes. Someday, the Berserkers will have their own tailgating vehicle, but for now we watch with envy as all the cool trucks, battlewagons and purple vehicles roll up with the new bells, whistles, stereos and tailgating toys.

For may years the rite of tailgating was taken away from Vikes fans and the rest of the league became creative in their antics. It's taken awhile for Vikes fans to get back in the groove of the old Met Stadium rituals, but looking around on this Sunday morning, one could see that tailgating in Minnesota is back at full strength and will soon be recognized for it's creativity and fan loyalty. It was great to be back with all the regulars doing what we do best. Saueey, Rocky and Mook all showed up early to get the goalposts set up and get breakfast started. Saueey cooked up bacon and eggs and had wrapped them into burritoes as the rest of the gang showed up.

"Man, you could see the goalposts all the way over from the 35 E exit onto Washington Avenue", commented Stier who arrived with Straw Jams, Liberty and Chester just after 7:30 am. Not far behind were Hagen and Lil Schmidty. Mook's new tailgate CD mix blasted in the background:
1. Viking Horn
2. Beer for Breakfast- Johnny Cash and the Replacements mega Mix
3. Salute to Beer
4. Beer Chant
5. Skol Vikings 60's Intro
6. The Horns of Hell (13th Warrior)
7. I am Viking (A Kickass metal tune from Napster)
8. Go Fight Win Chant
9. It's a Long way to the Top ACDC (Thanks Saueey)
10. Horn Horn VIKINGS
11. Who ya Gonna Cool (from Any Given Sunday)
12. TV Theme from Dukes of Hazzard with Randy Moss quotes mixed in
13. Mas Tequila- Sammy
14. Viking Song- excerpt from a Todd Rundgren Song
15. NFL Today- Band Music
16. NFL Fox theme
17. A New Game- NFL Music
18. Purple People Eater (filler)
19. Purple Haze- version by the CURE
20. Do You Love Me? Kiss
21. Dennis Greens Beer Barrel Polka
22. Viking- by Los Lobos
23. Vikes 80's TD Theme
24. NFL- Nice F'n Life- Anthrax
25. Jim Marshall- The Wrong Way
26. Mr. Touchdown USA Band
27. Skol End
28. Viking Victory Horns
29. Creed- Higher
30. Purple Haze- version by Ozzy Osborne and Lenny Kravitz
31. Rock N Roll Part II
32. Skol Vikings Decades Mega Mix
33. Rudy Theme
34. Any Given Sunday Outro

Somewhre in all the commotion between tunes, and cold beer and chips, the conversation turned to Fantasy Football. Hearing that a 14 team draft was held and many Berserkers had entered, Mook popped off,
"I'll take the leftovers from your draft, choose a team and still beat all of your sorry asses." Calling his bluff, Stier, Liberty and Brent procured the draft sheet and the 15th team of their league was created. The team was named the "Scraps" and will play every team in the league every week as an exhibition of humility.

For those who care, the Scraps team consists of:
Quarterbacks: Elvis Grbac & Akili Smith
Running Backs: Fred Beasley and Bob Christian
Wide Receivers: Dedric Ward, Lavernous Coles and Matthew Hatchette
Kickers: Brad Daluiso
Defense:

Soon after, lunch was ready and everybody gobbled up their brats, chips and pickles. Before you could say Daunte Culpepper, the "early faction" was mounting up and heading into the Metrodome. The 2000 season was about to begin!

Game Notes:
Dauntes First play of his career: was a pass play that turned into a 23-yard scramble. The kid motored for a huge gain right off the bat and set the tone for what we hope is an illustrious NFL career. The Dome crowd erupted! Man, when we sign Moss, that is a 1-2 punch for the Millenium. Is anyone questioning Denny's draft strategy anymore?

Favorite plays and Miscellaneous Notes:
• Daunte's first run. See above
• On Daunte's second run on the first drive, he dashed for 21 yards. This gave him 44 yards in 2 carries and the Dome ERUPTED in glee.
• The first pass of Daunte's career came after low snap from Birk skidded off the dome's turf past the QB and he improvised a Tarkenton-like scramble and dumped off a shovel pass to Tight End John Davis. Again the entire dome ERUPTED!
• The Vikings offense rolled but stalled in the red zone in the first half kicking just 3 field goals
• Daunte Culpepper's 3 rushing touchdowns in his first official NFL start. Is this the beginning of a great NFL career or what?
• Gary Anderson was 3 for 3 on field goals. Good to see him back and in form
• Bears revenge. Last year rookie Jim Kleinsasser suffered a bad game against the Bears fumbling twice and costing the Vikings the game. This prompted and ESPN magazine's reference to him as "Edward Scissorhands." In this year's grudge match, the rookie from North Dakota' catch, run and subsequent hanging onto the ball after a huge hit was a VICTORY for the young Dakotan! Look for the "Sauce" to have a big year!
• This had to be a record for the most Quarterback Draws ever called and ran in the same NFL game. I personally recall at least 8 Draws by either Culpepper or Bears's QB Cade McNown
• Halftime, the Vikes were down 13-9, but the fans cheered for many of the Viking legends who were introduced by Bud Grant and Jerry Burns. The loudest cheers were for: Jim Marshall, Alan Page, Carl Eller, Joey Browner, Paul Krause, Boo Boo Rouse, Karl Kassulke,
• In the 2nd half, after the Bears went ahead 20-9, Vikes scored 3 unanswered touchdowns. Nice comeback.
• Culpepper to Moss on the fly for 65 yards.
• Robert Smith's 59-yard run
• The Vikes had 2 sacks, 1 by John Burrough and 1 by Eddie McDaniel. In both instances, the Vikes seemed to blitz, begging the question, why not blitz them bastards more? Just a thought

Post Game Tailgate:
Post game tailgates when the Vikes win are always crazy. They are even crazier when the weather is beautiful, so this was one of those days. Footballs were flying around, and loud audibles and mock play calls were barked out as the purple nation celebrated it's perfect opening. The Bears fans who taunted us prior to the game and promised to return There wasWe watched in pure joy as the Packers choked away their game to the Jets. Bret Favre kept grabbing his elbow in pain and we did not feel any sorrow. It was great to see the Cheese lose.

Roll Call & Game Day Grades:
In attendance were: Saueey, Steve, Chester, Rocky, Mook, Stier, Lil Schmidty, Liberty, and Hagen. Also attending Lil Buddy, and Notre Dame Dan,
Grades: A! The food was great, the weather was beautiful and fans were giddy and buzzed.
MVP: Rocky. Why not? Once again, the cameras rolled and he boomed the field goals through our goalposts. The guy choked on the first attempt of the year when the parking lot was empty and no one was around, but when the crowd gathered, and the FOX pre-game camera crew showed up, the kid was true again.

Quotes:
"Hell, I left my wife at home so I wouldn't have to here yelling like that!" Saueey
"Why don't you put up some better quotes on the game reports?" Chester
"Hey, they said NDSU, Kleinsasser is from North Dakota! He's a Sioux not a Bison! That's horrible!" Lil Buddy commenting on the pre-game introduction of Jim Kleinsasser.
"Those are the guys with the goalposts!" Neighboring Tailgaters
"Hey where is my St. Louis Rams french fry foam thingy?" Mook commenting on the fact that he did not get a foam stick to wave around like the rest of the 64,000 plus dome fans!
"Why do you waste your time writing for that damn internet report when you could be moving rocks for the landscaping? I mean, you don't get paid to do that, right?" Mooks wife Ellen
"It was a great day! The Vikings win, the Packers, Cowboys and 49ers all lose! How much better can this get?" Rocky
"Scraps, Scraps, Scraps" Mook's catcall to Stier as he learned that running back Fred Beasley had scored 3 TD's and Elvis Grbac tossed 2 more.