My Favorite Childhood Sports Memory

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

This month, my CE gave me the assignment of documenting my favorite childhood sports memory. Ok, a nice departure from the usual NFL news and interviews, but not an easy task, I thought, for I have many remembrances on- and off-the-field.

Sports has been a big part of my life as far back as I can remember. I played baseball, basketball and golf competitively and was pretty good at all three. My mom still has all my old newspaper clippings and trophies. But I’ll keep it football for the sake of EMQB and because it’s always been my favorite sport.

I would have to say watching head coach Bud Grant and the rest of the 1970s-era Minnesota Vikings was my favorite sports memory growing up. Quarterback Fran Tarkenton was my favorite player. There was Chuck Foreman, Sammy White, Ahmad Rashad, Alan Page and the famed Purple People Eaters — I could go on and on. I recorded their games and kept track of stats. Trading cards, magazine articles and books — I was all over it. And as a young fan, I wore more purple than Barney ever would. Whenever I’m at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the one item that still makes me stop and stare the longest is Coach Grant’s famous sideline jacket, the one he wore so many times outside in the bitter cold at old Metropolitan Stadium. Even though the Vikings never won a Super Bowl (they went to four), that was football as I remember it. And those were the best days of football.

Photo: Newscom