The Vikings NFL Draft Party 2022

 The Vikings NFL Draft Party 2022

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for May 1, 2022

We love the Minnesota Vikings.  When we heard they were having a big party for the NFL Draft at US Bank Stadium we jumped at the chance to be there.

We found ourselves to be in really good company on the walk to the stadium.

It was kind of wild entering the place.  We've never been there with so few people in the stands nor have we had the chance to walk on the field before.  We were excited for some new adventures.

  As season ticket holders, it only cost us $10 each to join the party.  There was also the Redzone premium access for $140 each.  As far as I could tell, it included some food and drink and gave you seats closest to the stage.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't worth it.

There were a bunch of news people scattered throughout the facility reporting on the draft.  Everybody wanted to know who would be joining the Vikings!

We had a chance to tour the locker rooms which ended up being less of a thrill than I anticipated.  I totally expected a bunch of naked dudes to be walking around instead it was mostly just empty lockers and a lingering smell of Ben Gay.

Outside the locker room they had cool prints featuring every Vikings member of the National Football Hall of Fame.  Miss Sheri has always been a big Bud Grant fan so she was excited to see his entry.

Our favorite casino was a sponsor and had a Plinko game where you could win cash or swag.  I swear it must have been rigged.  They had 4 slots for swag and 3 slots with cash, but all 4 of us hit swag somehow.  I wanted the cash!

The Vikings had the 12th pick so we soon found our seats and listened to the draft analysis by local sports personalities including the Voice of the Vikings, Paul Allen, along with Ben Leber, Pete Bercich and Paul Charchian.  They were getting us all excited about potential future superstars who would soon be wearing the Purple and Gold.

The anticipation was building, the crowd was getting restless, and soon the cheerleaders spread out amongst the floor to cheer on the newest Viking.  Moments before the pick was to be announced we suddenly saw the announcement that the Vikings no longer were picking #12 and instead traded down to select at #32 instead.  Everybody around us suddenly started getting very fussy.

Turns out our new GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, took a page out of his predecessor's handbook and thought moving down 20 spots to allow our division rival the Detroit Lions draft a top wide receiver was a wise move.  Needless to say, it didn't seem like a lot of people in our general vicinity agreed that was a good idea.  Hopefully he knows what he's doing. 

On Saturday night Miss Sheri and I went to Niesen's in Savage to watch a band called Nerve.  They rocked.