Minnesota Vikings 2023 Training Camp
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 30, 2023
I was happy to learn this week that one of my former co-workers has moved back to the Twin Cities. Sara and I spent 2 years working together when I first joined Oracle and I haven't seen her since. We had lunch together at Edelweiss Bakery and reminisced about the Good Ole Days. It was a great time!
On Friday night, Miss Sheri and I headed to Mystic Lake Casino for the Great Midwest Ribfest.
It's basically a bunch of food trucks and booths all selling delicious BBQ ribs, chicken, brisket, and a variety of other treats.
It was very tasty.
We sat in the stands and were treated to the musical stylings of the Fray. They have a bunch of great songs including You Found Me and How To Save a Life. We had fun singing along into the evening.
Here's a couple videos I shot of the event:
@toddswank Great Midwest Ribfest at Mystic Lake Casino with The Fray. #greatmidwestribfest #mysticlake #thefray ♬ How You Like That - BLACKPINK
@toddswank The Fray playing at The Great Midwest Ribfest at Mystic Lake Casino. #thefray #mysticlake #midwestribfest ♬ original sound - Todd Swank
On Saturday, we headed to TCO Performance Center in Eagan to watch the Minnesota Vikings practice at training camp. Avery had a conflict, but our old buddy, Orlando, was happy to step into his place and join us.
Since we're season ticket holders, the Minnesota Vikings were kind enough to give us free passes to the Vikings Museum. It was fun to see Viking legends from years past, but we kept asking everyone....Hey, where are all the Super Bowl Trophies? That room must still be being built.
They had a nice homage to the Minneapolis Miracle. This play helped the Vikings advance to the NFC Championship, but then they lost to the Eagles. Great memory, though.
The Purple People Eaters were a bit before my time of being a Minnesota Vikings fan, but I certainly remember them. We could use these guys back on the team again this year!
We stepped outside again and bumped into some old friends. I mean young friends.
Eventually we made our way to our seats and were excited to sit down and watch some practice! We're all getting pretty hungry to be able to watch football again.
The Vikings lost a lot of big name players this past off-season, but we're all pretty pumped to still have Justin Jefferson on our team. He just had the rare achievement of earning a 99 rating in Madden Football! I don't think any of those Purple People Eaters ever did that.
If you haven't watched the Netflix series Quarterback, please take the time to do that. Our man, Kirk Cousins, is the most under-rated quarterback in the NFL and that show helped people to understand exactly why that is. He's a really good person, father, and leader and I really hope this year he gets the chance to have the kind of success he deserves.
One of the men who is going to help him do that is our starting tight end, TJ Hockenson. He's such a stud. The Detroit Lions traded him to us in the middle of the season last year for some reason. I have no clue why they made a move like that, but I'm certainly glad they did.
Our 2nd year coach, Kevin O'Connell, seems to be very relaxed when working with players and seems to be a positive influence all the way around. Hopefully he can repeat the kind of season he had last year.
It's very early in Training Camp so there was hardly any contact. Kind of tough to judge players when they're basically just going through the motions, but it was nice to get a taste of football again. Do You Like That?
Here's couple videos I shot from Training Camp:
@toddswank Vikings Training Camp. #vikings #minnesota #nfl #trainingcamp ♬ Barbie World (with Aqua) [From Barbie The Album] - Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice & Aqua
@toddswank Justin Jefferson Warming Up. #minnesota #vikings #trainingcamp #nfl ♬ When Doves Cry - Prince
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