Take a journey from the infant stages of football in Minnesota up through the Vikings’ four Super Bowl appearances in Bill Williamson and Eric Thompson’s Tales from the Minnesota Vikings Sideline. For more than fifty years the Vikings have established themselves as one of the premier teams in the NFL. Perhaps the most successful team to never win a Super Bowl, the Vikings have nevertheless harbored a rich tradition of winning football. Now fans of this Midwest powerhouse will relive all the history, all the passion, and all the tantalizingly glory of Vikings football within these pages. Remember the bone-chilling days of old Metropolitan Stadium? Or the no-nonsense, in-your-face coaching style of Bud Grant? From Cris Carter to Fran Tarkenton, Randy Moss, Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Teddy Bridgewater and more, this newly revised edition of Tales from the Minnesota Vikings Sideline has it all!

Take a journey from the infant stages of football in Minnesota up through the Vikings’ four Super Bowl appearances in Bill Williamson and Eric Thompson’s Tales from the Minnesota Vikings Sideline. For more than fifty years the Vikings have established themselves as one of the premier teams in the NFL. Perhaps the most successful team to never win a Super Bowl, the Vikings have nevertheless harbored a rich tradition of winning football. Now fans of this Midwest powerhouse will relive all the history, all the passion, and all the tantalizingly glory of Vikings football within these pages. Remember the bone-chilling days of old Metropolitan Stadium? Or the no-nonsense coaching style of Bud Grant? From Cris Carter to Fran Tarkenton, Randy Moss, Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen, Teddy Bridgewater and more, this newly revised edition of Tales from the Minnesota Vikings Sideline has it all!

The Viking battle horn is blown and it's kickoff! Through narrative nonfiction, timelines, and Fun Facts, readers will engage with the history and superstars of the Minnesota Vikings like never before.

Since the creation of the Minnesota Vikings in 1960, this football team has been more than just another franchise. To the fans who love them, and the haters who can’t help but admire them, the Minnesota Vikings are an unstoppable force in the NFL. In this heartwarming and inspirational book, Jim Bruton takes a look beyond the game and examines what the Minnesota Vikings have meant to fans and communities across the country. Covering the Vikings from every angle, A Tradition of Purple is an up-close look at the players, coaches, charities, Hall of Famers, and people behind the scenes who have come to define what it means to be Purple over the last fifty years. Readers will get an inside look at such famous Vikings as Norm Van Brocklin, Bud Grant, Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller, Alan Page, Jim Marshall, Chris Doleman, Adrian Peterson, and more. This is not a book only about football, this is also a book about life, community, and the team that inspires a legacy.

A de facto American national holiday and phenomenon, the Super Bowl claims a spot as one of the most significant sporting events in the world and the most widely celebrated, feasted and feasting event of the year— with $14+ billion at stake, commercials costing $7 million for a 30-second spot, record-setting broadcast ratings, and 113+ million viewers. More avocados (105 million pounds) are consumed, and more beer is drunk (325 million gallons) on the single day of Superbowl Sunday. But there is much more at play than partying at our annual sports extravaganza, as this scholarly researched yet readable volume demonstrates: Here you will read a historical perspective that includes discussions of the meta-event’s economics (stakeholders, host cities, advertising, gambling, and media), fandom, ratings, halftime entertainment, the roles of mythic spectacle and religion, football’s sexist, militaristic language, gender issues like cheerleaders and sex trafficking, the Puppy Bowl, medical concerns like concussions and violence, tailgating and foodie ideas—all along with tidbits about your favorite team(s) and player(s). Touchdown!

Let’s say you’re the coach of the Minnesota Vikings, deciding which players should start in a Super Bowl matchup against the toughest team in the AFC. But instead of choosing from the current roster, you have every player in the team’s 60-year history in your locker room. Who starts at quarterback: scrambling Fran Tarkenton, gunslinger Daunte Culpepper, or deadly accurate Kirk Cousins? At defensive end, do you play fearsome Carl Eller, fan favorite Jared Allen, sack specialist Chris Doleman, or stalwart Jim Marshall? Combining career stats, common sense, and a host of intangibles, veteran sportswriter Chris Tomasson imagines an embarrassment of riches and sets the all-time All-Star Vikings lineup for the ages.

Minnesota sports legend Bud Grant tells the story of his remarkable life as a player and coach in this rich firsthand account. From surviving polio in childhood to a shining college sports career and playing both basketball and football professionally, and from coaching a championship-winning Canadian team to leading the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls, Grant shares his personal perspective for the first time in this autobiography with entertaining detail and refreshing openness. The book recounts his experiences with star players and gives the inside story on Grant’s controversial retirement in 1983 and his return to the sideline in 1985. Minnesota sports lovers will also enjoy Grant’s reflection on his own idiosyncrasies, including his famous love of cold-weather football and banning of sideline heaters, and his postretirement life spent devoted to environmental protection and being an outdoorsman.

100 Things Vikings Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resources guide for true fans of the Minnesota Vikings. Whether you're a die-hard booster from the days of Fran Tarkenton or a new supporter of Teddy Bridgewater, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. It contains every essential piece of Minnesota knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom.

From the hilarious to the surreal, from inside the huddle to inside the broadcast booth, twenty-eight-year Seattle Seahawks veteran Steve Raible takes fans to places they never knew existed. In this newly revised edition of Tales from the Seattle Seahawks Sideline, fans are offered an inside look at life in the locker room and on the sidelines of one of the NFL’s most beloved franchises. Readers will have the chance to laugh along as Jack Patera trades Andre Hines to the Dolphins after warning Don Shula that a worse offensive lineman never existed, to marvel as Raiders legend John Matuszak becomes Seattle’s offensive coordinator during the final minutes of the Seahawks’ blowout win, to come along with Steve Largent as the Hall of Famer obliterates Broncos safety Mike Harden in the ultimate payback, and so much more. This book brings all the Seahawks’ greatest players to life from Jim Zorn, to Dave Krieg, Kenny Easley, Curt Warner, Brian Bosworth, Cortez Kennedy, Warren Moon, Mike Holmgren, Ricky Watters, Chad Brown, Shaun Alexander, and more. This insider’s account also explores the lesser known characters whose stories inspire laughter, tears, and lasting lessons. Tales from the Seattle Seahawks Sideline is all about the people, proving through vivid anecdotes why the Seahawks are one of the most storied franchises in today’s NFL.

"With a Viking mascot and distinctly purple uniforms, the Minnesota Vikings have been known as the "Purple People Eaters." Their claim to fame began in the 1970s with head coach Bud Grant leading them into four Super Bowls. Young readers will learn more about the tenacity of the Minnesota Vikings."--