Throwback Thursday: The Metrodome

I hate to jump the gun. Put the cart before the horse. I hate to speak of the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome as a thing of the past. There are just too many things can happen to dynamite the plans for a new stadium in Minnesota. I'm just optimistic that it will continue to come together.

The Minnesota Vikings moved into their new digs the same fall that I went off to college, 1982. It was a new beginning for both of us. I'm sure that was merely a coincidence. Nearly all of the Vikings legends of the late '60s and 70s had retired or had moved on to warmer football fields. The one that remained was head coach Bud Grant. Seeing Grant in the cold at Metropolitan Stadium was a natural. There was something very unnatural about seeing him indoors, on a carpet. He probably felt it as well. Grant would coach one more season but come out of retirement for another to make things right after the disaster of 1984.

The Minnesota Vikings began to change with a domed home. They moved to more of a speed team to take advantage of the fast track provided by the carpet. They started to draft differently. In came players like Darrin Nelson, Steve Jordan, Carl Lee, Joey Browner and Chris Doleman. The grind it out days of Bill Brown, Dave Osborn, Roy Winston, Stu Voigt and Carl Eller were in the past. It was sad and exciting.

The Metrodome made for a fun change. A different game. A much louder game. The team may have lost the home field advantage provided by the intense cold. They gained an advantage from the intense volume. The players loved it. It was always loud but never as loud as it was in 1998. Rookie receiver Randy Moss brought an explosiveness rarely seen in the NFL. A 15-1 season only increased the volume. They may have stolen the name from Mad Max but the Metrodome became the "Thunderdome." It was beautiful. The Vikings have had some success in the Metrodome, putting together a 159-94 record. Like their outdoor home, the Vikings never won the great prize in their indoor home. Hopefully, the Vikings change that in the 3-4 years they have before they move into a new home.

Despite the fun, the Metrodome was always a wreck. It was made on the cheap. The turf was like playing on gravel. During my lone visit there, I found seats behind pillars. Who does that? The mess that is the Metrodome was at it's awful best when the roof came down at the end of the 2010 season. Fortunately, it came down a handful of hours before the place was filled with people. It needs to be replaced but it did have a bunch of fun times.