Bud Grant Drive

Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant was honored with a statue in Winnipeg last month. Before he was the Vikings coach, Grant was a player and coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He led the Blue Bombers to four Grey Cup titles in his 10-year Canadian coaching career. He might soon be honored in the United States as well. Two Minneapolis City Council members want to rename a block near the new stadium in honor of Grant. Bud Grant Drive sounds terrific.

The street, on the 600 block of Ninth Avenue South, is currently called Carew Drive after the former Minnesota Twins great. Plans have already been approved to move Carew Drive closer to the Twins new home at Target Field. Kirby Puckett Place is set to make a similar move. The Vikings and Twins used to share the dumpy Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. That stadium was blown up last February to make way for the new beauty set to open for the Vikings 2016 season. The Twins have been playing at Target Field since 2010. It's only appropriate that Carew Drive and Kirby Puckett Place surround that stadium.

Bud Grant is a Minnesota icon. He coached the Minnesota Vikings for 18 years. His teams won 11 division titles and made Super Bowl appearances in 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1976. If the Vikings had won even one of those games every street in Minnesota might be named after Grant. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. It wouldn't come as a surprise if he is honored with another statue in or around the new stadium.

The idea to honor Bud Grant with the street name came from the Vikings. The street name request came from City Council members Jacob Frey and Abdi Warsame. The Minneapolis Planning Commission approved the Bud Grant Drive name Monday. The request now goes to the Zoning and Planning Committee December 8 and to the full City Council December 12.

The Vikings would also like to replace Kirby Puckett Place with Vikings Way. That request hasn't been approved by the city. It had better be approved. If it isn't the new stadium will have a street address on Chicago Avenue. That can't happen.