Tommy Kramer Was My First
(My Last, My Everything…Ok I stole that from Barry White)

 

Tommy KramerWhen I first began watching football Tommy Kramer was the only quarterback I had ever known to have played for the Minnesota Vikings. There is a time in every young sports fan’s life when she or he honestly and earnestly believes that all that she or he has known is all there ever has been. 

Tommy Kramer was a passable starting quarterback and did have a handful of pretty decent years for the Vikings.  It was not until he left that I realized the fungible nature of NFL players and the legacy Minnesota Vikings football.  Tommy Kramer was let go by the team at about the same time that I began discovering the history of the Vikings.  Whereas once I believed that Tommy Kramer was who there was and had always been, when he left I was discovering Fran Tarkenton, the Purple People Eaters, and the four Super Bowl losses.  Watching Tommy Kramer play out his final season in the NFL in a New Orleans Saints jersey was a swift kick of reality and a giant step in learning
about the suffering that comes with being a Vikings fan.

 

While I don't have any good stories about Tommy Kramer slamming beers at the Rusty Scupper, you can read more about the disappointment that is being a Vikings fan in “My Least Favorite Team is My Favorite Team”