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Sept. 27, 1999
Gribble isveteran of 38 seasons ofSunday gamesBy BOB VARMETTE Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM -- Don Gribble of New Ulm has been going to Minnesota Vikings' home games since 1961. He estimates that he's only missed about a quarter of the games. That's a lot of football memories. But Gribble doesn't have to dig very deep to find the one that stands out. "It was the last game last year," Gribble said. "We were all expecting to go to the Super Bowl." In fact, Gribble -- a season ticket holder since 1961 -- had won the right via a lottery among season ticket holders to purchase a pair of tickets to Super Bowl XXXIII. His plans for the tickets, however, were dashed by Atlanta's 30-27 win in overtime in the NFC Championship Game at the Metrodome. "One of my sons had already bought the airline tickets," Gribble said. "He had already gotten the hotel reserved and everything, and then the Vikings lost the game. That was one of the biggest disappointments, really, because of all the plans that were made. "We were sure we were going all the way." Ah, but again the Vikings fell short of the prize. "You couldn't believe how quiet it was in there," he said. "You could talk just like you would everyday. There was no noise." Gribble's loyalty to the Vikings despite the disappointments of the past hasn't gone unnoticed. The Vikings have instituted a fan-recognition program and have created a series of pins and patches for fans who have had season tickets for more than five years. Gribble recently received his pin and patch honoring him as a Charter Member season ticket holder. Gribble has vivid memories of Sundays past -- images of great players, great teams and great games. "Fran Tarkenton was fun to watch," Gribble said. "He was really fun. He could get out of a jam better than anybody I've ever seen in my life. ... He was very good at what he did -- the way he scrambled and did get around." But Gribble also has not-so-fond memories of weather. He remembers driving on roads that made the trip a trek. He and his fellow fans drove through snow to get to the stadium, and then they sat in snow. Gribble looks back at games at Metropolitan Stadium when the ground crew had to clear the field of snow at halftime so you could see where the field was. It's different now. Sitting inside the warm Metrodome is something he much prefers, especially when he remembers game-time temperatures of 10 below zero. Sometimes the weather was too severe and watching the game on television proved the only option. "There were a couple of times I had to eat the tickets," Gribble said. "I couldn't get out of New Ulm. The last time wasn't too long ago, maybe three years ago. ... We were going to leave that morning, but we couldn't get out of town." Luckily, though, Gribble and his friends never got stranded somewhere in between -- either on the way or on the return trip. Gribble has no such concerns now. Gribble does miss the crowds at Metropolitan Stadium. He laments the loss of community, the way fans used to interact with each other, not only during the games, but before the games as well. He recalls that a trip to a home game meant arriving several hours early for tailgating. He said not much of that is done anymore. "We miss all the fun we had being out there, and meeting all the people," Gribble said. "Everybody mingled together. It was just a giant picnic. It's an entirely different atmosphere now. "When we went to the games up there, I'd see 50 or 60 people that I knew that went to the games every year -- the same people." Gribble and his wife of 60 years -- Marguerite -- first began attending Vikings' games with friends, and Marguerite still works herself into the rotation every once in a while, Gribble said. Gribble now usually attends games with his two sons -- Charles of Des Moines, Iowa, and George of Eagan -- and grandsons Donald, Elliot and Austin. Gribble -- a Kansas native who grew up in Alberta -- was a football fan long before the arrival of NFL football in Minnesota. Before the Vikings landed on the Minnesota sports scene in 1961 as an NFL expansion team, he had season tickets to University of Minnesota home football games. In fact, he regularly attended Gophers' home games until they moved out of Memorial Stadium on campus and began playing in the Metrodome. But Gribble chooses to live in the present. Like many Vikings' fan he's disappointed and a little perplexed with the team's 1-1 start in 1999. But he has a little more perspective than most. "They've got to make some adjustments, and they're doing that," Gribble said. "They're going to plug those holes up. Look at all the other teams -- there's nobody breaking out yet. We still have a good chance." The perspective of a veteran who has seen a lot of Sundays. A Vikings fan since 1961 |