Bud Grant Quotes

First of all the name, and the color purple, I think those two things distinguish the Vikings as much as anything. You go anywhere in the country and say ‘Vikings,’ they know exactly where you are. You say ‘Cardinals,’ well, Cardinals who? There are a dozen Cardinals teams in the country in professional and amateur sports.

The day after high school, I was off to basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Station. You gotta understand, we didn’t care about sports. We wanted to win the war. We wanted to win the war! And at the time, we didn’t know if we would.

The quarterback is the most vulnerable one on the field. He’s in an awkward position a lot of times when he throws the ball. So he does have to be protected. You lose a quarterback, you’re in trouble. I don’t know if they can make it too safe. I think health becomes an issue.

Come September, the middle of September when the first frost comes, that’s hunting season. Fishing poles are hung up and the hunting season starts. You’ve got to be careful, if you’re a hunter, that it doesn’t become an obsession.

If you’re a coach, you’ve got to have a lot of confidence in what you’re doing. Your egos are so large that you know it all anyway if you’re a coach.

We never had anybody who froze to death playing football. You probably had somebody who died from heat stroke playing football.

There was a prison uprising at Alcatraz, and I drove the Marines over there in a landing craft to quell the riot. I am the only serviceman I know with an American Theatre ribbon.

Being cold for a short period of time is not life-threatening. You can perform a task when you’re cold. We proved that when the Vikings played outside.

Legislators are interested in their pet projects, getting re-elected, and popularity contests.

You have to remember one thing: Football is entertainment; it’s not life or death. Once the game is over, you’re already talking about next year and the draft. It’s just entertainment.

I happened to be in a position in Superior where I could play three sports, and when I came to Minnesota, I had the understanding they would allow me to play three sports. Kids now don’t have the same amount of time. You have coaches that think baseball is 10 months a year. Hockey is 11 or 12 months a year.

Over the years, I’ve always had one Labrador and usually two. I’ve had some great dogs, and I’ve had some dogs that didn’t work out. I found them good homes and gave them away.

Being cold is not debilitating. We learned that from the Eskimos. They could be cold, and they could function. And you could function better when you’re cold than when you’re hot. I mean, hot, you become overheated, and, you know, you lose energy. If you’re cold, you could function being cold. Now, frozen is different.

Cold is a state of mind.

I never use the word ‘hero‘ in sports. Hero is way above ‘star.’ I save ‘star’ for sports. Sports is entertainment; that’s all it is.