“I can only hope, however unlikely, that no one gets catastrophically injured at the trainwreck that’s about to take place tomorrow night,” that’s what Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe tweeted on his account: ChrisWarcraft tonight after the Vikings completed their walk-through at TCF Bank Stadium, the frozen home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Kluwe followed up that tweet, by re-affirming how serious he was:
“To everyone – that was a totally serious post on the field conditions. It is like walking on concrete. They took the tarp off at the same…(and later in a following tweet)…time they’ll take it off before the game. The problem isn’t heating it, it’s retaining that heat.”
Yes, this Monday night match-up between the Vikings and the Chicago Bears is shaping up to be a game with multiple storylines, and almost none of them involve football. Kluwe- isn’t alone, many Bears players have expressed serious concerns about playing on this field.
Kluwe later tweeted a thought-provoking point. Given that this is the year in which the league says they’re looking to do something about the concussion crisis…
“I find it interesting that the NFL can claim an emphasis on player safety, and then tell us the field is fine. It’s beyond hypocritical.” he tweeted.
He elaborates:
“The field is as hard as concrete an hour and a half after they took the tarp off, and anyone that hits their head is getting a concussion.
“Serious time – All respect to the people that cleared the field and got it ready, you did an amazing job. That being said, it’s unplayable.”
I know what you’re thinking, isn’t the NFL very rigid and centralized when it comes to message control? Do they really want one of their players saying something like this publicly? EXACTLY! And this tweet showed up later:
“I’ve been asked not to tweet anymore about the field so as not to distract teammates (who were there) and I will honor that. Time for WoW.”
And yes, WoW means “World of Warcraft.” You might notice his profile pic is an icon from a role-playing game. Kluwe is a self-described geek, and proud of it. And when I mean geek, I mean GEEK- he spends hours a day playing video games. In geekspeak, I wonder how things will go tomorrow night when a NFL game is played in the Ice System of Hoth.
If Kluwe’s concerns are legit, then excrement will indeed hit the ceiling fan.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank
He also does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com