Vikings Fans Brimming With Excitement Ahead Of Home Opener
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) -- This time right before kick-off of a new season gets fans excited for what this year may hold.
People poured into B52 Burger and Brew in Inver Grove Heights to start celebrating with other fans before the game. Some of them are even former players.
Vikings fans like Skolt Scott are ready for this years season to begin -- there's a hype around it -- and people who bleed purple can't wait.
"There's the hope like you have with any sport and any team, you expect to do well," he said.
"I think people just feel the excitement throughout the whole year, and the anticipation for that first game," another fan, Emily Renault, said.
Former Vikings players says there's a different feel in the air this year.
"You've got Coach Zimmer, and Teddy, and Adrian is back," former Viking Defensive End Carl Eller said. "So all kinds of good things are optimistic."
Stu Voigt, who used to play tight end for the Vikings, says it's a great time to be a Vikings fan.
"I have a hunch we'll be a playoff team if not winning the division," he said. "Maybe a wild card spot."
Former Vikings linebacker EJ Henderson says it's the fans who have a hand in controlling how a game goes.
"The fans really bring the energy. They kind of set the tone for how the game's going to be," he said. "So if it's a Sunday night game, Monday night game, the energy really takes it up a couple notches."
That's what Vikings fans hope to bring in person and those who are watching from afar.
"I have the passion and the spirit to be there for my Vikings doing the best I can," Scott said. "If I can help encourage them to win, that's great. If I can intimidate the other guys to lose that's great too."
Fans at B52 say they hope their energy will translate all the way to San Francisco.
