Since Prince’s death in April, there have been no shortage of tributes to the man. In the sports world, a minor-league baseball team donned special purple jerseys; the Minnesota Wild had a pregame ceremony during the playoffs and changed their goal song to “Let’s Go Crazy” for at least one night, and the Minnesota Twins adopted purple lighting on its stadium with the team out of town and its players all used Prince walk-up music for a game.
With football season approaching, now the Minnesota Vikings are preparing to pay their respects in perhaps the coolest way possible.
According to ESPN, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater could incorporate Prince into his pre-snap signals based on what’s been heard during practice.
Peyton Manning had “Omaha.” Aaron Rodgers has “New York Bozo.” And now Teddy Bridgewater might have his own signature call at the line of scrimmage, to pay tribute to a Minnesota musical icon.
During the Minnesota Vikings’ first padded practice of training camp on Sunday, Bridgewater could be heard calling out a check at the line using the words “Purple Rain,” the name of Prince’s seminal 1984 film and album. The musician, who was born in Minneapolis, opened Paisley Park Studios in the Twin Cities suburbs and introduced the world to the “Minneapolis Sound,” also was an avid Minnesota sports fan who recorded a fight song for the Vikings after attending their 2010 NFC divisional playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Wouldn’t it be great if Bridgewater went a step further and used entire Prince songs when he wanted to draw the opponent offside on 4th-and-1? “Raspberry beret. The kind you FINDINASECONDHANDSTORE. Raspberry beret. I think ILOVEHER.”
An indirect great thing about this is on Sundays for four months, there will be drunken dudes in Vikings jerseys walking around their towns humming and quietly singing “Purple Rain” if Bridgewater treats it like Omaha. This may be the only thing worth caring about in the NFL this season.
(Via ESPN)
