Family Day at #VikingsCamp! pic.twitter.com/ChrVxlkdSO
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 2, 2015
Late on Saturday night, the Minnesota Vikings Twitter account posted a lovely photo showcasing Family Day at the team’s training camp. Family Day’s a great idea, since players are traditionally sequestered together for weeks to build teamwork and reduce distraction amid preparation for the upcoming season.
Inviting players’ families is reminiscent of family days at summer camp, when excited preteens would show their visiting parents the craft-project abominations they were working on and everyone would eat overcooked corn at the barbecue together. However, when Adrian Peterson is the father in the Vikings’ Family Day photo, he conjures memories of something much worse than soft corn.
Literally EVERYONE ELSE on the Vikings’ roster is less closely associated with child abuse, which is the distinct opposite vibe from the one that a family day is supposed to cultivate. Twitter has been letting the Vikings have it over this cute-but-tone-deaf photo:
https://twitter.com/defmarlo/status/627698624085008384
https://twitter.com/MannyElk/status/628215429123735552
@thedekestokes @TBECamero pic.twitter.com/fkWF9fOKHH
— Eric (@bikeman04) August 2, 2015
https://twitter.com/SportsGuyNOLA/status/628222585755541504
@Vikings @thekapman how does the vikings team send that out. Are you kidding me. Is the team pic on a party boat too? #sickinthehead
— tim ghidotti (@Repoman33Tg) August 3, 2015
There are thousands more, between the hundreds of “SMDH” tweets and jokes that are inevitably in the poorest of tastes. For all the demands for an apology, none has been forthcoming from the Vikings so far — not that it’s obvious that they should apologize. After all, even staged, it’s a tender moment between a father and a son.
One can’t really apologize for context — but they could take the photo down, because the backlash hasn’t slowed down yet.
