MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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Mothman
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MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/31/nfl- ... i-disklike
Grant shares this advice from the seat of his office at team headquarters on a Saturday morning in January. In truth, lowered expectations have never been part of Grant’s résumé. He went on from a childhood polio diagnosis to become the only man to play in the NBA and the NFL. In 1953, he did something nearly unheard of—turn down an NFL contract for more money in the CFL.

“The Eagles offered me $8,000, and I went to Winnipeg for $11,000,” he says. “That’s not tough arithmetic!”

After he played there for four seasons, Winnipeg asked him to coach the team, and all he did was win four Grey Cups in five seasons from 1958 to ’62. Later, the Vikings’ run of four Super Bowl appearances under Grant forged his fame stateside and earned him permanent residence at the Eden Prairie headquarters.

And his corner office isn’t solely a Vikings museum as you might expect. He keeps the warped leather helmet his father wore for the Duluth Eskimos in 1926. Then there’s the black-and-white portraits of the two Minneapolis Lakers clubs with which he won NBA championships. (“George Mikan was one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around,” he says of the bespectacled Lakers great.) His walls are covered with portraits of multiple black Labradors he’s raised over the decades, and his desk is covered with mail. One fan sent a photo from an old newspaper depicting a teenaged Grant in his American Legion baseball uniform.

“People send me that kind of stuff a lot,” he says. “It’s great.”
The MMQB: If Marv Levy hadn’t lost four Super Bowls with the Bills, your team would’ve been the NFL benchmark for almost winning it all, over and over again. Do you feel more pride in having reached four Super Bowls, or ignominy for having lost them all?

Grant: We got paid. We won. We came back, and we won again and again. But 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. It’s like going to a play: When it’s over, you walk out the door and it’s over. There are no residuals to it. You’ve got to start all over again. If winning or losing is going to define your life, you’re on a rough road.
The interview features some great anecdotes from Grant about his dealings with Vince Lombardi.
autobon7
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Re: MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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Awesome read......thanks for posting
Cliff
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Re: MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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But 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. It’s like going to a play: When it’s over, you walk out the door and it’s over. There are no residuals to it
And people wonder why he didn't win the big game. Of course not with that attitude! :whistle:

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Mothman
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Re: MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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Cliff wrote: And people wonder why he didn't win the big game. Of course not with that attitude! :whistle:

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You had to say it, didn't you? ;)
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Mothman
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Re: MMQB interview with Bud Grant

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autobon7 wrote:Awesome read......thanks for posting
You're welcome. I thought it was great too.
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