As if it wasn’t enough of an offense that the Minnesota Vikings got buckets of money to build a brand new stadium…now it seems that their soaring glass design for the thing is an invisible wall of death to migrating birds, and they’ve refused to consider using bird-safe glass. I guess it’s going to be one of the unadvertised pleasures of watching the Vikings play, that you’ll get to stroll through scattered feathered corpses on the way in. Or maybe they think it will reduce regional unemployment, because they’ll have to hire people to pick up dead birds and wash blood splatters off the glass.
And it will be a lot of birds. We’re located in the great Midwestern flyway, where migrating birds pass through seasonally, taking advantage of all the lakes and rivers in the area for resting and feeding. Rivers like the Mississippi. Which the stadium is built near.
Look! Bird radar!
There’s a petition to the owners to use bird-safe design. Everyone should sign it.
Done.
I’ve had a very dim view of the Vikings since Kluwe’s revelations started coming out, and this doesn’t improve matters…
Sorry, Dr. Myers, the Vikings have already told the birds to piss off:
http://deadspin.com/audubon-society-calls-new-vikings-stadium-a-deathtrap-1609605076
@2 ianeymeaney
However, from the same linked website, it emerges that…..
— which suggests that a petition could be effective here, since these characters are flouting their obligations.
( However, one little complication. Is that term ‘requite’ in the above quote a typo for ‘require’, as I suspect? Or does it literally mean requite, as in, Minnesota is willing to finance or part-finance such measures? Either way, it should mean the team management is more amenable to protest. Should. )
Signed and shared.
Looks like a typo. The link in the article to the guidelines makes it pretty clear, since it’s about requirements and doesn’t seem to address compensation.
Vikings are showing especially after their poor PR handling of the anti gay joke, it seems blatantly obvious they live outside reality and the batshit is really deep. Consider since they’ve gone to a dome stadium the team hasn’t managed any real successful home advantage. I miss the snow filled outdoor games that made football interesting, fighting it out in the snow, mud and ice are the games that I enjoyed the most. Low scores and the game was won on the line.
Not really a petition; the site lets you send e-mails. But the default text is fine (except for the missing hyphen *grin*).
o_O
I suppose I should be glad that association football – football, as opposed to handball – plainly cannot be played on snow or other surfaces that make kicking a ball in a specific direction too difficult.
Done!
It’s not that hard to get rid of glass.
Good for local businesses as well …
@8 David Marjanovic:
The etymology of “football” comes from the meaning “a ball game played on foot” (as opposed to on horseback). So American football and association football fit the bill equally well, and both uses simply reflect the form of football (originally rugby or association) which was more popular in each country, and thus won the use of the general term.
Of course, given that horseback ball games aren’t popular at all these days, the distinction of being a ball game played on foot isn’t particularly relevant, but that’s etymology for you.
(For a Canadian-American living in Scotland like me, this is useful knowledge around Brits who think their game is named so much better. That, plus the fact that “Soccer” is originally a British term.)
Speaking of etymology, everybody knows that the proper pronunciation is “FOOBOW!”
For reference, see here
Is something wrong with the current stadium? (he asks sarcastically, knowing the answer already)
@ 14–It’s not there anymore.
Signed and then remembered seeing @ProBirdRights with it’s nearly 88k followers, so I tweeted out to them.
Stardrake
So I’m a tad behind the times. Correct my question to “Was there anything wrong with the old one before they tore it down?”
Ya the f’in roof collapsed.