The infamous Love Boat set sail 17 years ago today
The beginning of the Zygi Wilf era was a tumultuous one. After former owner Red McCombs spent years giving the team budgets that were minimal at best, he officially sold the team in the summer to Zygi and Mark Wilf.
The team they inherited had just traded Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss and quarterback Daunte Culpepper was coming off of an MVP-type season.
Instead of seeing success on the field right away, the Wilf’s had to deal with a myriad of scandals. Onterrio Smith being caught using “The Whizzinator,” head coach Mike Tice being caught scalping tickets, and one of the biggest scandals in NFL history: The Love Boat.
Love Boat: 17 years ago today. A life-changing, franchise-changing, state-changing event. Yes, it affected the reputation of the entire state of Minnesota. How do I know that? I've told this story before, but worth reiterating… https://t.co/GwSB0JiW6c
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 6, 2022
The event had all the elements of a popular scandal: sex, drugs and celebrities. There were 17 players identified as being on the two yachts that were rented from Al and Alma’s on Lake Minnetonka. The Star Tribune broke the story at the time and the details are insane.
“At least 17 Vikings players have been identified as being on the
yachts, he said. It was unclear how many were involved in
sex-related activities. At least 90 people were on the two yachts. The boats were ordered to return to shore just 40 minutes into what had been planned as a 3 1/2-hour cruise after supervisors learned of the alleged behavior.”
That fateful bye week expenditure, organized by free agent signee cornerback Fred Smoot, changed the course of Vikings’ history and left a massive wound on the history of the storied franchise. 17 years later, things have changed drastically for the Vikings, including a 77-page code of conduct that Wilf gave to the players after the incident.
Needless to say, this is an incident the Vikings wish they could forget.
