Bud Grant and Living with the Bounce.

Article by Matty.

Recently I finished watching a documentary on perhaps the most cursed team in American football, the Minnesota Vikings. The only team in NFL history to never have three consecutive losing seasons. They’ve never had to rebuild but they’ve never reached the mountaintop of winning the Super Bowl, despite making four of them within an eight year span from 1969-1977 and having many more chances to get there in the years since. They’ve had transcendent talents such as Randy Moss, Fran Tarkenton and now Justin Jefferson. They’ve experienced countless heartbreaks and very few cathartic moments in their history. Yet the man at the center of the Minnesota Vikings history, now and forever, is their first truly successful head coach, Bud Grant. This article will serve as a sort of memorial for him and an account of the way he lived. Perhaps we could all learn some lessons.

Bud Grant, in one of his last public interviews in December 2022, made a simple yet profound point about the game of American football. “The ball’s an oblong shape. You can come up with the perfect game plan every time, but once that ball hits the ground, you can’t tell what will happen. You gotta live with the bounce. You can’t worry over what you can’t control”. So often I find myself trying to control every little thing. A perfectionist and control freak that struggles to handle things going against the way they reasonably should. This particular quote really spoke to me. You gotta live with the bounce.

Now Bud Grant was a guy who lived an awfully fulfilling life. One of only two people in American sports history to play in the top league of two different sports. Bud Grant won championships in the NBA and played in the NFL. He survived a deadly blizzard at the young age of 14. At 88, he led his Vikings onto the field in a short sleeve shirt when the wind chill was -35 Celsius. He led his teams to four championship games and lost all four. He didn’t care that much though. He always thought the Super Bowls were more an entertainment bonanza than pure sport and didn’t appreciate championships hanging on such a singular game. In an era where locker rooms were still segregated, he had black team captains. In an era when the NFL was firmly against player rights, Bud Grant went on strike with his players. His answer to so many questions about this? “I don’t know, it just seemed the right thing to do”.

I really enjoyed this documentary because I really grew to appreciate the man who never seemed to want the attention, but ended up getting it just because he was that damn good of a human being and coach. In many ways, he was a Shankly figure in a league and country that didn’t seem to develop any of those. But there’s a lesson to be learned from his way of life as well. To live with the bounce, no matter where it takes you. There are many things we cannot control, and if that’s the case then it shouldn’t be up to us to worry about such things. To do the right thing, to enjoy life and enjoy yourself. Simple things, sure, but things that seem to be forgotten in this day and age.