Smoot, What A Hoot!

That's quite a little story coming out of Minnesota about an over-the-top cruise allegedly organized by Fred Smoot. Ninety-odd people, including 17 Vikings, went on two Lake Minnetonka excursion boats where "Animal House" behavior became so outrageous that the tour operators cut the trip short. From there, things get murky. Smoot insists he did not organize the trip. Other Vikings say they saw nothing of the shenanigans. The crew reports some of them were propositioned by guests. After the shortened cruise, the crew worked until 2:30 AM cleaning up the mess in the boats, removing little nasties like used condoms and tubes of KY Jelly. That explains in part, they say, why the incident wasn't reported until three days later. Unlike Monica, the crew did not keep the offending DNA evidence in their closet. They tossed it, giving the authorities little to grab, so to speak. The crew says guests took snapshots, that the authorities are trying to recover, as they cheered the playful acts.

The Vikings players have been told not to comment while the incident is under investigation. A few made earlier comments to the Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune. "Yeah, I was on the boat," said running back Mewelde Moore. "But I don't know exactly what the problem is because nothing happened." Moore said he "didn't see anything," including sex acts. The same article points out that not all members of the Vikings are accused of participating. Some acted in a protective manner when crew members were propositioned.

That the crew was traumatized is unfortunate. That Viking fans are traumatized by their on field play is nearly as unfortunate. This wasn't supposed to happen with Randy you-know-who traded to Oakland. And what would Randy say? Perhaps what Noel Coward said of the American army in World War II; "Over paid, over sexed and over here."

But nothing about this story sounds like Fred Smoot, who was always a stand up guy while with the Redskins, publicly at least. You'll have to prove his involvement to me. I have been on Al & Alma's boats, they are not that big. It is impossible to miss such incidents if they were of the scale alleged in the stories. That's not to deny that something happened. Until we know more, it's best to take this story with a few grains of salt.