The loud speakers blared once the Saints’ Hail Mary pass attempt fell harmlessly to the turf. The song choice was obvious for anybody who has been paying attention.

As the Vikings celebrated their fifth straight win last weekend, defeating New Orleans at home, the power vocals of the rock band Creed echoed throughout U.S. Bank Stadium.

The vibes were immaculate with the late 1990’s smash hit “Higher” serving as the soundtrack of the moment. Then the audio strategically cut out with the song approaching its chorus.

Naturally, a large portion of the 66,933 fans in attendance took over for lead singer Scott Stapp, shouting every word in unison.

Can you take me higher?
To a place where blind men see
Can you take me higher?
To a place with golden streets

“That was awesome,” Vikings center Garrett Bradbury said. “The whole crowd was singing it.”

How did this happen? How did a 24-year-old song somehow become synonymous with the Vikings?

It started about a month and a half ago when the Vikings played it before a win over the Bears in Chicago. Usually, linebacker Brian Asamoah is the keeper of the aux cord, meaning he’s in charge of getting the Vikings hyped up before they take the field.

“I embrace it,” Asamoah said. “I’ve been the DJ everywhere I’ve gone.”

Though he has a number of curated playlists designed for pregame, Asamoah isn’t too proud to take requests. He knows it comes with the territory of being the DJ in the locker room. Thus, Asamoah obliged when Bradbury asked him to play Creed, even if he had no idea who the rock band was at the time.

“I played it and everybody was turning up,” Asamoah said. “We ran out there and won the game and never looked back.”

The first reference to Creed came from franchise quarterback Kirk Cousins after the Vikings beat the Bears. He went out of his way to mention that “Higher” was playing in the locker room before the game. He joked that it might have made the difference.

“We thought we’d mix up the genre a little bit,” Cousins said. “Get some Creed in there. It was Garrett who made sure it happened. It was well received.”

It picked up some steam the following week as the Vikings played it again before a Monday night win over the 49ers at home. The recognizable guitar chords hit pregame while Cousins was getting his ankles taped, with Bradbury doing some bodywork alongside him to get loose.

“He goes, ‘I’ve got to go enjoy this with the boys.’ ” Cousins said of Bradbury. “He gets up and goes in the locker room.”

The song continued to play while a group of players gathered for their weekly prayer before the game. As they went to turn off the music, veteran safety Harrison Smith offered a counterpoint regarding the song and its chorus.

Can you take me higher?
To a place where blind men see
Can you take me higher?
To a place with golden streets

“He said, ‘Guys, this is the prayer,’ ” Cousins said with a laugh. “I thought, ‘That’s pretty good.’ ”

Not everybody on the Vikings was privy to the rock band before it organically became a part of this season.

“The only Creed I knew was the boxing movie,” star receiver Justin Jefferson said. “I did not know about no Creed until Kirk started playing it in the locker room.”

It was a similar reaction from journeyman quarterback Josh Dobbs after he arrived from Arizona at the trade deadline He remembers hearing it before the Vikings played the Falcons in Atlanta

“I was in the locker room before the game and somebody’s like, “Turn on Creed!’ ” Dobbs said. “Obviously, it’s a little bit different than the typical locker room pregame.”

He proved to be a quick study. After leading the Vikings to an improbable win that day in Atlanta, Dobbs posted a hilarious video on TikTok to thank the fan base for the warm welcome. The backing track? None other than Creed.

“I had to get up to speed on it all,” Dobbs said. “I’m taking it and running with it.”

So are the Vikings as a whole.

“It’s kind of becoming an anthem,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said. “It gets us ready to go. It’s funny how that works. All the guys get amped when they hear it.”

It’s only right that Cousins has remained a part of the narrative despite suffering a torn Achilles tendon that will force him to miss the rest of the season. Ask anybody in the locker room and they will immediately credit Cousins with starting the movement. Fittingly, he was spotted at TCO Performance Center this week, wheeling around on his scooter, wearing a shirt with an image of the rock band plastered on the back.

There’s absolutely no doubt the Vikings will blast Creed before they play the Broncos on Sunday night in Denver. They are a perfect 5-0 since “Higher” made its way into the locker room about a month and a half ago. It’s become an unspoken thing at this point.

“It’s every game now,” Asamoah said. “They look at me like, ‘You know what to do.’ ”

He pushes play, and 1 minute, 14 seconds later, the chorus plays.

Can you take me higher?
To a place where blind men see
Can you take me higher?
To a place with golden streets

“I didn’t even know the words like a month ago when we first started playing it,” left tackle Christian Darrisaw said. “Now I do. We’re embracing it. We know before we all go out there on that field, we’re going to listen to some Creed.”

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Vikings at Broncos (-2½)

The Vikings this week brought back former standout linebacker Anthony Barr and added him to the practice squad. If this reunion proves successful, the Vikings no doubt will quickly inquire about the availability of Dalvin Tomlinson, Jared Allen and Alan Page.
Pick: Vikings by 7

Alan Page is interviewed after he and his wife, Diane Page, show artifacts from their collection at their Minneapolis home on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. They have an extensive collection of African-American artifacts, including many Jim Crow pieces. They are looking for a venue to display the items because they believe the items are matters relevant to current racial happenings in the country. (Jean Pieri / Pioneer Press)

Eagles at Chiefs (-2½)

Philadelphia’s burly and bearded Jason Kelce was surprisingly named to People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive list for 2023. The Eagles’ center narrowly beat out his brother Travis, Larry the Cable Guy and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad.
Pick: Chiefs by 3

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – MAY 11: (L-R) Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles watch game six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the 2023 NBA Playoffs between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on May 11, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
At left a March 1, 2003 photo obtained by the Associated Press shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan. At right, a photo downloaded from the Arabic language Internet site www.muslm.net and purporting to show a man identified by the Internet site as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sep. 11 attacks, is seen in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The picture was allegedly taken in July 2009 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and released only to the detainee’s family under a new policy allowing the ICRC to photograph Guantanamo inmates, ICRC spokesman Bernard Barrett said Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. A federal law enforcement official says professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators are being referred to the system of military commissions for trial. (AP Photo/www.muslm.net)

Buccaneers at 49ers (-10½)

Reports of the Niners’ demise proved quite exaggerated as they ended a three-game losing streak with a blowout victory in Jacksonville. While San Fran’s sudden revival took some by surprise, former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said he saw signs.
Pick: 49ers by 18

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. (Tribune News Service)

Bears at Lions (-9½)

Detroit coach Dan Campbell advised fans nervous about his fourth-down gambles to start putting on diapers before games. Many Lions mavens who were alive when they last won an NFL championship in 1957, though, have been using diapers for quite some time.
Pick: Lions by 3

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell addresses the media after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Raiders at Dolphins (-11½)

It became official on Wednesday that baseball’s Oakland Athletics have joined their Coliseum neighbors the Raiders in relocating to Las Vegas. So that’s the second time this decade that a pro team has moved to The Strip from a dump..
Pick: Dolphins by 17

Signs hang in right field at RingCentral Coliseum during a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Steelers at Browns (-3½)

The Browns’ Deshaun Watson said he is “in disbelief” after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. It’s a feeling shared last year by Cleveland fans who were “in disbelief” that the franchise committed $230 million to a massage freak.
Pick: Browns by 7

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – NOVEMBER 12: Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns is tackled by Jadeveon Clowney #24 of the Baltimore Ravens during the first quarter at M&T Bank Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Cowboys at Panthers (+10½)

Carolina coach Frank Reich says he is taking over play-calling duties for the Panthers. The move was immediately mocked by Panthers fans who recall Reich is the same dolt who drafted Bryce Young instead of C.J. Stroud..
Pick: Cowboys by 17

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – NOVEMBER 09: at Soldier Field on November 09, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Cardinals at Texans (-5½)

Kyler Murray returned from his severe knee injury to lead Arizona to a rousing comeback victory over Atlanta. While the victory doesn’t guarantee that the Cardinals’ 2024 quarterback will be named Kyler Murray, it means he almost certainly will not be named Caleb Williams.
Pick: Texans by 3

GLENDALE, ARIZONA – NOVEMBER 12: Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals scrambles against the Atlanta Falcons during the third quarter at State Farm Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Mike Christy/Getty Images)

Chargers at Packers (+2½)

L.A. coach Brandon Staley says he’s going to remain the defensive play caller and is not making any major changes to the Chargers’ poor defense. He feels any major alterations should be made by whoever succeeds him as coach in a few weeks.
Pick: Chargers by 3

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 16: Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley reacts in the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium on October 16, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Jets at Bills (-6½)

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen says it hurts that Ken Dorsey was fired and says the offensive coordinator would still have a job if he and the Bills played better this season. Allen also determined that the sun rises in the East, and water is wet..
Pick: Bills by 7

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 13: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills carries the ball against the Denver Broncos during the third quarter of the game at Highmark Stadium on November 13, 2023 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)

OTHER GAMES

Titans at Jaguars (-6½):
Pick: Jaguars by 7

Giants at Commanders (-10½):
Pick: Commanders by 8

Seahawks at Rams (+2½):
Pick: Seahawks by 7

TAMPA, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 12: Will Levis #8 of the Tennessee Titans reacts after being sacked during the first quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Bye weeks

Falcons, Colts, Patriots, Saints

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick watches from the sideline in the second half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Record

Week
8-6 straight up
7-7 vs. spread

Season
92-58 straight up (.613)
77-73 vs. spread (.513)

You can hear Kevin Cusick on Wednesdays on Bob Sansevere’s “BS Show” podcast on iTunes. You can follow Kevin on Twitter — @theloopnow. He can be reached at kcusick@pioneerpress.com.

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It was April 23, 1997. A dreary evening inside a hotel lobby in northeast Wichita, Kansas, when Dave Snow summoned his team.

What followed inside that landmark meeting ground on the outskirts of the Shockers’ campus has become Long Beach State baseball folklore. It’s the Brandon Hyde story his former teammates retell. A watershed moment for the future Orioles skipper who helped pilot one of the greatest regular-season turnarounds in Major League Baseball, good for AL Manager of the Year finalist recognition.

Snow, a veteran baseball coach at Long Beach then in his ninth season, just watched the No. 17 Dirtbags drop back-to-back games in as many days to the 20th-ranked team in the country. They were 27-18 and fading. Snow was befuddled. He could feel the threads that stitched the group together slowly unraveling.

When a Wichita State base runner stole second earlier in the day and nobody was there to cover, the throw sailed into center field. One example of a costly miscommunication turned on-field disagreement that escalated toward a near-physical altercation in the dugout.

“We were struggling,” assistant coach Jon Strauss said of the 14-3 shellacking and 6-5 loss. “We had some issues. Guys weren’t on the same page. Things just weren’t going well.”

Snow was atypically short-spoken in that hotel lobby. He put the onus on his players. There was a brief, still moment. Hyde, a fifth-year catcher whose lack of playing time and reserved reputation didn’t make him the obvious choice, offered to speak.

Based on the collective memory of several Dirtbags present that spring day 26 years ago, Hyde’s speech went something like this:

You guys don’t know how lucky you are. I come to practice every day like you guys. I don’t complain about it. There’s other people around here that don’t complain about it. They come out here, they support you. And you guys don’t wanna work. You don’t understand the opportunities you have. Yeah, we lost tonight. But don’t let that be an OK feeling.

Listen, this could be our last chance this season. For some of us, our last chance ever. You have an opportunity to do something. What I do every summer is I work construction. I do stuff. I don’t get to do what you guys do [play baseball]. I do construction and come back here. After this [season], I’m done. I’ll probably do manual labor forever. I’m gonna tell you something. Work is a—. I don’t want to go work a real job. I want to keep doing this and have fun with you guys.

“It was like a mic drop,” former infielder Mike Stembridge remembers. “He just sat down. And there was nothing uncomfortable or uneasy about it. It was kind of like, ‘Yeah someone had to say it.’ … It sure showed that he had leadership qualities and he had that ability to lead men well before anyone realized that’s where his path was going.”

“That was the thing that always stood out because he wasn’t a big speech guy,” added Jaron Madison, a former Dirtbags outfielder now a special assistant to the Chicago Cubs’ president and general manager. “But he got his point across in as few words as possible and guys respected him.”

When Hyde speaks, even now, there’s no grandiosity in his voice. No physical exuberance. His effectiveness comes across in the low-baritone delivery and barrel-chested stature he’s had since college.

In Wichita in 1997, the right-the-ship monologue sparked six straight wins. The Dirtbags cruised through New Mexico State, No. 25 Cal State Northbridge and UC Santa Barbara, eventually finishing atop their conference with an overall record of 39-26 and earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament Regionals at LSU.

Hyde’s most memorable moment in two years with the Dirtbags (1996-97) was unequivocally the hotel lobby speech. But his shining contribution on the field came against Oklahoma in the first round of the 1997 postseason.

Marcus Jones pitched a two-hit shutout while Hyde blasted a homer that Jones recalls “might’ve put a hole in the LSU scoreboard” in a 1-0 win. The Dirtbags lost to South Alabama in the next round but charged out of the double-elimination loser’s bracket, later falling to LSU, the eventual champs, in the regional semifinal.

‘Understand the mentality’

Former players talk about the Dirtbags with a certain reverence, opposite its colloquial connotation. They wear the name like a badge of honor. It’s indicative of a hard-nosed style of play despite its perplexing nature.

The name traces to 1989, Snow’s first season coaching a team that better resembled the “Bad News Bears.”

In those early years, Long Beach State practiced at nearby Whaley Park, an all-dirt infield where barren soil left dogged players beaten, bruised and sullied. Assistant coach Dave Malpass nicknamed it Dirtbag Field. The previously named 49ers finished 14-45 in 1988. A year later, amidst a remarkable turnaround to 50-15, their newly formed reputation had been born.

Snow had a knack for recruiting guys with some callus. A band of misfits, as Madison called them. The rough-around-the-edges types who maybe didn’t see as many high-profile offers to fit the Dirtbag way.

Like Hyde, who took the junior college route in his hometown of Santa Rosa then jumped to St. Mary’s College of California before walking on at Long Beach in 1996. To keep his baseball dream afloat, he worked summers in construction back home. Hyde even spent his redshirt season as a part-time bouncer at Acapulco Inn, the campus’ local watering hole, to make a few extra bucks.

That was the mold of a Dirtbag — the groomed and highly touted need not apply.

“It was because of the grit that those guys showed [in 1989] and the willingness to do whatever it took to get work in,” Jones said. “It’s like living up to them and what they had to do to survive.”

There was a standard that needed to be met.

First baseman Jeff Tagliaferri remembers certain practices running well into the night. There, they’d repeat drills in the darkness until getting it right. Snow used to also hand out blank hats with shorts and sneakers on the first day of practice for them to work out in. That was a long-standing custom requiring players year after year to exemplify what it meant to be a Dirtbag before rewarding them with the moniker.

“You start to understand the mentality of it,” he said.

Seeing the familiar persona on a much greater stage in September 2021 perked up the ears of a few Dirtbags. Hyde had a quasi-viral moment when the manager was caught on a hot mic in a tiff with Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Robbie Ray. Ray seemed to take issue with a lively Orioles dugout, to which Hyde responded using some colorful language in his players’ defense, later admitting he felt like they were being unfairly accused.

“I loved every second of that because that’s how we were,” Jones said. “Don’t look over here, don’t peek your head in our dugout. We’re gonna call you out for it. And if you wanna get after it, let’s go! That’s what I loved about Brandon. Brandon wasn’t very outspoken. … until [it] hit the fan then the grizzly bear came out.”

Dirtbags watching the rebuild

Hyde was hired to manage the Orioles shortly after the 2018 season. He was plucked from the Cubs to inherit Buck Showalter’s 47-115 team that finished at the bottom of the league.

At the time, reactionary ambivalence washed over Hyde’s former teammates. On one hand, it’s a joyous moment for a friend to reach the pinnacle of coaching in baseball. On the other, they thought maybe he’d been hired only to be the fall guy of an organization seemingly lacking clear direction.

“My thought was, ‘Oh [expletive], that’s gonna be a tough job,” Tagliaferri said. “I would’ve said the same thing if Joe Torre was getting the job. It just was gonna be a tough road.”

“You know what happens in these rebuilds,” Strauss said. “You bring a guy in to lose and right when you’re ready to win, you bring in Joe Maddon. Or you bring in another big-time guy.”

Credit the courage of Hyde leaving St. Mary’s to walk on at Long Beach. Maybe the extra jobs in and out of season to stay afloat for extra motivation. Or the Wichita State blunders that forced Hyde’s hand at his only team address in two years. The Dirtbag nature of earning everything every day and every year, his former teammates say, surely guided him to becoming an effective manager in Baltimore.

It more notably helped Hyde maintain control of the wheel, navigating the Orioles through a soul-sucking rebuild, climbing from 110 losses to 101 wins in two years and earning the organization’s first playoff appearance since 2016, despite a 3-0 sweep to eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.

When the final out was recorded in the Orioles’ AL East division-clinching win over the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 28, Hyde emerged from the dugout holding back grown-man tears. Former Dirtbags outfielder Chuck Lopez, who bums an MLB streaming subscription off a friend to see his former teammate, watched the scene unfold in 4K from his home in Murrietta, California.

“HYYYDE,” he texted from 2,600 miles away, as fireworks lit up the Camden Yards night sky.

Lopez quipped maybe Hyde told his 2023 team the speech from college. Maybe he felt the resemblance of not wasting an opportunity as the Orioles closed in on their first 100-win season since 1980 and first AL East title since 2014.

Stembridge was streaming history from his laptop. He works as a physical education teacher in Los Alamitos, California, catching innings in his office between classes to see Hyde as well as Anthony Santander and Félix Bautista — both were on his fantasy baseball team.

Luke Fitzpatrick played with Hyde in college and the minors. “Probably more than anybody I played with,” the pitcher said, “you’re like, ‘Oh, this dude’s gonna be a coach.” Fitzpatrick and his baseball-crazed son have been following every stop along Hyde’s career, starting in the Florida Marlins farm system in 2005, up through Chicago. And now at the helm in Baltimore, winning the league’s toughest division with the second thinnest payroll in the majors as a strong candidate for Manager of the Year.

“He’s earned it all, nothing has been handed to the guy,” Strauss said. “Dirtbags are guys that have to earn everything themselves. Nothing is handed to them and he’s the perfect example. Original Dirtbags, old-school Dirtbags, this is how we see Dirtbags. It’s not a marketing tool for us. It’s the way we played, it’s what we earn and Hyde is definitely a Dirtbag.”

()

After more than two weeks of searching, crews have found the body of a second southern Minnesota man who went missing while canoeing in northwestern Wisconsin last month.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the body of 27-year-old Andrew DeRock was found Wednesday afternoon in the Minong Flowage in Douglas County.

DeRock and 26-year-old Ryan Busch — both of New Ulm — had gone missing on Oct. 28 after their canoe capsized. Searchers found Busch’s body last week.

The sheriff’s office said that weather conditions at the time of the incident were not considered a factor in the canoe capsizing, as conditions were calm and clear at the time.

Authorities said weather conditions and underwater obstacles did hinder search efforts over the past couple of weeks. The search involved multiple agencies from across the region, including the St. Louis County Rescue Squad from Minnesota.

Douglas County Sheriff Matt Izzard also acknowledged local businesses and residents in the Wascott, Wis., area who assisted searchers by keeping them fed and sheltered.

“The families truly appreciate the overwhelming support from the community,” Izzard wrote.

A visitation for Busch is planned for Sunday, ahead of a Monday funeral service in New Ulm.

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