Weekend reading: A long (and interesting) story about the stadium

Maybe you're tired of the debate over the Vikings stadium and don't want to read another word.

But Upload suggests you suspend all objections and settle in to read this narrative from Grantland.com of how the stadium bill came to pass. If you're going to the lake this weekend (or have time to kill during a Target Field rain delay (or a Twins pitching change), print it out and take it along.

Characters in Steve Marsh's story range for the lobbyists to the lawmakers to Larry (Spoons) Spooner, the guy who you probably saw in photos wearing a Vikings jersey and shorts among the decision-making suits.

Here's a brief passage:

"I try to be a progressive-minded guy that cares about schools and the arts and the downtrodden and the sick, but sitting there on the bench beneath the capitol rotunda, listening to Spoons's symposium beneath the statues of long-dead Union generals, I suspected that deep down, something might really be wrong with me. Because the only guy speaking my language here is wearing jean shorts.

"So I recognize my purple guilt, but the other side really does seem to be acting far less reasonably on this one. For instance, the afternoon that Roger Goodell was at the capitol, I ran into an old liberal dude upstairs who said he was a card-carrying member of the Occupy Movement. Seemed like a nice, compassionate guy. But when we got down to discussing the endgame of his anti-stadium position, he looked me in the eye and said, 'We were Packers fans in the '60s. We can be Packers fans again.' "

Now, go read the rest.