MANKATO, Minn. -- The little tree sends reminders everywhere. Planted a foot off a sidewalk in front of Minnesota State's Gage Hall, the tree stands 11 feet tall, puny among the giants surrounding it, and sports adolescent branches. But every Vikings player walks by from the practice fields to the cafeteria, and all have taken notice of the small plaque in front of it. In memory of Korey Stringer. 1974-2001.

No one is forgetting Korey, especially because he continues to make headlines. On Monday, his widow, Kelci, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, charging that a "perverse, insidious, and deadly culture has existed and continues to exist among NFL coaches, which unreasonably subjects players to heat-related illness during practices, ostensibly out of the twisted belief that players benefit from being subjected to such working conditions."

A "deadly culture?"

	“	My opinion of how we run training camp is we're overboard on the conservative side. For good reason, we're taking measures beyond anyone's imagination. ”
		— Scott Linehan, Vikings offensive coordinator

Those are tough words that don't strike any team harder than the Vikings, who still practice on the same fields where the 335-pound Stringer collapsed on July 31, 2001, his body temperature 108.8 degrees.

Stringer is still on the minds of so many around here, and the notion that the Vikings help to foster a "deadly culture" is a sensitive one, one that anyone wearing purple and gold strikes down quickly.

"My opinion of how we run training camp is we're overboard on the conservative side," says offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. "For good reason, we're taking measures beyond anyone's imagination."

On Tuesday, the fourth day of training camp, the measures were everywhere. The players practiced in the Midwest heat and humidity for 2½ hours. Frequent water breaks were taken. Huge umbrellas with water tanks underneath them moved from station to station in practice for easy access. Trainers looked on with eyes wide open. The players are weighed up to four times a day, and if one loses 1.5 percent of his body weight without replenishing it, he's held out of practice. Three years ago the team cafeteria was a stuffy steam room. Now it's cool and comfortable with portable air conditioners, some as large as a refrigerator.

Head coach Mike Tice is constantly harping on players to keep hydrated, because he hasn't forgotten and doesn't want to. Stringer's death is still with Tice, who was the offensive line coach in 2001, so much so that he politely declined to comment on Kelci's case. "I think about him every day," he said.

Ms. Stringer has previously filed a wrongful death suit against the Vikings and team physician David Knowles, but a judge dismissed it. The Vikings' staff's senses are ripe in monitoring players' health. Tice will run as hydrated-and physical-camp as he can.

"I think that because of the nature of the exhibition season, and how you play four games beforehand, you have only so much time for installation," says defensive coordinator George O'Leary. "You have to get into some sort of contact mode, and the only way to do it is to get out there and get it done. You don't want to be banging away into the season. If you don't work on your fundamentals of blocking and tackling this time of year, (there) is no other time."

On Tuesday, a day in which a second Jacksonville Jaguar (John Henderson) collapsed during workouts, the Vikings were, like almost every other team in the NFL, tired and beat up and already exhausted from camp. But they were hydrated.

"Camp is camp," said cornerback Ken Irvin, standing a quick slant away from Stringer's tree. "It's always hot. It's always hard. It takes a toll on your body. It's pretty much the player's responsibility to know when he's exhausted and when to back off. At some point it's our job to keep the trainers up to par on what's going on. They can't read how we're feeling.

"Every situation I've been in the coach understands. It's always been stressed to stay hydrated and drink your fluids and take care of yourself."

Seth Wickersham covers the NFL for ESPN The Magazine.