Today I was going to work you into the next part of 23 Precisely. One line about football at the top of the blog was my plan. Guess you’d better come back Thursday for the story, this kind of got away from me.
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Never one to be too far behind on social trends….. well, we all know that’s hogwash. But as a native Minnesotan I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that October 10, 2016 marks the official beginning of the Vikings bandwagon. Yes, all of those people who keep their team flags hidden in the attic until they’re “pretty sure” can now take them out, fly them on their cars, raise them on the flagpole in the front yard (it had better be below the American flag), and hang them over their cube. Face painting at the office today is optional.
If you lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Packers stuff is on display year round. But while a mere 300 miles (and several large cheese shops) separate the two, they are culturally very different. Packers fans are not so much rabid as devout. Vikings fans are fickle.
Once the Vikings end their season there will be a gigantic round of “I told you so!” throughout the state. Doesn’t matter if they win the Superbowl, or blow it in the final game of the season. Nope, every idiot you ask will have predicted it just as it happened. I will not be one of those idiots. Not that I’m not an idiot, but I just can’t find a seat on the sports bandwagon at my age. Not that sports aren’t fun, that I don’t enjoy a few minutes of some games on television, or participating in some outdoor activities (snowshoeing anyone?) Instead, I simply find myself having invested too much of my enthusiasm in a hockey team that left the state and took my love of the sport with it. That spot of cancer spread to the rest of my sports body.
So while the nation debated third-string quarterbacks that kneeled when they should have stood, mourned baseball players who drove their boat up on the rocks, and ranted about some guy with wrinkly swimmer’s skin who lied about a robbery in Brazil, I spent that time with my wife and dog. We enjoyed a nice summer, worked on our house, sat on the back steps, and walked all over the cities. I listened to exactly 0.0 minutes of sports radio, read 0 paragraphs of the sports pages, but did watch some documentaries on sports on Netflix. Not a one was about the game, or the team, but usually about the fans or some special relationship among the players.
I don’t think I missed anything. And today I won’t be talking about Sunday’s game anywhere but right here. I like the Vikings management and players. I know them as people, not a franchise. And most of them are fine folks. I look forward to seeing them at the team party while I wear my purple suit. I don’t wish them ill, but I won’t grab the Ginsu and head for a bridge if they have a bad season.
That’s just me. The me who will still marvel at the bandwagon as it rolls by on the street. I just won’t get crushed beneath it. God’s given me too many other things to do.
Have a fantastic day. Wander back this week for more of the short story on Thursday. Perhaps some bon-mot on Wednesday. You never know: I have time on my hands.
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