Twelve men
Written by Lacie Cunningham Friday, 05 February 2010 08:00
In a recent article, Bill Simmons wrote about how the supportive fans of the Minnesota Vikings are the second most tortured fan-base in all of sports. Only just behind the Chicago Cubs.
If you sit and ponder that for a minute, of all the professional sports team from hockey to football, the fans of the purple and gold are being called the second most tortured fans. And I believe we deserve (I use that term loosely) that title.
In my mind, this title could also be extended to the fans and teams behind the recent Twins seasons and the Timberwolves self-destruction.
From the still-fresh-in-our-minds collapse of the Twins, in what could be one of their last years with the Golden Boy Mauer behind the plate, to the JV team that has made its home in the Target Center to having 12 men in the huddle, Minnesota fans everywhere have suffered their fair share and then some.
“There is always next year” is somewhat of an annual saying for Vikings and Twins fans after the predictable choke session that the teams consistently provide.
The Timberwolves, well, they’re a whole different story. One that involves less “there is always next year” and more of “can tickets actually get any cheaper next year?”
The series of mistakes in the NFC Championship game left me feeling as if I had just got dumped by the guy that all your friends told you not the get your hopes up for, but you went and fell in love with anyway.
I have had my fair share of losing in my glory days of high school. My basketball and volleyball teams were definitely what you could describe as success-challenged.
I never played on a team that was over .300 in my four years of school, so it’s not the losing that I’m not used to.
Maybe winning championships is overrated. Maybe it’s better to never know how good it can feel so you never have to miss it when you sink back down to a non-playoff team. You could ask any of the Steelers fans about that feeling.
Even though I will never leave the purple and gold, or the Twinks, behind for greener pastures (and I cannot guarantee that a championship will come anytime soon) one thing I can promise is that when that first ring comes to the Midwest – no matter the sport – I will be calling in sick the whole week.
