It doesn't feel real.
It's like this was all a dream that I should wake up from any second and still have the real game to look forward to.
But that's not how life works. Things rarely go according to plan.
More often then not the way that life unfolds is not how we expect.
In the grand scheme of things, Football is still a game. With all the horrible things that go on each day, it shouldn't matter as much as it does, but it does matter. I have an attachment to the Vikings that is hard to explain and most of the people who read this or are on the pages that it will be linked on have a personal investment in the Vikings.
But that logic, the fact that it's a minor, isn't much help.
So the game...
The whole game, after the first possession went so terribly that I barely even got the chance to be angry. The closest I came was after either the Jeffrey or Smith touchdowns. Another blown coverage. Another long touchdown. It was at that moment that the game was over, even though it was actually over after the pick six - we just didn't know it at the time. Never had a chance to be much more then stunned and disappointed. Shell shocked by what I was seeing. My frustration was like a firecracker - a quick bang and then nothing, it was over.
Maybe I'm exaggerating or maybe I'm misremembering but this team was not this bad going back all the way to preseason game number one. If they were this bad for that long at any point since the start, I must have blocked it from my memory. Unfortunately I don't think I can block this one from my memory. The latest in a history of failures that goes back to well before my time.
That is part of why I do this though. My own catharsis of all the sports grievances that happen. When they happen. Thankfully there are a lot more things to celebrate in the local landscape then there are things that need to be released. More positives than negatives. More good than bad.
Now comes the work. The draft. OTA's. Another season. But before it all, we still host the Super Bowl. How annoying is it going to be to have those smug Eagles fans in our backyard. My gut feeling is that they'll parrot Packers fans and be every bit as insufferable. Hate to say because their team has the young folk hero of the great white North Dakota. He won't be playing but they've got him and now we have to deal with all their fans...Avoid Minneapolis if you can.
As for the Vikings and the game at hand. Like I said, it just doesn't feel real. Other people will break down all the reasons why every facet of the defense was out classed. Why they so frequently seemed to all forget how to tackle. Even what doesn't need explaining will get thoroughly broken down because that's what people get paid to do - why the offense couldn't manage more than seven points.
I'll leave it to all those people to get stat heavy. To diagram plays that went wrong. Blown coverages and foibles in execution like we haven't seen. Some may want to gripe about the officiating. I'm tempted to myself but I think that's only because of the loss and the nature of the loss. If I were more emotionally detached I wouldn't even have that temptation, I don't think.
If you watched the game, you likely know how and why and when it all went wrong. If you listened to one of the game calls, you probably know. If you somehow don't know, you may actually be better off for it because that was a real waste of three hours.
Allow me to GIF the game:
A guy having a good time then without warning it all goes terrible wrong and his ride is over.
That's about as good of a illustration as I find
So we'll move forward. It's what we do. We survive some of the world's most harsh winters and sport season after sport season, endure disappointment. I gave in to my superstition this season with my appearance but not even I'm dumb enough to buy into the whole curse crap.
Bad ownership ✔
Terrible management ✔
Player misconduct ✔
There is very little that the frosty north hasn't gone through with all of it's pro teams (and several of it's amateurs as well).
I'll get to draft and off season stuff soon but for now swallow the pain and become stronger because of it. Take the latest lesson as another opportunity to not take field and court action quite so seriously. And if you do need to vent, find a way to do so in a way that's healthy & constructive. Because tonight did suck and venting is entirely justifiable. That's all I got.
Wait
Wait
No, it's not.
One last time until the Summer
