Tues. 12-30-2008
I have lived in Minnesota all my life. And the sports crowd up here has changed over the last couple of decades. Today’s supposed fans are somewhat schizophrenic. It’s like Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hide.
WHEN THE VIKINGS ARE WINNING: “We’re going all the way to the Super Bowl this year!”
WHEN THE VIKINGS ARE LOSING: “The owner is an idiot! The offensive line is terrible! Get a new quarterback! Fire the coach! Move the team to Los Angeles!”
It is extremism. We are either extremely FOR the team, or we are extremely AGAINST the team. Both of the extremes in this bipolar fanbase are radical, unrealistic, and unhealthy.
Sometimes the fans’ disappointment in a team is justified, such as that with Kevin McHale and the Minnesota Timberwolves. That is an example of an organization that has been on a downward spiral all of my adult life. We had a future NBA Hall of Famer in Kevin Garnett, but we allowed him to squander the prime years of his playing ability on a team that was headed nowhere. Thank God he found his ring elsewhere, because he certainly wasn’t going to get it here in MN. Calling for the removal of the Timberwolves’ leadership in this instance is justified because of the length of time and the extraordinarily bad results that have been achieved with that time. McHale’s dismissal is coming, and will be a celebrated day in Minnesota history.
Sometimes the fans’ disappointment in a team is the result of having the mentality of a 6-year-old and is totally unwarranted. This has been the case with the Vikings. When fans don’t get instant gratification, sometimes they begin to whine and complain. They don’t look at the small gains that are made, or at the long-term, or at the big picture. They are like Janet Jackson and only ask, “What have you done for me lately?”.
The Twins and the Wild seem to be exempt from this for the most part. Gardenhire gets results out of what seems like nothing, and he has done it consistently for a long time. People are realistic with the Twins. They enter the season with low expectations. And when they win, it is like an unexpected bonus. And Jacques LeMire gets a free pass because so many people up here remember what it was like to have no hockey team at all. Although I was listening to an interview with Jacques and it was difficult. I was thinking how I’d rather be having dental surgery right now than listening to this dude try to cut an interview. He is a horrible speaker. Only a true fan with the highest sense of duty could suffer through it.
As a head coach, Brad Childress was 6-10 in year #1. He was 8-8 in year # 2. And in year # 3, he is 10-6. Do you know what we call that? Progress. It is tangible, demonstrable results. And in the NFL there are more than a dozen teams who would give anything for such visible progress. Many teams have been sent home. But we are in the playoffs! How many other teams would love to be playing in January? A lot of fans in other cities would appreciate having a team that has gotten itself among the elite few who get to enter into the post-season. We won our division! Only 6 teams out of the entire 32 can make the same claim for themselves.
So why do our fans whine so much? We don’t like progress? We don’t like the playoffs? We do. But we like it IN OUR TIMEFRAME. The illustration of the 6-year-old I used earlier works perfectly. We started the year 0-2, and all of the blogging idiots in the world hit up the internet saying “Fire Childress!” and “Get a new quarterback!” and “Move the team to Los Angeles! Good riddance!”. Why? Because the team was not a contender fast enough. Because Tavaris Jackson (who has the gift) was not developed instantly. They forgot that NFL quarterbacks need time to develop. In year #1 in Eli Manning’s career, did you hear the NY Giants’ fanbase calling for him to be benched? No. But we do.
All of this came from over-blown preseason expectations. Because we made a few off season signings of free agents, people started talking about the Super Bowl. Really? I guess because the Vikings are the only team that makes off season adjustments to their roster, right? Wrong. But people are stupid sometimes. I have lived in Minnesota all my life. And every August during training camp people always say, “We made such and such a change. We got a certain player. This year is the Super Bowl for sure!”. It never fails. People set their expectations higher than reality dictates. And the higher the expectation, the greater the fall.
When the unrealistic expectations that they have set do not materialize, it is somehow the coach’s fault. It is the owner’s fault. It is the quarterback’s fault. It’s the offensive line’s fault. The person who feels let down never blames themself for jumping to unwarranted conclusions and having Super Bowl fantasies without just cause to do so. There has to be somebody else to blame for their sadness and disappointment.
The culture in MN has always been weird. It is full of liberal people who lead with the emotions as opposed to the brain. You could tell somebody, “The sky is blue” and they will respond and say, “So what you’re really trying to tell me is that the sky is red”. No, dummy. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. “But I’m getting the impression that you are basically saying that the sky is green”. Retards.
If you live and work here, you deal with beaming idiocy on a daily basis. You could tell someone, “Hello”. And they could go to people in authority, like the school principal or the boss at work, and somehow twist that “hello” into you harrassing and offending them. Next thing you know, you’re in trouble based on someone’s mental and emotional problems. Asking someone a question could result in them snapping on you. And their personality problem is somehow your fault. In their world, it cannot possibly be theirs.
You’re telling yourself that it cannot possibly be true. There cannot possibly be a place where that is the culture and the way of doing things. I have seen it on too many occasions to count. The term “Minnesota Nice” is the biggest myth I have ever heard. It was probably coined by someone wanting to attract tourists. But anyway, I have gotten off onto another unrelated tangent here. This is a topic for some other post.
There is a large segment of the population up here who are slaves to their emotions. They cannot function independently of them. This produces a culture where, if you don’t give them their way when they want it and how they want it, you will have to tolerate some whining, crying, and complaining.
Brad Childress has been a trooper through it all. Has he made decisions that I don’t agree with? Absolutely. Fining a guy for attending his grandmother’s funeral, calling certain players out publicly in front of the cameras, blaming the punter alone for Special Teams giving up punt return touchdowns, benching your quarterback of the future just because of 2 loses, etc. But to call for his job based solely on how he is doing according to my own personal agenda would be childish and stupid. When the smoke clears, are there results? Yes. So I must keep my mouth shut. The facts force me to. He is doing the job, and he is producing.
I admire the way he has suffered all of the nastiness and the criticism that comes with being a coach of a pro sports team in MN (except the Twins and the Wild). I admire how he has stuck to his game plan. When people called for his firing last year, I said that he had not been given sufficient time and it was too early to make such a judgment. But Childress supporters like myself were seemingly in the minority. My knowledge of the game of football as well as my devotion to my team were called into question by some because I was not critical enough of the coach. How backwards is that? I’m not talking enough trash about the team, therefore I must not be a true fan. People are stupid.
As we approach Sunday January 4th, the Vikings will be hosting a playoff game here in the Metro Dome against the Philadelphia Eagles. Vegas oddsmakers have the Eagles favored by 3 points. Philladelphia newspapers are talking like this is a game that they automatically expect to win. Oh, well. Keep on underestimating our team.
I say that win or lose, Brad Childress has made a case as to why he not only belongs as a head coach in the NFL, but he belongs as coach of the Vikings. Sure, anything short of a Super Bowl win will have our 6-year-old crying fanbase calling it a dissapointing season.
This is the same fanbase who whined and complained about one of the winningest coaches of all time (as well as one of my personal favorites), Dennis Green. This is the same fanbase that turned on Randy Moss, one of the greatest receivers of all time and also a charitable guy who did social good in the community, just because he showed a little bit of personality in his interviews. This is the same fanbase that did not even want to give Mike Tice a chance to coach the team. This is the same fanbase that turned their backs on Daunte Culpepper because he hurt his knee. This is the same fanbase that is now beginning to call for the benching of Adrian Peterson! Are they insane? Yes. They go too far. And this is the same fanbase that is led by the nose by our liberal local media, some of which are staffed by people from other towns who hate the Vikings.
Many people in MN do not think for themselves. They allow the media and the public school system to do it for them, and just accept the opinion communicated by those sources. It is kind of sad. But when the reporters decide to bury a once-loved athlete up here, you should see how the fans do a complete 180 on him and go from loving him to hating him. When you ask them the reason for their changed opinion, they say, “Didn’t you see the news?”.
But as for me, my preseason prediction of “lucky if we go 8-8″ has been surpassed. Winning the division was not on my radar. Being in the playoffs was not an expectation. I have to say that once they reached 9 wins, I told one of my pals, “Anthing that they do beyond this is gravy”. That is how we should see things. Not in the world we would like according to our own fantasies and wishes. But accoring to the world in which we actually and factually live.
Childress, well done. You have silenced the critics and led the team through adversity to a divison title. Without regard to future performance in the playoffs, as of today’s date I and several other fans out there agree that you deserve to be where you are. And we are glad to have you as coach. Keep doing what you are doing.
Tavaris, many of us out here see the gifting and the talent. We know what will be, and it excites us. Don’t let the excesses of nutcases get you down. You are NFL-caliber. And I look forward to the day when you make them all eat their words.
This is an article no media person in Minnesota has the guts to write. So I had to.
I love the Vikings. Win or lose, just give 100% and make a good showing in the playoffs!
bjshanley@hotmail.com
