Regression to the mean?
Sitting at 9-6, do we finish 9-7 but pull the classic 'back into the playoffs' or do we finish 10-6 and continue to root for the "New Era Vikes"?
Friend of this blog (and incredibly angry Vikes fan Brett Shogren) has decided that this year he will remain positive. I use that as my barometer for where we are headed and call it at 10-6, the division title, and a memorable Vikings run in the playoffs.
9 Comments:
Well, I feel Like Lucy just pulled the football away from Charlie Brown again. The only plus is that the Giants won and will probably rest their starters for part of the game.
Did we have our first guest poster on here, "Charlie" in the NFC Champs comments?
MCA, Kurt Warner 1 PT? If he put up a horrible number for a qb like 8, you still would have a shot. That has to feel like a gut punch.
December 22, 2008 at 9:23 AM
"Charlie" is a friend in Minny who I have been chatting up FTLOSBW to.
Humility might be a good thing for this team.
December 22, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Guys, this game was a total gut-punch for me. I am taking the attitude, however, that they:
a) Got all the fumble-itis and careless play out of their system
b) Will beat NY next week to clinch the division
c) Got carried away with the #2 seed talk and needed the dose of reality
d) Played well against the run despite missing Pat Williams
e) Got another good outing from T-Jack.
December 22, 2008 at 4:34 PM
rts, I cannot discuss FFL anymore today, this week, and probably until next summer. I've vented my spleen elsewhere already. Let's just say Kurt Warner would have to die rescuing my children from a burning building for me to forgive him at this point.
There were probably 15 times during the game yesterday where I said "Gus Frerotte does not make that play." Now, granted, some of those times were when, just for instance, T-Jac fumbled thirty yards backwards, or forgot to look toward the line in the shotgun and had a snap sail right past his head. But some of them were in connection with good things, like hitting Shiancoe on the run or escaping a collapsing pocket or scampering for 12 yards on a broken play.
AP will have the best game of his season next week to try to make up for yesterday. Either that, or he'll try so hard his head (or ACL) will explode and we'll always have fond memories of that one guy who was the best running back in the league for two years and then was never the same. Can't wait to see which it is. Oh, wait, yes I can.
It's all falling apart. We miss the playoffs at 8-8 and Jan never recovers.
December 22, 2008 at 7:22 PM
By the way, I'm fully aware of the fact that we're 9-6 right now, so technically we can't finish 8-8. Nevertheless, losing these last two games to see the Bears streak past us would certainly feel like it, and anyway, if we do blow it we don't deserve a winning record. So I will refer to it as an 8-8 season regardless, because it just seems more appropriate.
Also, I'm extremely tired and cranky today, if you couldn't tell.
- Scrooge
December 22, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Bah humbug.
As I was listening to local sports-talk radio on my drive home last night, Kevin Seifert was on discussing the Vikes and why we have choked 'big games.' He called the reason the Vikes can't win these games (at least in the last 10 years) 'institutionalized losing.' That notion can only be dealt with by completely ignoring it and setting a new course and telling all fans to get over themselves and start believing good things will happen versus bad things.
For example, after the Bears won last night every Vikes fan immediately thought "We're gonna lose to the Giants and the Bears are gonna beat Houston. It's all over." If you didn't think that, congrats, you're part of the New Era Vikes. If you did think that, slap yourself for me and get a new attitude, if you can't do that then find another team to root for cause we don't need you.
December 23, 2008 at 9:04 AM
I remember when I first met Jan and rts, and those days at the TeeMeeTeep with Stanch and bg, and I was the eternal optimist always trying to rally the spirits of four naysayers. Looks like we've come 180 - I'm Chicken Little and y'all are the positive thinkers. I guess we're just at different points on the "Life As A Vikes Fan" roller coaster.
Either that or it's a deep freeze winter, I haven't slept in 3 weeks, I still don't have Christmas presents bought for my wife, I just lost the FFL Bowl because of a guy named Tyler and somehow still have to pay money into the league, and we're in the middle of the Econopocalypse and I'm just a little salty this week. Sorry. I'll try to get the spirits up to get on board with you guys. That said, you created this monster of negativity in me re: the Vikings, so you have only yourselves circa 1999-two months ago to blame.
FWIW, I don't disagree that part of the Vikings' problem as an institution has been an acceptance of being just good enough. I don't, however, buy that the fanbase has anything to do with it. If fans thinking positive thoughts was a significant part of the formula for escaping consistent mediocrity, the Cubs wouldn't be going into year 101 without a title right now.
December 23, 2008 at 10:09 AM
I think I have come 180 this season because I realized that I was getting angry when our teams choked. Not like "oh poo, we lost" but more like "MOTHERFING GODDAM CRAPMONGER WHORE!" angry. I still have moments (on Sunday, I 'spike' a t-shirt I was holding when the Vikes fumbled again) but I am trying to just be positive and not take it personally.
That said, this honeymoon may be just that but I want to keep hope alive.
MCA - not sure what is going on in your life that has kept you up at night but I will say that the deep freeze of winter always puts me on edge.
As for fan impact, I know that there is no impact that the fans actually have on anything but when the 'energy' level is at 'we are gonna choke' there is something that happens. You don't think that Cubs fans sent that energy onto the field when they went down 1-0 after game one of the playoffs and everyone just got a little tighter?
December 23, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Perhaps that negativity led to some nerves. Moreso I think it was the crushing expectations coming from a century of failure, though. Which was the fault of the team. I tend to think, and have nothing to really back it up, that professional athletes play with little regard to what's going on in the minds of the fanbase before and after the games. Certainly, places like New York seem to argue differently.
Nothing in particular going on here, just a lot of holiday crap on top of being busy at work has led to a lack of full nights' rest. Such things as stuffing envelopes with Christmas cards at 1:00 in the morning, going to three Christmas parties in a row last Saturday night, and breaking down boxes from gifts and rearranging storage in the garage for two hours starting at about 11:00 last night. Makes me not enjoy the holidays the way they're intended. Everything feels like a chore, with no time for reflection.
December 23, 2008 at 10:50 AM
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