Painful
I left BG a message on this, but I could not stomach it Friday night. I gave it a shot, but it was like some new faddish food that everyone swears is the greatest thing on earth but it tastes bitter and awful and you can't understand why everyone likes it so much. Bad taste in mouth. I kept saying "You're not on my team. Go home."
4 Comments:
What was up with the standing ovation to start the game? Who are these quasi Vikings fans that are on board with him? I missed the first half of the game and only watched the what could have been part of the game.
August 24, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I missed the entire game... (I was busy packing up my apt, for what on Saturday I'll forever remember as the "big move" i.e. the last time I will ever rent a uhaul truck to move my belongings by muself...it was only 2 miles and it was something that I really wanted to do (bought our first place, which I'm very much excited about), but it was a royal pain in the ass...
Alas, I did not watch one minute of it, but I can already tell you that I'm sick about being asked what I think about Favre- I can only imagine how much worse it is in MSP or even Chicago. It still makes me sick to think about it, and I do not believe this will end well for us.
August 24, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Here's the deal, this 'Favre Zoo' is not going away, no matter what happens; we need to accept it and move forward.
End of the day, he makes us better over where we are right now, I can't argue with that. He was brought in to not win games as much as he was to not lose games we should win. You can't get around 16 years of hatred and scorn but what am I suppose to do? Not root for my favorite team? This doesn't define the franchise, it's part of it's storied history now. Look at the QB position for instance, we've had Tarkenton, Capp, Kramer, Wilson, Cunningham, Moon, Jeff George and Brad Johnson (2x) Gannon, Pep. I say 'join the list Favre' . . . Zygi Wilf wants to win a title and is spending the money to do it, something I have always wanted, now where do I get off telling him this is a bad move? He went out and got, say what you will, Berrian when we need a wide receiver, Jared Allen when we need a defensive end, he resigned Winfield when it was the right thing to do (HOFer?) brought in Hutchinson ~ all in the last 3 years. Now he brings in a QB that, granted the fan base has loated for 16 years, but gives him the chance to win?!?!?! Can't we all just kinda be adults about this thing?
On the bright side, no matter how this turns out, it burns 16 years of his luster in Green Bay.
August 24, 2009 at 9:50 PM
Life is so much more interesting for me when I disagree with jan. I don't feel I'm not being a grownup about this, though. To the contrary:
For one thing, I'm in a different position. The Vikes are No. 2 for me. Any success is great, but I'm a baseball guy first and foremost. For me, living in another market where, without spending $150 for a cable package, I only have 5 or 6 chances to sit and watch a Vikings game in a given season, it's a lot easier to take a principled stand and sort of give them up during this episode. I'm not pretending it's not happening, I'm just choosing not to participate. If they win the Super Bowl this year, I'll abstain from bandwagoning it and leave the fun to others. Jan is certainly right that this is now a part of Vikings history, but it's a part of Vikings history that, no matter how it turns out, to me makes the Vikings look desperate, and like the weak little sibling of the Packers. I feel like they're laughing at us right now. They may be upset at Favre personally for jilting them and sullying his legacy, but they're laughing at the Vikings.
The other point for me is more philosophical, I suppose: What does it mean to be a "fan" of a team? Can one get over the presence of the player from a team's bitterest rival on their own team? Yes, of course. But we're not talking just any player, not a left fielder or a right wing or a point guard. It's a QB: the position most determinative of success of any position in all of sports. And not just a QB, but a QB who personified that bitter rival for two decades. And not just a QB who personified that bitter rival for two decades, but one who also displays some pretty annoying personality traits and who managed to be so beloved by the media that that bitter rival received an unfathomably disproportionate share of love during those two decades.
To me, there must be an idea of what the "Vikings" as an entity is, to get a feeling for it vs. the "other." In the end, I have to be able to buy into the myth that it's more than simply a mercenary exercise in winning athletic contests and selling t-shirts. It has to be an idea about doing all that in a way that's different from others and that's reflective of the city or region the team represents. Otherwise, as Jerry Seinfeld aptly remarked, following a professional sports team today, with all the constant personnel changes and the like, is essentially the same as rooting for laundry.
Perhaps in today's NFL the idea I'm looking for is very close to a myth - in the salary cap and revenue sharing days there's a lot more similarity between franchises than there used to be. Nevertheless, I think there are still differences. One could certainly verbalize how the Patriots are different from the Cowboys. Similarly, the Vikings are not the Packers. And yet, Brett Favre IS the Packers.
August 25, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home