I realized something yesterday, and most Vikings fans will accuse me of being a fair-weather fan for saying it...
... I really am not a Minnesota Vikings fan.
I USED to be, but somewhere in the last ten years or so, I've stopped living and breathing Viking's purple and gold. Oh, I still ENJOYED the Brett Favre years, especially that first one, but that's way different than being a super fan of the team. Tice, Childress, and Frazier have managed to knock the stuffing out of me.
What I am is a fan of great (or at least very good) football. What I saw on the field at noon yesterday was not great or even good football. What I saw was two very pathetic, poorly coached, poorly prepared teams attempting to play a game that I love, and making a mockery of it.
The Lions are not a good team. They made so many horrible mistakes in the first half that they shouldn't have even BEEN in the game at halftime. Yet they went into the locker room only trailing by a point.
Christian Ponder is NOT an NFL quarterback. He single-handedly kept Detroit in the game until half-time and then handed it to them in the second half. I kept turning the game off, but for a change, it was not in disgust. What I realized is that I just don't want to watch bad football any more than I want to watch bad movies or bad TV shows. IF I don't find movies or TV shows WORTH watching I always find something else to watch or to do.
Yesterday, I realized that the Vikings are just a very bad TV show. I ended up missing the third quarter because my wife and I decided to take a very long walk at halftime. Upon returning after the walk, I saw that the game was totally out of hand and skipped most of the rest as well.
You see there was a GOOD TV show coming on later (The Niners and Packers) and that was a game that I really wanted to see because it was going to feature two very good to great teams.
In the past, when the Vikings lost, I wouldn't even want to WATCH another game I was so depressed, but now I care so little about watching BAD football, that I turned IT off waiting for the better game.
And that SECOND game did not disappoint. It was GREAT. The officials made a screwy call that gave the NINERS a huge break after a double penalty call. That call could very well have affected the outcome of the game. But the Niners were a fantastic team yesterday, and Colin Kaepernick is proving that with the right receiver (Anquan Boldin) he may become one of the best QBs in football history. The Packers were ALMOST as good, but both teams had a difficult time stopping such finely tuned offenses.
I also realized that over the last decade or so that I like watching great college football for the same reason that I like watching great pro games. Great football is just super enjoyable to watch. Great players, playing great games for great coaches is what MAKES the game enjoyable.
The Vikings are no longer worth my time. The Niners are. The Packers are. The Broncos are.
But the Vikings are not. I am already planning on skipping next Sunday's Vikings game completely. If they have a sudden turn-around and look GREAT in that game, I'll catch some highlights and give them another chance in a couple of weeks.
But I am no longer going to waste my time on a bad TV show. IF they keep losing badly, I'll find other great games to watch because I still love great football.
The Vikings no longer fall into that category.
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