Monday, October 01, 2007

On a Viking Fan's Spiritual Crisis, and "Jealousy" of Fans

Waiting: a Spiritual Crisis
One of my favorite passages in all of literature comes from John Fowles in The Magus, and it seems to me written for Viking fans:

"The smallest hope, a bare continuing to exist, is enough for the antihero’s future; leave him, says our age, leave him where mankind is in its history, at a crossroads, in dilemma, with all to lose and only more of the same to win; let him survive, but give him no direction, no reward; because we too are waiting, in our solitary rooms where the telephone never rings. Waiting for this girl, this truth, this crystal of humanity, this reality lost through imagination, to return; and to say she returns is a lie."

As Viking fans, we survive, but with no direction or reward; we play a game of waiting, and it’s vain waiting, as for us, “this truth, this crystal of humanity, this reality lost through imagination,” will not come. We wait and wait and wait, and all in vain.

A Viking Super Bowl win would give redemption to all our previous sports fan suffering. Alas, we are not fated for such an event: our lot is to continually wait on an empty and hopeless promise. We wait, expecting some redemptive fulfillment for all this disappointment, but it is not our lot. Red Sox fans got it. But we won't.

And so I realize that I cannot sit in my solitary room waiting for the phone to ring: I must seek meaning elsewhere. It is a spiritual crisis, a recognition that the hoped for moment of redemption is for others, but not for us.

It's not you; it's me.
Recently I've heard a few Packer fans suggest that Viking fans are jealous of what Packer fans have, that Viking fans are bitter because we wish we were Packer fans and have their fan experience. Please, stop: it only makes you sound condescending and arrogant. Yes, I'm jealous of any fanbase that has seen its favorite team win a championship. And yes, I'm jealous of a fanbase that has been able to follow a recognized all-time great quarterback for his entire career. But there's nothing special about you in particular: the same standard makes me jealous of Denver Bronco fans. Yep, I wish the Vikings had a championship, and that makes me envious of the teams that do have championships. But it doesn't mean I wish I were you in particular. It's not about you, but about our own suffering and longing gazes toward those who have the joy we wish we had. It's not you; it's me.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:08 PM

    From: ESPN Page 2.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/071001&sportCat=nfl

    Brett Favre versus The Evildoers

    This one is obvious, but the winner -- of course -- is the great, indomitable Brett Favre. Chris Berman's comments on ESPN's Sunday morning pregame show summed it up best: "Rooting for Brett Favre is like rooting for America. It just is." Well said. Oh, and fans out there of the Vikings, Bears and Lions? Stop rooting against Brett Favre. Stop hating America.

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  2. Anonymous6:44 PM

    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!!
    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!!
    That better????? :)
    Oh yea SD Rocks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7:37 PM

    Why do you get such pleasure out of spamming a blog that writes about the Vikings?m

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  4. Fire Childress Now guy can't even be provoked.
    He's been insulted, belittled, and laughed at and he still only has one thing to say.

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  5. Anonymous8:23 PM

    Can you imagine what his mommy and daddy taught him?

    Son someday this bald freak will be the head coach of our beloved Vikings so you must learn these three words and only three now.

    Repeat after us:

    Fire

    Childress

    Now

    and son to get your point across and to make sure that people understand your argument, you must punctuate those three words with millions of exclamation points.

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  6. What if it was...

    FIRE CHILDRESS LATER!!!!!!
    FIRE CHILDRESS LATER!!!!!!
    FIRE CHILDRESS LATER!!!!!!

    How would everybody feel then? Later could mean anything. Later as in after his third losing season. Later meaning after 4 losing superbowls.

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  7. I like the "later" idea. Someone needs to become Fire Childress Later guy. Someday he will need to be fired, I'm sure we can all agree with that.

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  8. Anonymous10:40 PM

    Great post, it's an example of why I read your blog.

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  9. Anonymous6:58 AM

    Firing Childress doe have to do with the Vikings...

    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!
    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!

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  10. Anonymous1:04 PM

    Firing Childress might have something to do with the Vikings, but that doesn't mean you have to take that opinion and SPAM a blog that many Vikings fans enjoy reading.

    You seem to get some type of pleasure out of annoying the blog writers and pissing people off. People who I am guessing are Vikings fans like you (that is if you are a Viking fan, since we can't really know because all you do is say Fire Childress Now all the time).

    We know nothing about you, but you sure have let us know that you think Brad Childress can be fired. None of us have forgotten you nor will any of us ever forget you. FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!! Guy you will live in infamy, now could you please stop spamming this blog.

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  11. Holy Hitters post sounds like a Budweiser commercial.

    Today we salute you Mr. FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!!!!! guy.

    Mr. FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!!!!!

    You've given us insight we have never before thought of. Firing the head coach of our beloved Vikings.

    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!!!!!

    While others fail to understand the power of six exclamation points, we understand that capital letters and comic book punctuation means your serious.

    Hitting shift+1 is the key

    How many times have we watched a Vikings game and thought "If only I posted FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!!!! on a blog we would be undefeated."

    You know we've thought it

    Crack open that Budweiser. Because here's to you blog spammer. You may get your wish if you just wait till January.

    Mr. FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!!!! guy.

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  12. FIRE CHILDRESS NOW!!! guy,
    No one from the Vikings organization reads this blog. Write an editorial to one of the fish wrap factories in Minneapolis. Or better yet, give up and move out of your parents' basement.

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  13. Anonymous11:29 PM

    The reason GB is different from Denver is because we are your neighbors and play you twice a year. Of course it sucks more when your archrival is successful. As a Packer fan I hated seeing the Bears succeed last year because I thought of how much joy they got out of beating/humiliating us on opening day. Their coach's #1 goal is to beat the Packers.

    I'm not gloating just stating the facts.

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  14. Anonymous6:57 AM

    You know I only say "FIRE CHILDRESS NOW" to be a smart A$$... you all need to take a few deep breaths and not take this team we love so seriously. It is obvious ownership doesn't. I know full well they won't Fire Chilli NOW... cripes...Get a sense of humor - You sound like a bunch of snobby old ladies that got their coffee time disturbed...

    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!
    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!

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  15. Anon 13:
    Yes, of course the proximity and division makes the Packers mean more to us (I've spent the last ten years living, attending school, and working in either MN or WI and going back and forth consistently--I know there's meaning there). My point is, it's not something particular about Packer fans. If the Vikings had a championship, that bitterness wouldn't be there. That's why I say sincerely, it's not you, it's us.

    Anon 14:
    The guy who writes the same thing repeatedly tells us to get a sense of humor. Neat. I guess we didn't realize that extreme repetition, caps lock, and overuse of exclamation points was your attempt at comedy. Now we know. But the day I starting finding such stuff funny, I'll know my sense of humor is dead forever.

    Yes, we know you're deliberately trying to be a smartass. That's fine: smartasses are welcome. But you're also deliberately spamming, and that's what people find annoying. And then when you get called on it (when you're usually ignored, and you've been doing it for months), you turn it back to criticize us for taking it too seriously. That's also annoying.

    The only request is that you don't spam. Comment, be a smartass, express opinions all you want, but you spam (which is why you send your same message in posts that are tangental or irrelevant to your message).

    Mostly, I'm content to just ignore you, so if it continues, I'll just ignore you again. But when you try to chime in to justify your spamming, that's when I'll call you on it.

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  16. Anonymous9:29 AM

    The point is not taking the Vikings "too seriously" but rather being annoyed by someone who just comments "FCN!" all the time no matter what the post is about. There is no comment about the post or attempt at dialogue but rather just spamming of "FCN!"

    I am glad to see that you do know how to part together more than 4 word sentences, I still have questions about your sense of humor. However, glad to see you explain yourself, now I just hope you continue to comment with thoughts worthy of dialogue (and obviously I would expect your signature to be FCN! so we all know it is you).

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  17. I am so sick of Brett Favre that I would root for his injury and then happily watch Aaron Rodgers lead the Packers to a Super Bowl.

    That's how nauseating the Favre-love has gotten for an anonymous Bears fan.

    I'm disappointed he didn't set the INT record against the Vikes last week, and hopefully he at least ties it this time around.

    And yes, I know how "stupid close" the Lions were to putting 40 on the Bears in the 4th quarter on Sunday. Stupid close.

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