5 Reasons Not To Care About Loss To Steelers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By3kO1hYvrQ

Watch this video five times and there are your reasons. I was a little down after the game, but since then I've watched this clip probably about 20 times, and it has significantly improved my mood. More thoughts on this game later along with a preview to the second match up against Green Bay on Sunday.
Also, William Gay, who was the one getting trampled into the ground by AP, had this to say after the game, "He can't be human ... Dude's made of steel."
Gotta love AP. I mean, seriously, you HAVE to.

Becoming a Vikings Chat Nerd

This was my thought process as I watched the Vikings beat the Ravens 33-31 on Sunday.

Oh yes! This is looking good. We are dominating. This will be a statement to anyone out there who is wondering how good the Vikings are. Oh man, we aren't killing them by as much anymore, but we'll still win and this will still be a solid showing. Oh crap, what happened to our defense. Are we sending the real players out there still, or just body doubles. (Speaking of that, I think if I start dieting right and contract reverse Michael Jackson syndrome I can be Pat Williams body double in 2010.) OH MY GOSH we are going to lose this game! We are screwed. Any NFL kicker can easily make this short of a fiel – HE MISSED. Holy crap this schmo just missed and we are 6-0!!!!

The whole reason I started this blog was to experiment with becoming a hard core fan. With the Vikings being undefeated now six games into the season, it hasn't been hard. So, I decided to step up my fanliness this week. Not only did I closely follow the game on TV, I also participated in a live chat on Vikings.com with other die hard fans and a writer for the team website that was present at the game, giving updates while everyone else made comments. Was it enjoyable? Sort of. Would I do it again? Maybe, but not regularly. Anyway, here are some of the comments that were posted, and of course I had to get a few in there myself.

From Cowgirlwriter : “I heard the party was on the vikings.com Gameday Chat. Guess it is.

”From Krazy Katie : “I am so excited to find this chat! I'm often alone during games, will be great to talk with others on here.”

That made me feel bad for Krazy Katie, and kind of assume that she didn't have many friends. I then noticed that I too was sitting in an empty living room watching the game and chatting online by myself, so I typed in the same thing.

From Jodi : “I think Favre and Rice are BFF's”

From the way the announcers describe things, they definitely could be. Anytime Rice made a catch one of the announcers felt the need to talk about how much Favre likes Rice's skills as a wide receiver. It was a constant Favre to Rice love fest, executed by the play by play guys.

From Jodi : “Don't stop...believing!!!” (After Ravens kicked field goal to go up by one with three minutes left)

One thing to note. Not all of your comments get posted. You can send them in, and then the writer for the website must pick the comments that he wants to post. I would guess that he probably posts around half the comments. At least that was roughly my percentage of comments posted. I hope he isn't only censoring my remarks, like if he thinks they are too stupid for the others to spend time reading or some such nonsense. Here are a few of my comments that did make the cut.

“Favre is transforming Rice into a Stud.”

“Percy Harvin is an ANIMAL” (really insightful stuff on my part)

But then, my golden comment.

At 12:48, this comment from me posted.

“I see the Vikings defense forcing a turnover here pretty soon.”

At 12:49, Mike Wobschall, the Vikings.com writer, posted, “TD Vikings defense!!! EJ Henderson!!! Ryan was right!!!”

From Nick at 12:49 : “NICE CALL RYAN!”

From David at 12:50 : “Hey ryan.... what's happening in the markets tomorrow? :)”

I was the MAN! Of course, as you know, that touchdown got overturned, so I became slightly less cool. I then wrote a clever statement apologizing to my fellow chatters, which Wobschall in his infinite discretion decided not to post. That punk.

Lastly, I just saw that the Vikings are holding strong at number three in the ESPN.com Power Rankings. Team number four, the Denver Broncos. Nobody would have ever thought they would be good this year, especially after their pre-season. Why do I bring this up? The last year the Vikings were a force, 1998, who was right there with us? The Denver Broncos. I recall reading an article midway through the season as both teams were undefeated about who had the better chance to have an undefeated season. We ended up going 15-1, and they went 14-2, but they won the Superbowl. Oh dear... Where will 2009 take us?

Don't get your hopes up. Or should we?

This is going to be an especially good post. Everything has come together for me tonight. Not only did I just figure out the Genius button on Itunes, so I'm listening to a fantastic playlist, but I have returned to the Caribou Coffee where this blog was birthed. You're in for a treat.

The Vikings are 5-0 and we as a fan base have been on the joyride of having a team that is relevant and that we consider to “Have a chance.” Here's the deal, we have a REALLY easy schedule. So far, we have played three games on the road. It is widely known that those three times, Cleveland, Detroit, and St. Louis, order obscenely large amounts of Estrogen to distribute to their players. Thus, they kind of suck, at least under the scope of being compared to other teams in the NFL. All three are doing wonderfully in their scrimmages with the local police and fire departments.

The two decent teams we've played, Green Bay and San Francisco, have both come at home. Our advantageous schedule continues for the rest of the year. The three toughest games left in our schedule, the Ravens, Bengals, and Giants, are all in the Metrodome.

It's tempting to get caught up in the potential of our 5-0 start. It was anyway, until I read some statistics about past promising Vikings starts that ended badly.

In 2003 the Vikings started out 6-0. I was shocked when I read that. “We were not that good back then!” I thought to myself. We then went on to lose the next four games, eventually losing our season finale on a last second catch against Arizona that brought our record to 9-7 for the season, and forced us out of the playoffs. If the team could collectively have a nightmare on the night of the win that put as at 6-0, the rest of the season would be the real world version of that nightmare.

In 2000 we started 7-0, eventually getting to 11-2. At that point, we screwed things up and lost our last three regular season games. We then killed New Orleans in our divisional playoff game, 34-16, which I have no recollection of. Then we had to go to New York to play the Giants and we got beaten down 41-0. I remember that one. Watching that game, it came to a point where anyone who cared or remotely rooted for the Vikings was bitter and resented all the players, coaches, and staff associated with that performance. It was just too much to get beat by, especially in the playoffs. As a fan you can maybe mentally prepare yourself that it is plausible your team could lose badly, but NOT 41-0 badly.

Then, in 2008, the season that broke the heart of any Vikings fan, but especially the young, unhardened ones of those in my age demographic, who were roughly 13 at the time. We started out 7-0, going 15-1 for the season, and lost in the NFC championship game because Gary Anderson missed a THIRTY-EIGHT yard field goal. THIRTY-EIGHT YARDS. He hadn't missed ANYTHING all year. He made all 35 of his field goal attempts and all 59 of his extra points. That's right, 59 extra points. We scored on teams that year like we were Tim Riggins surrounded by rally girls with slightly below average morals. I had a friend at that game who left with his dad when Gary Anderson lined up for that kick. People had that much confidence in him. I also have at least two friends who admitted to crying after that game.

I would bet that most any Vikings fan would list the 1998 season as the last time our team was good, because we “had a chance” that year. Neither of those other two years ever felt like we had a chance, even with our good records. And I'm saying, at 5-0 in 2009, it feels like we have a chance.

We should finally get a good gage for this year's team this weekend when we play Baltimore at home. Two weeks ago the Ravens were regarded as the best team in the NFL by ESPN.com Power Rankings. Now, coming in off two straight losses, they should be ready to prove something. Get ready Vikings fans! This weekend we will get some questions answered as to how tough we really are. I have faith though. We are going to bring it.

4-0

Oh how good it feels to be 4-0!
It's been awhile, so I need to look back on a few things.

GREG LEWIS, YOU ARE THE MAN!!! Can't say enough about the amazing game winning catch and how crucial it was to keep the momentum going for our season. I also can't say that I've seen you on the field since. But still, that catch!....

BRETT FAVRE, I MEAN THE SILVER FOX, YOU ARE THE MAN!!! Favre looked his best of the season yesterday, by far, going 24-31 for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns.

We are officially firing on all cylinders. I know AP was held to only 55 yards, but he's still AP. He is still going to dominate for the remainder of the season. Last night was the first time this season that we actually were a force with our passing game. The first time in at least three years, if my memory is serving me correct. Let's think, we had T-Jack, Gus Ferotte, and a washed up Brad Johnson. I think my memory is serving me correct.
Not only that, but our defense was getting to know Aaron Rodgers considerably more than he wanted. By that I mean, we sacked the crap out of him over the duration of the game. We had eight sacks, four and a half of them by Jared Allen. When asked after the game if he ever gets tired, Allen stated, “Not usually, but tonight my arms are exhausted from doing my sack celebration so many times.”

The Vikings are officially #3 in the ESPN.com NFL power rankings. Behind a pair of Manning quarterbacks, with Indianapolis being at number one and New York at number two. Next Sunday should be an easy victory as we play the “Hey, are we still in the NFL?,” St. Louis Rams.