Loserville USA: Population 5,220,993

It is the nature of the Minnesota sports fan to be the eternal cynic. While in Chicago, the expectations are Superbowls and World Series titles, in the land of 10,000 false hopes and heartbreaks, the expectations are at a minimum. The Minnesota nice mentality is that we are just happy to be there. The Twins are often times just a Quadruple A team to the big spending teams; the Gophers never cease to stop disappointing me, and the Target Center (Wolves) and Excel Energy Center (Wild) are home to the world's longest rebuilding projects. When Zygi Wilf bought the Vikings three years ago, he said he did not care about the failures of the past, instead we are going to win, win big, and win now. Gone was the mediocrity of Mike Tice as head coach, gone was the cheap spending of Red McCombs, gone were the knuckleheads like Randy Moss, and Daunte. No longer would Orlando Smith's whizzinator grace us with his presence. No longer would Dwight Smith be caught humiliating the team in stairwells of Minneapolis hotels. Wilf said we are going to out-research the league and draft well. They have. The past three drafts have been brilliant with Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, Cedric Griffen, Phil Loadholt, Sidney Rice, et cetera. Wilf has also made a commitment to get the best free agents available. The Vikings have hit home-runs with Visanthe Shiancoe, Chester Taylor, Steve Hutchinson, Antoine Winfield, Favre, Bernard Berrian, Pat Williams, and Jared Allen. All of this was done with one goal in mind: Superbowl, February 7th, 2010. No more rebuilding; the time is now. Chester Taylor will be gone next year, Favre will most likely retire, but for sure will not be any better next year. Pat Williams will likely retire. Antoine Winfield's best days are behind him. How long can Kevin Williams avoid the Starcapts trial? In the NFL, unless you have a franchise quarterback, your window to win is very short. With only one major injury (EJ Henderson) the whole Vikings line-up from Week One, was ready to make history in the Superdome yesterday night.

What a game, what a shame.

First off, I think the Vikings coaches developed a brilliant game plan against New Orleans. The Saints deserved to be the #1 seed. Their offense was electric all year. Between Brees, Bush, Colston, and Meachem, the Saints had the most fun offense since the Greatest Show on Turf. However, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier completely shut-down their run, and the secondary confused Brees for the whole game. Statisically, Brees had one of his worst games in years. The recipe for the Vikings loss was one part terrible special teams coverage, allowing two big returns, and five parts fumbalitis. The fact that the Vikings had five turnovers and were still in a position to win is nothing short of spectacular. However, Berrian's fumble at the ten yard line, Harvin's key fumble, Favre's botched hand-off to end the first half, and don't even get me started on Adrian Peterson treating the football like it was a wet fish. The Saints' strategy was quite simple: Blitz and hit Favre every time possible. Of course, this strategy ended up backfiring on the Saints as Favre just dinked and dunked down the field the whole game. The Saints' ultra aggressive blitz defense played perfectly into the Vikings West Coast offense. What the Saints did do was completely wear out the old gun-slinger. As the game wore on, Favre looked old... really old. Twice in the past three years, Favre has led his team to victory in the NFC Championship game only to throw a late, ill-timed interception. Unlike last time, where Favre just under threw the ball in an otherwise good play, Favre committed the cardinal sin of quarterbacking... never throw across your body while on the run. The fact that this will likely be Favre's last throw just underscores that while statistically Favre is the greatest quarterback to ever play, the best come through in the clutch. Would Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, or Steve Young done that? Maybe. But probably not. Chuck Nol, the legendary Steelers coach said once, "Before you win a game, you have to not lose it." As much as the Saints won the game, the Vikings lost it. Was there some bad luck? Sure. The over-time rules in the NFL are completely unfair. The call that it is okay if a player goes out of bounds and touches the ball if the clock expired? A loophole at best. But I don't blame this game on the officials, or bad-luck. As Thomas Jefferson said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and the harder I work, the more lucky I become." The Saints franchise, the city of New Orleans are a terrific team that deserves to be in the championship game. It was not good luck that got them to the Superbowl. They are a fun team, and it is going to be a great Superbowl.

When I woke up this morning, I felt a feeling I had not felt since the day after a certain election. A sense of, "What's the point?" I have to keep reminding myself that football is just a game. That what the Vikings do does not effect me personally. In a way, yesterday reminded me of all that is good and all that is bad with sports. The aestheticism of sports at the highest level, to me, could be compared to the greatest ballet or the most brilliant opera. But what I really love about sports is the companionship between friends and family. To know that literally millions of my fellow Minnesotans were huddled around their TV sets with the same goal in mind is mind-blowing. To share in the joy of victory or the agony of defeat with my friends and family is what makes sports fantastic and so painful. When the Vikings lose, not only am I in pain, but millions of my brothers in sport mourn with me. Some cynics might call the short-lived Favre era in the Purple and Gold as not worth the hassle. I completely disagree. Favre ignited the state of Minnesota. If the Vikings were to secure the funds to get a new stadium, they needed to have a good year in 2009. They instead had a great year. I can't predict what will happen to the Vikings in 2010. Too many question marks. It was fun while it lasted. And to you Minnesotans, at least we have the Timberwolves... oh wait...