Thanks, Dad

With the NBA Finals now complete, we remind you of what basketball looked like when played at the Metrodome pic.twitter.com/vRvrtKsx88

— VikeFans (@VikeFans) July 21, 2021

@"BarrNone55" said: About 50 years ago we moved from Chicago to Milwaukee. My dad, a man of very few words, mentions to 12 year old me at the time that I should follow at least one local team.

Packers over the Vikings was not going to happen.
No NHL team, so the Blackhawks were out of the question.
Went to my first professional game at Wrigley, so the Cubs weren't going anywhere

So, that left giving up the Bulls for the Bucks.

First and last piece of sports related advice I took from the old man.

3 out of 4 of my teams since childhood have won championships. 

The only one that matters anymore still hasn't. 

I turn 61 this year. Vikings first season was 61. 

Maybe the stars are aligning.

I'm already 61 and really hoping our karma is working hard this year...Skol Brother.

I will be 70 this fall. I quit watching hockey when the North stars left town. I really enjoyed Twins baseball but quit watching baseball after the big strike years ago. Never got on board with the Wolves but was at the final 4 in the metrodome the year Duke won it all, and had similar seats to the picture above. But I'm still here with the Vikings since day one. 
When I was a teenager my dad told me the Vikings would never win a championship. I thought he was nuts.
Well the old man is long gone and he was pretty much right. But the Vikings did win the NFL championship the year before the merger with the AFL.
Little consolation to those of us who are still waiting for a superbowl win!
So if this is the year, let it be so. I think I am ready.

@jargomcfargo Once Wirtz took the Blackhawks off free tv, that was it for me.

I used to go to about 15-20 baseball games a year, but the strike in 93 killed my interest.

I used to play basketball 5 nights a week, but once I screwed up my back, I lost interest in watching, college or pros.

Vikings are all that really matters anymore with college football a distant second.

If everything falls into place, we've got a two year window to bring home a Lombardi. 

We're due for everything falling into place.

Born and raised in Minnesota myself. Still follow the Twins and obviously the Vikings. I moved out before the North Stars left so wasn't there for the expansion of the Wild or Wolves. Thankfully I have no emotional connection to either. Only so many disappointments one can live with.

@"BarrNone55" said: @jargomcfargo Once Wirtz took the Blackhawks off free tv, that was it for me.

I used to go to about 15-20 baseball games a year, but the strike in 93 killed my interest.

I used to play basketball 5 nights a week, but once I screwed up my back, I lost interest in watching, college or pros.

Vikings are all that really matters anymore with college football a distant second.

If everything falls into place, we've got a two year window to bring home a Lombardi. 

We're due for everything falling into place.

But about that window. One can argue that we opened our window in 2016 with Teddy coming off a playoff season, going into his 3rd season. A team with Thielen, Diggs, Greenway, Griff, Joseph, Barr, Rhodes and Smith. That fell apart when Teddy went down, but a funny thing happened on the way to 2021. We've completely rebuilt the team by adding Cousins, Cook, JJ, Hunter...a completely rebuilt IDL, a completely rebuilt secondary and a completely rebuilt offensive line filled with five day-one and two draft picks. The 2nd youngest roster in the NFL. So you can argue that this might be nearer the beginning of a 2nd window than the end of the 1st. 

But inevitably windows are connected to the QB. If Cousins has a good year and the Vikings extend him, then the window is as long as he plays (4, 6 more years?) and how successfully we replace Thielen and Harry when the time comes. If Cousins fails, then our window is tied to Kellen Mond, or whoever else we bring in to replace Cousins. Because if Cousins fails in '21 with THIS kind of surround, then it's over for him and the Vikings will likely take a QB in the 1st next year, regardless of how promising Mond looks in the brief looks he'll get this season. 

When I was 5, my uncle brought me back a Minnesota Vikings winter hat and gloves from a trip to Minneapolis, telling stories of the big city. I was alas just a small town boy in the U.P. The rest is history. 

Why did he hate me so?

@"StickyBun" said: When I was 5, my uncle brought me back a Minnesota Vikings winter hat and gloves from a trip to Minneapolis, telling stories of the big city. I was alas just a small town boy in the U.P. The rest is history. 

Why did he hate me so?

@"Wetlander" said:

@"StickyBun" said: When I was 5, my uncle brought me back a Minnesota Vikings winter hat and gloves from a trip to Minneapolis, telling stories of the big city. I was alas just a small town boy in the U.P. The rest is history. 

Why did he hate me so?

Well, if he didn't do that...  you might have been a Lions fan and been in the Den praising the hiring of Kneecaps Campbell...