Fan Scars

Minnesota Vikings fans, especially longtime Vikings fans, are an often pessimistic sort. Four Super Bowl losses can do that. So can close Conference Championship games in 1987, 1998 and 2009. Seven great teams that failed to cap fantastic seasons with that final win. Some call these scars. Vikings fans certainly aren't the only fans with scars. Especially scars with no great reward. The San Diego Chargers had fantastic teams in the early '80s and more recently that always fell short. Other sports are littered with similar teams. Some that came close. Some that never do. Despite always coming up short in the past I expect the Vikings to do well every year. My always optimistic Vikings views often clash clash with my more pessimistic friends. Fortunately for us all, the Vikings often do contend. In all my years as a fan the team has had only a handful of sad seasons. The frequent successful teams makes the season ending losses even worse. Some teams have had a few great seasons without that great reward. The Vikings have had a bunch of seasons in which they are right on the brink of winning it all. That shiny trophy is right there only to be yanked away and handed to another. Many Vikings fans believe that the team is cursed. I don't think that they are cursed. They just haven't won it yet. What's happened in the past doesn't influence what might happen in the future. Those four Super Bowl and handful of Conference Championship game losses, even that Hail Mary robbery against Dallas in '75, will not keep the Vikings from walking away with their very own Lombardi Trophy. I also think that it'll be with this current group of players. None of which were even born when the Vikings came close so many times in the '70s. Those losses and the losses more recently aren't scars. They're experiences that didn't work out the way that they should. The journey is the fun part. It sure is for me. Perhaps all those losses will make it even sweeter when I finally see the Vikings win it all. I grew up in 49ers and Raiders country. Despite the eight Super Bowl trophies scattered between those two teams I've never regretted choosing the Minnesota Vikings path. I've enjoyed every step. I would've enjoyed it even more if at least one of those close calls went the right way. One day it will end the right way.