I rarely, if at all, write about my sports fandom, because I can't imagine it matters to anyone else, especially when using this longer form. But it's always been a sizable portion of my life and after this last week I feel like saying something about it.
Here are my rooting interests, which have always revolved around local teams from my birthplace and once-again home in Minnesota. Number one to me, always, is the Twins (MLB). Gopher hockey (NCAA) and the Vikings (NFL) are in a secondary position but I follow them closely. I'll watch Gopher football and basketball (NCAA) but don't get too tied up in them. I haven't actually cared about the Timberwolves (NBA) since Kevin Garnett left in 2007 and I've basically never watched the Wild (NHL), at least in the regular season. For a time, after moving to Maryland, I liked the fighting Buck Showalters, i.e. the Baltimore Orioles (MLB), and over the last few years I've gradually been adopting the San Diego Padres (MLB), but admittedly those weren't/aren't deeply emotional.
The life of a Minnesota sports fan is a challenging one. The Twins (around since 1961) have at least won two World Series titles, in 1987 and 1991. The Vikings (since 1961), Wolves (since 1989) and Wild (since 2000) have never won a championship. Put it all together and it's been more than 30 years and well over 100+ combined seasons since a major professional sports team in this state has won it all. We're painfully aware of how alone we are in this, as a couple other large metros long in the same camp have recently won something (Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, Washington Nationals in 2019). This site tracking championship droughts by city only has two above Minneapolis-St. Paul, Buffalo and San Diego, who we'll likely soon pass as they sport three total teams between them. The long-term weight of collective failure weighs on the entire sports scene here and it cannot be overstated how much it affects us.
It's not the losing in and of itself, it's the brutal manner in which it keeps happening. The worst offenders are the Vikings, who time and again make us believe before providing utter humiliation. They're 0-4 in NFC championship games in my lifetime, with two of the most memorable losses imaginable (1998-99 Gary Anderson 'wide left' and 2009-10 'Bountygate' game with Favre's disasterous late interception) along with two epic beatdowns (2000-01 '41-donut' and 2017-18 follow-up to the 'Minneapolis Miracle' game, in Philly). That's in addition to an 0-4 record in the Super Bowl, all in the 1970s, and countless other games where the franchise let us down in almost unbelievable fashion (let's throw in Josh McCown to Nate Poole and Blair Walsh from 27 yards vs the Seahawks as well). To give the heart-attack Vikings credit, they always keep it entertaining. My main team, the Twins, on the other hand, have been completely worthless in the playoffs for 20 years. Shortly after attempted contraction they won an ALDS vs the A's in 2002 before losing to the Angels in the ALCS. In both 2003 and 2004 they were knocked out by the Yankees 3-1, with those two wins only coming thanks to beloved ace Johan Santana. Since then (appearances in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2019, 2020) they've been swept every time, giving them an impressive and on-going streak of 18 straight playoff loses. The Wild have won a few playoff series here and there, including a run to the conference finals in 2002-03, but have currently lost in the first round six straight times. The Wolves have also had one extended playoff run, in 2003-04 (KG MVP), but otherwise are the worst team in American pro sports and are less than a year from their latest franchise-crushing debacle.
That brings me to the Gophers, the largest state school, most prominent college athletics program and my alma mater. It's long forgotten now but Gopher football was a storied program with seven national titles. The most recent was 1960. I do think the team is in good shape under PJ Fleck, but they haven't yet sniffed any titles, B1G or otherwise, in a long while. The basketball program hangs banners for making the NCAA tournament, their lone Final Four has since been vacated, and they are clearly the worst team in the conference at the moment. The best team on campus is men's hockey, and they're the cause of this post.
Gopher hockey is an absolute top-tier program in the sport. They've among the all-time leaders in NCAA appearances and Frozen Fours, have won 5 national titles and have had exceptional sustained success thanks mostly to the talent produced here in the State of Hockey. I never played and didn't even know the rules of the game before going to college, but couldn't help getting into it once there. Back-to-back titles (2002, 2003), right before I started school, helped of course, I so badly want to cheer for a winner. They haven't won one since. The team this year (2022-23) was easily the best they've had since I started following. A couple of star, future (now current) NHL players returned when they could've gone pro and the freshman class was stellar. They were super talented, deep and experienced (with a Frozen Four last year), showed resilience all year long, and were basically wire-to-wire as the #1 team in the country. A few weeks ago they entered the NCAA tournament (16 teams total) the #1 overall seed and demolished their first three opponents to make the national final last Saturday vs Quinnipiac, a small school from Connecticut. In the first period it was all Gophers once again, they were all over the ice and creating scoring opportunities left and right. But the lead was only 2-1 at first intermission. Still, at this point I fully believed. Everything changed after that and the Gophs were on their heels the rest of the game, their aggressiveness gone in a way we hadn't seen from them. They made it through one period but it was a white-knuckle ride. Eventually, in the third, Quinnipiac scored what felt like the inevitable equalizing goal and we all knew it was over. They went to overtime and gave up a goal in literally 10 seconds.
I was crushed, struggled to sleep that night and was pretty ornery for like 24 hours. I made emotional vows like deciding to be done with hockey forever. The life of a sports fan is absurd like that. I'd say it has up and downs, but I'm not sure I'd ever actually experienced a blissful up. No team I've ever cared about has ever reached the promised land (no, the Twins when I was a young child doesn't count). Regular season accolades aren't cutting it.
There was a period in my life where I was consistently adding to the number of teams I paid attention to and rooted for. These days I'm more and more remembering the things I say to myself following a real low, and I think I'm increasingly likely to follow through on quitting the ones I already do. I've become pretty dead inside with regards to the Vikes. I don't know how long I'm going to hold this latest collapse against the Gophers. I'm nowhere near a point of abandoning sports altogether but those interests are definitely changing. An obsession with fantasy (baseball first, football also) continues apace and is a primary driver of watching games. I still love talking sports with friends and partially pay attention to certain aspects because that camaraderie is fun. But I wonder if before too long I'm only actually invested in baseball, and maybe golf?
Call me dramatic, I know my wife will, but this all has worn on me. The question, 'why am I even watching this?' never used to come up. The question, 'why do I even care?' used to have a quick internal answer. Now I'm struggling with it in a lot of cases. I don't want to keep doing what I've been doing. I just haven't figured out exactly what the alternative looks like yet.
/rant
(exhale)
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