Growing up in New York City at a time when both the Jets and Giants were dismal doormats far removed from whatever post-season glory they may have supplied during my single-digit years it was a necessary pivot for any pro football fan to find some other team to support during the playoffs. After a brief dalliance with the Miami Dolphins, I adopted the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC, largely because of the Immaculate Reception of Franco Harris that bounced off the helmet of a former New York Giant, John “Frenchy” Fuqua. I saw that as a way that the Giants of a slightly more competitive era were able to contribute in the post-season.
And in the NFC, my adopted playoff team was the Minnesota Vikings, for they were now who the first Giants quarterback I vividly remembered, Fran Tarkenton, was slinging for. Only after his 1972 trade straight up for journeyman Norm Snead did I learn that they were his original team and in fact his first tenure went back to the team’s 1961 expansion season. Those 70s Vikings–the Purple People Eaters–were on national TV a lot, and frequently when we’d be having Sunday dinner at my grandparents’ house. My grandfather was an observant Jew, so whenever the Vikings were on a drive and he’d see panning shots of the freezing crowd at the old Metropolitan Stadium blowing on horns to signal a first down he’d immediately ask “Why do they all have shofars? It’s not Rosh Hashanah!!”. Grandpa didn’t necessarily know what that instrument was, nor was he fully aware that the likelihood any of them were Jewish was pretty small.
So for his posthumous benefit, and perhaps yours as well, straight from the Vikings’ website here’s what that thing actually is, with reference to the supersized version that today’s team features:
According to Norse mythology, the Gjallarhorn was sounded to announce the arrival of the gods. Since 2007, the Gjallarhorn has signaled THE VIKINGS ARE COMING and the start of a great battle on the gridiron. Sounding the Gjallarhorn is something only an honored few can lay claim to.
Yet for as much as I and I suspect Grandpa enjoyed the classic Vikings and loved seeing those blowing whatever that was called nervous that their lips might freeze to the mouthpiece they produced nothing but disappointment. They were in four Super Bowls during the decade and lost every single one. Including one each to the Dolphins and the Steelers. And as CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin reminded this week, things haven’t been all that much better for their fans more recently:
In Minnesota, see, Vikings disappointment isn’t common. It’s inevitable. Dreams are always broadcast with an unspoken skepticism. Winning streaks are designed only to end. Championships are more fantastical than negative-50 temps. Look no further than two years ago, when a franchise seemingly destined for glory — 13-4 under a first-year head coach, and a record 11-0 in games decided by one score — got bounced by the iffy New York Giants in the opening round of the playoffs on the Bank’s very turf.
Go back a bit further, and even the “Minneapolis Miracle” — the walk-off touchdown that vaulted Case Keenum and Stefon Diggs into both unlikely and absolute stardom, respectively — wasn’t miraculous enough to produce the first Super Bowl in Vikings history. Plenty of purple faithful still feel the sting of the Philadelphia Eagles, another once-weary NFL underdog, seizing that 2017 magic en route to a final confetti shower inside the Vikings’ own stadium. That was supposed to be their year, but instead the chains of a title drought were broken by another team against them, a different city finally freed of anguish.
But that was written in the wake of a spirited home finale against the archrival Green Bay Packers which was this Vikings’ team’s ninth consecutive victory. And tonight they are playing under the spotlight of the league’s final regular season game, in prime time, looking for a truly signature moment, as Benjamin continued:
At 14-2, not only are they second only to the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs (15-1) in the win column, but they’re one victory away from matching the best total in the 63-year history of the franchise. At every step of their streak, however, we as a football collective have largely kept ignoring or downplaying them. “That’s cute,” we say, patting their heads and going about our day, all while they prepare to fight the vaunted Detroit Lions for the No. 1 seed in the entire conference. Maybe we’ve adopted enough of the true Minnesotan spirit by anticipating collapse.
Maybe that sense of dread is ingrained, and as a road team playing a team with as many Super Bowl wins in their history as the Vikings have–along with zero losses–as this year’s inspiring Lions team has had, they enter tonight as an underdog yet again. But per Benjamin’s colleague John Breech’s article from yesterday, their fan base is doing their part to turn at least some of Ford Field into Minnesota Not-so-Nice:
The biggest game of the NFL season will be going down on Sunday night in Detroit and although the Lions will have homefield advantage, the Minnesota Vikings have decided to spend some serious money to take some of that advantage away.
Under NFL policy, the visiting team is generally given about 600 tickets to use for a road game, but the Vikings wanted to get more of their fans inside of Ford Field, so they decided to spend millions to buy more tickets on the secondary market. According to Sports Illustrated, the Vikings purchased roughly 1,900 tickets and each ticket cost them about $1,000, which means the team spent nearly $2 million for the extra tickets.
The Vikings then sent an email to their season-ticket holders to let them know that there were now extra tickets available. The team then ended up selling those tickets for much cheaper than what they paid (SI noted that some of the tickets were sold for just $200).
Not only did the Vikings offer a few of the tickets to their season-ticket holders, but they also offered better tickets to to team staff members along with player’s families.
“Given the uniqueness of this game, we wanted to offer our stakeholders — staff, family, season ticket members and team partners — an opportunity to attend,” team spokesman Jeff Anderson told SI in a statement.
Well, correction, maybe it is Minnesota Nice after all.
And my interest is reinvigorated because once again, it’s a quarterback imported from a dreadful New York team, once again in a season where neither team is even close to competitive, that’s lifted the Vikings to this overachieving level. As Benjamin detailed:
No Viking has exceeded expectations in this area more than Sam Darnold, the journeyman who in four months of purple game days has gone from placeholder to MVP candidate at quarterback. As with the rest of the team, he’s impressive enough on paper; his 35 passing touchdowns, easily a career high, have matched the best total his predecessor, Kirk Cousins, achieved once in six years on the job, and he’s still got an outside chance at matching Daunte Culpepper’s franchise record (39). The eye test is even better: We all keep waiting for “the real Darnold” to show up, but the real one might also be this one, finally comfortable and adequately supported by competent coaching and playmakers after pitstops for pitiful rebuilds.
Oh and if anything should happen to ex-Jet Darnold (perish the thought) guess who’s his newly signed backup? The $160 million write-off that escaped this year’s Giants, Daniel Jones. And although he’s done little this year he did engineer that aforementioned upset on their home tundra in their most recent playoff effort. Ironic? Maybe. Karmic? More likely.
So I’ll be listening to see if those that have invaded Detroit will be blowing loud enough tonight to be heard over the din, indicative that they’ll have enough of a reason to do so and therefore actual hope that after so much disappointment at least the possibility of another Super Bowl, at long last, isn’t a mere pipe dream. Indeed, a win tonight would be celebrated just like New Year’s.
Come to think of it, that would be an apropos time for a shofar, let alone a Gjallarhorn.
Courage…