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Additional Minnesota Viking Commentary

Own It!
Do you know exactly what it feels like when your team finally wins a championship?  You know what I'm talking about ... Don't you?  Well I don't!  I own it!  In my book, there is only one team.  This was a group that performed for stoic eyes.  Eyes that still haunt me to this day that had no room for mediocrity.  An assemblage of players and plays throughout an era that truly defies description.  They are now ghosts of the past that now play into my future.       

Recently the NFL network ran a program named, "The 10 Most Snake Bitten Franchises".  As this program unfolded, we all awaited the slow and painful announcement of the franchise named the Minnesota Vikings as if awaiting a casualty list ingrained in my memory by the odor of mimeograph purple ink.  It became a test of who and what I am!  This is no new subject as it has been pondered time and again for decades.  You see ... we all know exactly where the Minnesota Vikings now rank historically.  I own that fact like a badge of honor. 

For some, they might find solace in that the Minnesota Vikings where not listed at number one on this list.  To be direct, naming the Cleveland Browns as today's most snake bitten franchise is the most egregious insult of revisionist history ever perpetrated upon any NFL fan.  If you think about it, trashing any part of the NFL's history opens a dark and dank doorway that includes every NFL fan regardless of the franchise.  

Why do I say revisionist?  The Cleveland Browns made appearances six (6) NFL championships from 1950 to 55.  The Cleveland Browns were NFL champions in 1950, 54, 55 & 64.  The Cleveland Bulldogs were NFL champions in 1924 and the Cleveland Rams were champions in 1945.  In short, the city of Cleveland has witnessed six NFL championships.  Let's not forget that the 2000 Baltimore Ravens also won a Super Bowl championship.  An unthinkable and unimaginable mistake that the Minnesota Vikings franchise is now teetering upon.  People tend to forget that this was the Cleveland Brown franchise that won it all in Baltimore.  Allow me to be direct ... the history follows the franchise not the city.  This  NFL network gaff is the greatest bit of folly ever perpetrated upon NFL fans ... ever.  One could say that this gaff ranks right up there with the Hershel Walker trade.  As new franchises go, the Cleveland Browns have very very little when considering paying dues within the league.  This pronouncement of the Cleveland Browns as being the most snake bitten franchise is so far from reality that NFL fans throughout the land should be crying foul as it insults the intelligence of every fan of every franchise.

So one could argue that the 1969 Vikings Franchise won an NFL championship however it was sullen by the loss in in Super Bowl IV.  That's right, the Jet's Super Bowl III and the Chief's Super Bowl IV are not NFL championships.  However, history has found a way of being rewritten for all time.  To put this all in perspective one could argue that since that 1969 season, including that particular championship, which directly resulted in the most beneficial league merger ever, now involves teams that are forever cursed that include the Jet's, Browns, Vikings & Chiefs.  A ghostly forever ... that is until the Vikings are first to reach their destiny.  Go ahead Jets, Browns & Chiefs ... test that theory once again ... the gods once again await that pending folly.    

In the modern era, what defines a franchise toward payment of dues is unequivocally measured in playoff losses, most notably Super Bowl losses.  So one could say that the Buffalo Bill's should top the list as they were the first to lose four (4) consecutive Super Bowls.  Since our eyes are clearly open, on December 28th, 1975 there was an awarded out of bounds 4th and 22 pass that led to a Drew Pearson illegal push-off that prevented the possibility toward a 4th consecutive Super Bowl appearances, so one could take issue with that Bill's franchise argument.  Let us never forget that the Vikings were the first to lose 4 Super Bowl Championships.  At the time, no franchise was even close to that Super Bowl loss record.  Also, let's not forget that the Bills won the AFL championship in 64 & 65 and in comparison were not sullen in any way.  These were outright championships.  Own it!      

One could point to 2009 & 1998 but that would be like looking as the summit of an immense ice berg.  Own it! 

When I thought of this years draft class, there was a looming message for every one of these draftees.  Over the years there have been numerous free agents that tucked their tails between their legs and fled us like cowards.  Other's that have brainlessly milked our organization as if no one could detect the stench upon their soul.  Their only focus ...  to be apart of a winner, as if that mattered, rather than to entrench themselves into the individual that makes a winners.  All of this conflicting upon a  battlefield of men of dedicated spirit ... that left everything they had upon that grid.  A never ending quest to achieve what cannot be achieved.  You have been drafted into what is now the most unique franchise in the NFL.  Unquestioned pride battling a never ending tale of despair.  We own it.  We own it all.  We wear it all proudly for all to see.  Speak against it, reason against it and you risk having your lungs ripped out.          

When Favre tossed that interception for the leagues victims of Katrina, rocketing him into Packer lore, not to mention a hefty paycheck of pain, it did much much more.  It ripped the hearts out of an entire league of fans that go well beyond the ones that wear purple, gold & white.  Yeah, tell me again how much New Orleans deserved that Super Bowl victory.

The Viking Ghost Writer
http://MyVikingBlood.org
Date: June 27, 2011 

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