I knew my boyfriend would be happy that I put this one on my list.
This past year I've come to realize exactly where I stand as far as being a football fanatic. The first time I remember being interested in football was in 1998 when I was 12 and the Vikings were one game away from making it to the Super Bowl (I just looked up the statistics from that year now, because I know I didn't follow them at the time, and we ended the season at 16-2.) Around that time, my brother decided he was a Packers fan, which totally went against my moral code of alliance-- we have lived our entire lives in Minnesota, you can't be a fan of the neighboring state's team! So I became a Vikings fan, mostly to spite my brother. I remember arguing a lot about it. :) But my immediate family never really watched much football, so I only followed the statistics to see how well they were doing that season, but very rarely watched any of the games.
In high school, a lot of my friends liked to hang out at football games, and I grew to really love the atmosphere-- bundling up to sit outside in fall weather, cheering on the team, socializing. This carried on through college, although I didn't get to go to too many games because they usually were on Saturdays and I always worked. But I loved going to them. Bethel's football team was actually a pretty good team, so that made it even more fun. That was the time in my life that I realized that I not only liked to ally myself with a team, but I actually enjoyed watching the football games.
Around my second or third year of college, I started watching the games on TV and learning the different positions, plays, etc. It was an especially exciting time for the Vikings, because that was when we added Brett Favre and, again, were one game away from going to the Super Bowl. I continued to watch the majority of the following seasons, even when the Vikings were awful (and continue to be awful.) I especially liked to visit Amy at Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the games-- because people always stood up and cheered as if they were at the game. It was a lot more interesting than watching it at home.
When I started dating Brian, he didn't watch football at all. The first football season after we started dating, he started watching the games and eventually was insistent that we watch every single one no matter where we were. I used to watch the majority of them, but not ALL of them. We followed them a little more intensely than I was used to, but it was something that we found we both enjoyed doing together. So before this last season began (and after I wrote my bucket list), I decided I would buy us tickets to a game. Neither of us had been to a professional game, so I thought it would be kind of exciting.
This last season Brian started playing on a fantasy football team, and it was all downhill from there. Not only did we have to watch every Vikings game, but we had to watch every football game that he had a fantasy player on. He spent all his time researching players, trading players, calling friends to talk about players, spending his entire lunch break talking on the phone with me about games. Of course, I wasn't allowed to be a part of it because I didn't know enough about it. So I just had to listen to it. I probably learned more about football this season than I ever cared to know. So no, I am not "hard core" Vikings fan, but it's definitely something that I have grown to love over time.
Even after all Brian put me through this year, I was still really excited to go to the game. We bought tickets for the Vikings vs New Orleans Saints game, which was on December 18, so we had the tickets a long time before we actually went to the game. Even before the season began, we were pretty sure we would lose. But Brian wanted to see them play another team he cared about.
And we did lose. Horribly. (42-20) But it was exciting, because even during one of the last games of a horrible season, people were decked out, cheering, excited. The teenage boys in front of us stood up and gave each other high fives and hugged each other every time the Vikings did anything positive-- even if it was just a first down or blocking the opposing team. It was really exciting to see them score touchdowns and field goals in person.
The best part of the game was their way of boosting morale, even after we were losing by so many points. Periodically, they would announce the score of the Green Bay game (that they ended up losing) and people would cheer wildly. It was hilarious and awesome.
I will admit, it would be a lot more fun to go to a game they would have won. Unfortunately, we only won 3 games this season, so it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference which game we bought tickets to see. But overall, it was a really good first experience. Probably the first of many. :)
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