I’m not native to Minnesota and while I’ve spent the majority of my years here; my roots are surface level. The lakes are nice, the people are nice but I’ve always felt a little out of place here. My younger brother does enough parent blaming for the both of us and I don’t really think it’s their fault that I don’t feel embedded here.
Perhaps I’m just a wanderer by nature.
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My mom is a big football fan. Specifically the Vikings. She was born in Minnesota but grew up in Michigan. While her family remains in Michigan and cheers for the Tigers, Red Wings and the Lions you’ll only catch her cheering for the Vikings.
She loves the Vikings so much she painted one of the bathrooms in their house purple. Chris Carter, Jake Reed and Randy Moss were there on a framed poster watching you do your “business”. It stayed that way for years. During one playoff game, with seconds left in the 4th quarter, it looked like the Vikings had the game in the bag. My dad danced his way to that purple bathroom celebrating his winning football numbers, 4 seconds later the Vikings lost the game and my dad’s numbers didn’t pan out.
My mom re-painted the bathroom after that.
I am not a Vikings fan.
Maybe it’s still teenage rebellion over something my mom LOVED and I had to dislike or maybe it’s because every time my husband and I watch the Vikings he threatens to throw our TV out the window… I’m not sure what it is about the team, but it’s just not my cup of tea.
And then there’s hockey…
Hockey is the best sport.
If you look at sneaker squeak (basketball) the players can put on ONE hell of an act to get foal shots. Sure, some of those dudes can catch some serious air, it almost makes you wonder if they have wings but for the most part it feels like they are BIG time whiners.
That is until you watch soccer.
Soccer athletes are VERY conditioned but how do you go from making it look like you just broke your leg to full on sprinting down the field without the slightest limp? Over exaggerating at its finest.
Football has some pretty magical moments but you never see a guy spitting out a tooth and continuing to play. The fact that Justin Jefferson can wear 10 pounds of diamonds while he’s making plays should tell you all you need to know. The fact that those diamonds can just fall off and he shoves them down his pants continuing to play AGAIN tells you all you need to know.
They don’t do that SHIT in hockey.
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This was an unbelievable year for hockey.
Poor Gretzky didn’t get one of his records broken but TWO! Both Sydney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin broke some of Gretzky’s records THIS year. Crosby for points scored consecutively and Ovechkin for goals scored. Breaking one record is crazy but to have players attack two records in the same year… I felt bad for Gretzky.
It felt worse not seeing Fleury get another cup in a Wild sweater.
I have been depressed about this since last Thursday! I was convinced the Hockey Gods wanted Fleury to add another cup to his record and I was DEVASTATED when it didn’t happen.
I’ve been extremely blessed in the mental health portion of my being. I haven’t had to deal with sadness, anxiety or depression. When this depression hit I wasn’t really sure what was wrong with me.
Why was I so sad and what caused it?
After DAYS of silent reflection it came to me. I was sad that the Wild didn’t make it past round one but I was depressed that Fleury retired without a cup in a Wild sweater.
“Is this what it feels like to be a Minnesota sports fan?” I asked my husband. “Man, I’m glad I’m not from here, I don’t think I could handle it.” My husband shakes his head and rolls his eyes at me. He was born, raised, spent all his playground days here and he doesn’t agree that I’m not from here. He knows I’m from Colorado but he thinks I’m Minnesotan. I, on the other hand, feel at home amid the mountains.
Over the years, I have heard and have seen people comment and post, “in True MN fashion” or “typical MN sports” it’s never bothered me. Until now.
My bestie a self-identified NON-Sports fan asked me if I heard about the curse on MN sports teams. Um…no. She told me that there is the curse of Norm Green and it used to be only on the Vikings but it has since taken over all the Minnesota professional sports teams.
Now, I don’t really have any knowledge of this curse but I do know this, you can’t break a curse by giving it power. You can’t expect to break a curse AND expect it to happen. We can’t HOPE for a better season next year, we need to make it happen. Toss the hope and wishing out the window and SEE the goal. Visualize the WIN. Don’t think about the curse, think about how it feels to WIN.
And if you’re like me, you take it to the next level and you’ll beg your kids to create photoshopped images of Fleury holding the cup. I received the images 1 game too late. I should have nagged them.
I don’t know what kind of cup the NBA gets, it could be a golden sneaker for all I know… but I do know the Timberwolves season is at stake and SOMEONE has to break the C word.
The women have proved that it’s possible now the men need to level up.
What if the Timberwolves, Vikings and the Wild ALL won – a triple crown Minnesota style, now THAT is something to visualize. In the meantime, I’ll be turning back to my Colorado roots and going to rock shows vs sporting events.
The heartache is much less severe.
Happy cheering!
Namaste,
Jes xoxo