Friday, September 30, 2011

Collapse

The last three weeks have been weeks of monumental collapse.  On a national scale, the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves BOTH set records for LARGEST MLB collapse in the history of the sport.  The Red Sox were up nine games on September 4th.  Then, through the entire month of September, they only won seven games.  Tampa Bay caught them with a game to go, and then Boston had a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth to salvage a playoff chance and whatever little desire they had left.  Then, once again, they blew the lead and lost to a mediocre-at-best Orioles team.  Atlanta had much of the same story, since they held a 10.5 game lead in late August and even had a three game lead with five to play.  Somehow, they found a way to not even force a game 163.

You may be thinking, "wow... those have to be the worst collapses in the history of sport!" You, my friend, would be absolutely wrong.

The Minnesota Vikings have been cursed.  The origin of the curse is still up for interpretation, but I have my ideas... If the loveboat scandal or the Wizzenator incident weren't enough, we have to be cursed by something much, much larger than that.  Yes, I believe we are cursed by Brett Favre's ego.  His ego is what made him throw across his body to dismantle our hopes and dreams of a Superbowl.  His ego is what led him to texting Ms. Sterger.  His ego is what led him to skip out on training camp AGAIN and this time come back rusty, older, flabbier, and not at all prepared for another playoff run.  And yet, I think all of us, in some twisted way, would love to see him arrive on some ridiculous flying vehicle, land outside of winter park, tell us that "the pieces are in place," and start shredding defenses apart like McNabb could never dream.

Regardless of what has happened, the curse lingers... and after the disease that was the 2010 campaign, the curse has taken a new form in the 2011 season that overtakes both Boston and Atlanta in terms worst collapsing team of all time.

At Halftime:
Week One: 17-7
Week Two: 17-0
Week Three: 20-0

Final Score:
Week One: 24-17
Week Two: 24-20
Week Three: 26-23

Shall I do the math for you?
First half point total: 54-7
Second half point total: 6-67

Jared Allen described it better than any scholar of the language could: "What is it? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I don't even know what the saying for that is."


Neither do we, Jared.  Neither do we.


Donovan Mcnabb threw for 39 yards in his MN debut.  Week one of the 2011 NFL season set a record for QB passing yards for a week in the history of the game.  In fact, in a week where NFL QBs threw for a record 4.45 miles, our QB threw for 117 feet. I miss you, Favre.


The fun part is, we have a great chance to go up big AGAIN this week against KC.  What will be going on in the minds of our purple people when they head to the locker room up ten, seventeen, or even twenty points?  


Until the next collapse!


Per

2 comments:

  1. Right now I'm fascinated with ego. It's why I seem to hate so many professional athletes (including Favre, Tiger, that basketball player that has 10 kids with 8 baby-mommas -- sorry that doesn't narrow it down very much), but it's also that ego, or irrational confidence, that makes them great in their sport. MJ would not be MJ if he didn't have such an enormous ego on the basketball court. He needed to prove that he was the best, and if anyone doubted it he set out to prove them decisively wrong. Turns out he wasn't a great person. I root against LeBron because of his "global icon"-sized, blame-everybody-else ego, but then in big games he disappears. He doesn't have a big ENOUGH basketball ego. Double negative for LeBron. David Robinson was my favorite athlete growing up (and maybe the most physically gifted player ever), but he didn't have enough of a basketball ego to be the best player on the court when it mattered. He by most accounts is a selfless, admirable Christian person. The opposite is true with Kobe - I admire the basketball ego, but hate the personal ego.
    Favre is different. He had a big personal ego and a football ego, but I feel that both were a detriment. His football ego hurt his team's chances to win, while Jordan's sports ego propelled his team to greatness. I want to root for athletes that separate "sports ego" from "personal ego", but I don't think there are many of them out there.

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