Once again I have caused great angst amongst the faithful followers of the Minnesota Twins. Being a self-admitted bandwagon Twins fan, I have pointed out twice within the last 30-days that it is time for Twins fans to hang up their baseball jersey's and take out the purple ones and get ready for a dynamic season of Vikings NFC dominance.

This all started in early July with Twins fans professing a dislike of us Vikes fans with the most famous quote from one Twins fan being:

"God, I can't stand Vikings fans sometimes. It isn't enough that I have to listen to the Superstar [Mike Morris of KFAN] dribble about every possible development even though we are months away from the regular season. "The Vikes are interviewing for a new assistant to the equipment manager, the organization prefers someone with more starching experience than the last assistant." "Tice decided to wear his pencil in the right ear today in support of gay pride month, he also is considering making it the ear of choice for in-game use since he thinks going across his body to reach it is quicker and because it doesn't bump into his mic and earpiece as much. 12 months of Vikings Hype a year when there are other games going on in town makes me care less and less about mounting losses to the Packers and Bears each season. Unlike the other teams in town the Vikes are proven under achievers and have brought more bad apples to the Twin Cities than the Twins, T-Wolves, Wild, North Stars, and the Federal Court house combined."

The latest came Monday, via the wonderful Stick and Ball Guy site (bookmark it if you haven't already). Under the blog entry No Trade, Little Hope, SBG was lamenting the Twins season to which I left this comment:

At 8/01/2005 8:42 AM, Mr. Cheer Or Die said…

Reusse said it best this morning, "The Vikings' first exhibition game arrives in 12 days against Kansas City. You probably didn't need permission, but go ahead, citizens ... point 100 percent of your attention for the local pros in that direction."

Which was followed by a comment from Frightwig, another blog writer who I also enjoy reading.

At 8/01/2005 2:11 PM, frightwig said…

What, people are expecting bigger things from the Vikings this year?! That disappointment will be there waiting for you when the leaves have fallen off the trees. There's no need to make a rush for it.

So, FW expects the Vikes to fall flat on their keisters this year. FW implied that it would be better to watch the Twins continue to lose games at 1929 Wall Street Market collapse pace than turn attention south to Mankato. I then replied back.

At 8/01/2005 3:39 PM, Mr. Cheer Or Die said…

FW: Thanks for the cannon fodder that I can use later this year :0

At 8/01/2005 8:35 PM, frightwig said…

COD, Tice is still the coach, they traded Moss for picks, their top rusher is suspended for drug use, their #2 rusher is the QB, the team had no Pro Bowlers last season, and the defense last season was 26th in points allowed and 28th in YPG. Why should you expect the Vikings to become a serious contender this year?

See what I mean? Where's the love? This has also stumped Shane at the Greet Machine (and of Four Hoarsemen fame...recall Podcast Three!?!?) where he also is writing about this topic today. Shane gave me a quote for this entry:

"I think there is an unhealthy jealousy from Twins fans when it comes to the Vikings. I know a lot of Vikings fans who are more fans of the Vikings than Twins fans, but you never hear the kind of negativity from these Vikings fans regarding the Twins that you hear from Twins fans regarding the Vikings. For some reason hardcore Vikings fans have no problem cheering for the Twins when appropriate, but I've noticed hardcore Twins fans do not reciprocate when it comes to the Vikings. I have never understood it."

Neither have I Shane, neither have I.

Maybe it is my caustic style of pointing out the obvious in my comments left at these Twins blogs, but I don't think so. I think the animosity towards Vikes fans from Twins fans runs deeper.

Big Brother Complex: Without a doubt, the Vikes have a much larger following of fans than the Twins due. This creates a Big Brother Complex that forces Twins fans to continually take second place at the dinner table despite the Twins having two World Championships to the Vikes goose egg.

According to FSN North, Twins baseball averaged a 6.8 rating during 17 telecasts in the month of July. On WFTC UPN 29, five July telecasts averaged a 6.1 share.

Know what the Vikes pull? Remember that Packer playoff game last season? In Minneapolis, the Packers-Vikings game had an astounding share number: 77% of the TVs on at the time were tuned to the game.

The Dome: It is no secret that the Twins were strong armed into playing at the Metrodome which is nothing more than an indoor football field. The Dome is a horrible place to watch a baseball game and Twins fans won't let us forget it.

Our Emotions: In playing this blog entry out with Stick and Ball Guy, also of the Four Hoarsemen, he succinctly summed up this great debate. SBG wrote in an e-mail to me:

"I'm both a Vikes and Twins fan, but I am a logical Vikings fan and an emotional Twins fan."

I would say SBG got it right. Twins fans are heavily invested into the Twins via blood, sweat, and tears. They have battled most of the way through a very long season and seen hopes of another division title erode before their eyes. They hoped for a Wild Card spot and while not mathematically elimimanted, recent play has taken that hope away as well.

Along comes Mr. Thorn In Their Side expounding the virtues of packing it in and turning attention to the other game in town. Ouch!

We, as Vikings fans are emotionally attached to our beloved Purple. We will bitch and moan; holler and cheer; stomp our feet in jubilation and disgust. But we don't give up on them until the last whistle has blown.

I'm not emotionally attached to the Twins. So, I could logically see weeks ago that this season was a bust. So maybe try this next time you see a buddy sporting a Twins jersey, put your arm around their shoulder and let them know you understand and that next year can't come fast enough.

And then, let them know the Vikes are going to be pretty damn good this year and they should look forward to the coming season. Whether they want to get emotionally involved in the Purple is up to them.

Have a thought of your own in this debate? Leave a Comment at the end of this blog entry.

He Hate Me

Not only have I been pissing off Twins fans this week, I've even torked off a few Vikes fans. I'm a Equal Opportunity Pisser Offer!

Take this lovely thought out gem from someone calling himself Waterboy. He takes umbrage with my tongue-in-check asserstion posted in Tuesday entry that I 'discovered' Chris Jones before the STrib did:

"has a Doozy on this one. He says almost exactly the opposite of what the STRIB article says about Mr. Jones, and yet claims that he saw it before everyone else.

My question, is it really difficult to predict that a 6'3" receiver with good speed has some upside? I bet if you check out a few COD quotes from previous camps, he said the same thing about Kenny Clark. lol

Everybody is on the f...ing field because they have some unique talents. Wow, this receiver is tall and he's kinda fast. He has upside. Amazing evaluation talents there, COD."

Waterboy's world must be very humorless indeed. Or else he doesn't understand that bloggers actually rule the world with our special super human powers of, um, writing. We actually control Wall Street, the orbit of the sun, and the winners of the Belmont Stakes for the next 25-years. And we are also quite full of ourselves in mock jest.

Take Stick and Ball Guy for instance. Go to SBG's site and you see "SBG, an Online Magazine (with Billions of Readers)".

I often write about my close, personal friend Sid Hartman. I sincerely hope none of you think I actually know the man. Met him once. Don't need to again.

You see, the point is, those who read this blog daily and actually take the time to exchange a few e-mails with me actually know what's fluff and what's not. Of course, the little ;0 symbol that I inserted into the Chris Jones entry from Tuesday might have also been a clue....which 98% of you caught.

That's what separates the men from the, er, waterboys! (Gotta pat myself on the back for that one!)

Seriously people. If you have an issue, e-mail me. Both my work and home e-mail are posted in the upper right. I respond to most inquiries the same day. And it usually leads to comments like this left on Podcast Alley recently:

[The Viking Underground is] quickly becoming some of the most influential Vikings information and commentary in the Twin Cities.
Submitted By: dtweete

Now, that fan has his facts, Jack! Pretty soon I'll be surpassing SBG with Trillions of Readers!

But if you choose to just rip me on message boards, that's fine too. It brings in more hits to the blog! Win-win baby!

Bluetooth™ Technology

We upgraded our cell phones over the weekend. The main reason is I wanted to get The Wife® a cell phone that was Bluetooth™ capable. Last year, we had purchased a Chrysler Town and Country minivan with something called UConnect™ .

UConnect™ is Chrysler Group's hands-free in-vehicle communication system . Simply put, I connected the new Bluetooth™ compatible phone into the minivan interior and the UConnect™ system automatically lowers the volume on the minivan's audio system and broadcasts the incoming call. A microphone in the rearview mirror takes all my wife's voice commands while she keeps her hands on the wheel and her eyes on the road. And it works great!

Since the call is actually broadcast throughout the speakers, I now make a habit of placing a call each morning to The Wife® when I get to work. This is so that I can share jokes with The Boy® sitting in the back seat while The Wife® delivers him to preschool. This gives me and The Boy® even more time to chat as I'm out of the door some mornings before he has even arisen.

The Wife® loves it. UConnect™ uses advanced voice recognition that empowers her to dial using simple voice commands (example: 'Dial 123-456-7890' or 'Dial Brian at work'). In addition, the UConnect™ address book enables her to store up to 32 names and four numbers per name. She spent part of Sunday in the minivan loading her address book into her UConnect™ voice commands in the minivan.

We live in great times, I tell you what!

Me? I upgraded to a Treo 650 smartphone. It took me 2 days to figure out how to turn it on. I hope to use it to do some phone blogging like my hero SBG. If anyone out there ows a Treo 650....drop me a line with all your hints and sage advice. I need it!

Fourteen Years

Today is the fourteenth wedding anniversary of Mr. & Mrs. Cheer Or Die. I know my life has been for the better. I don't know about The Wife®, though. Having to put up with me all these years.

In honor of our wedding aniversary, I go back to 1996 and give you some memories from my personal photo files from training camp then. Memories can be a very good thing. How many of these players do you recognize....and wish were still playing for the team? Leave a Comment below.

View image One

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View image Eight

Shameless Plug

If you haven't already, please go out to Podcast Alley and vote for me. Every vote helps to increase my podcast exposure and increase visibility. Thanks!

Posted by maasx003 at August 3, 2005 08:07 AM | TrackBack