It’s not quite time yet. There is not that nip in the autumn air that goes hand-in-hand with the shrill sound that blows the ball dead on the gridiron. Nevertheless, Foot-ball Fever is raging in Minnesota. Or maybe I should say Favre Fever is raging in Minnesota. Bret Favre is back to lead the Minnesota Vikings through the 2010 season.
I heard that he got like $16 million dollars to come back and play. I also heard that the Vegas odds on the Vikings making it into the 2011 Super Bowl dropped from 16 to 1 to 9 to 1.
Facebook pages are filled with “Yikes Vikes – Favre is back!” kind of entries. And, I bet I am not the only person who bought a #4 Viking’s jersey this past week.
I’ll confess, I’m glad to see Favre back in purple and gold, but the jersey is a gift for my grandson. I have a feeling that in order to keep peace in the family I will need to buy a #4 jersey for my daughter and granddaughter too.
I also want to confess that I am a football fan, somewhat of an enigma: a woman who watches football on Sundays while her husband dozes off and on during the game. After the game is over, I cannot rattle off statistics like “the guys” do, or recall who ran back that interception in 1968 that won the game. But I do enjoy a good football game.
In my time, I have even been known to watch a bad football game and enjoy it. When I taught school in Ortonville I had the opportunity to watch the high school boys, the Trojans, win the dubious honor of racking up the most consecutive losses in the state.
But my days of being a fan started when I was in high school. Shanley High School in Fargo had the honor of holding the record for the most consecutive unbeaten streak in the country – yes, the country- at one time: 59 games in a row.
The Shanley Deacons, under coach Sid Cichy, had one of the most prominent teams in the state of North Dakota through the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The boys took home the first place state trophies in 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975,1976, 1977, 1981 and 1983. That’s a lot of hardware!
I can remember that the ‘powers that be’ made some changes and during the years I was attending Shanley there were no state football championship games. Those of us attending Shanley secretly – well not so secretly – believed that the state changed the rules because it was so embarrassing to have the Deacons win the state championship year after year after year.
Whether you are a football fan or not, I challenge you to watch a Vikings games this season. Even if you don’t understand the game, or hate the violence, just watch long enough for the cameras to pan the Vikings bench. Take a good look at those grown men standing along the side of the field, modern gladiators waiting for their brief encounter with destiny. Glance at the scoreboard, even with the score of 3-10, with the opponents leading, those Vikings, led by Bret Favre, are smiling and talking.
When was the last time you saw any of your coworkers, after being physically and mentally drained by the arduous tasks they have completed, smile and joke?
These Vikings truly do love their work.
The boys who put on the red and white uniforms of the Shanley Deacons truly loved their work.
Isn’t one of your goals in life to truly love your work? To be able to smile at the end of the day and say to yourself, “I gave it my all”?
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It’s not quite time yet. There is not that nip in the autumn air that goes hand-in-hand with the shrill sound that blows the ball dead on the gridiron. Nevertheless, Foot-ball Fever is raging in Minnesota. Or maybe I should say Favre Fever is raging in Minnesota. Bret Favre is back to lead the Minnesota Vikings through the 2010 season.
I heard that he got like $16 million dollars to come back and play. I also heard that the Vegas odds on the Vikings making it into the 2011 Super Bowl dropped from 16 to 1 to 9 to 1.
Facebook pages are filled with “Yikes Vikes – Favre is back!” kind of entries. And, I bet I am not the only person who bought a #4 Viking’s jersey this past week.
I’ll confess, I’m glad to see Favre back in purple and gold, but the jersey is a gift for my grandson. I have a feeling that in order to keep peace in the family I will need to buy a #4 jersey for my daughter and granddaughter too.
I also want to confess that I am a football fan, somewhat of an enigma: a woman who watches football on Sundays while her husband dozes off and on during the game. After the game is over, I cannot rattle off statistics like “the guys” do, or recall who ran back that interception in 1968 that won the game. But I do enjoy a good football game.
In my time, I have even been known to watch a bad football game and enjoy it. When I taught school in Ortonville I had the opportunity to watch the high school boys, the Trojans, win the dubious honor of racking up the most consecutive losses in the state.
But my days of being a fan started when I was in high school. Shanley High School in Fargo had the honor of holding the record for the most consecutive unbeaten streak in the country – yes, the country- at one time: 59 games in a row.
The Shanley Deacons, under coach Sid Cichy, had one of the most prominent teams in the state of North Dakota through the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The boys took home the first place state trophies in 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975,1976, 1977, 1981 and 1983. That’s a lot of hardware!
I can remember that the ‘powers that be’ made some changes and during the years I was attending Shanley there were no state football championship games. Those of us attending Shanley secretly – well not so secretly – believed that the state changed the rules because it was so embarrassing to have the Deacons win the state championship year after year after year.
Whether you are a football fan or not, I challenge you to watch a Vikings games this season. Even if you don’t understand the game, or hate the violence, just watch long enough for the cameras to pan the Vikings bench. Take a good look at those grown men standing along the side of the field, modern gladiators waiting for their brief encounter with destiny. Glance at the scoreboard, even with the score of 3-10, with the opponents leading, those Vikings, led by Bret Favre, are smiling and talking.
When was the last time you saw any of your coworkers, after being physically and mentally drained by the arduous tasks they have completed, smile and joke?
These Vikings truly do love their work.
The boys who put on the red and white uniforms of the Shanley Deacons truly loved their work.
Isn’t one of your goals in life to truly love your work? To be able to smile at the end of the day and say to yourself, “I gave it my all”?
