Twins vs. Vikings: The ultimate battle

A couple of Sundays ago, the Minnesota Vikings kicked off their football season. Yes, I realize I’m writing this for TwinkieTown and not Daily Norseman. But being Minnesota born-and-raised, I have almost an equal affinity for both clubs. Almost.

Before I get too much further here, let me also say this to head off potential comments: Despite actually living a year or two of my life in Roseau, MN, I have never been a hockey fan. Despite standing 6’8” tall, basketball hasn’t really done much for me, either. I don’t begrudge anyone who loves those two sports (except maybe when the damn Wild game is on FSN so I have to find FSN+), but they just aren’t for me. No, I am strictly a baseball/football guy.

My initiation into baseball came much sooner (early 1990s), what with my Dad teaching me the sport, taking me to games, enrolling me in little league, and my love for baseball literature. But then, in 1998, the Vikings drafted this guy named Randy Moss and suddenly watching him catch those long, arching passes seemed fun too. From that point, 20 years ago, I’ve been a fan of both Minnie & Paul and the Purple & Gold.

One thing I’ve often thought about is how to quantify my fan-ship of each team. Sure, my TV is switched to football on Sundays through September, but that is as much a function of a 16 game season vs. 162 baseball games: I will easily trade my Twins Sunday afternoon special for the Vikings once a week.

This is a stupid distinction at its core, much like the “Star Wars vs. Star Trek” debate that endlessly swirls around science fiction fandom...

I grew up enjoying both franchises equally, so my response is always:

But of course, where better (besides the comment section of a Facebook article) to have a completely irrational and pointless discussion than a sports blog? The only scenario I’ve ever been able conjure up to even come close to the matter of deciding my ultimate Twins/Vikings loyalty is this:

If the Twins were playing in Game 7 of the World Series at the same time as the Vikings were playing in the Super Bowl, which one would you be watching? For the sake of argument here, let’s say that no split-screen technology can be used. You can flip over to one or the other “on commercials”, but ultimately you have to pick one entire contest to watch and the other gets short-shrift.

Generally-speaking, Minnesota has a reputation of being more of a Purple town...and we aren’t talking Prince here. But I’ve always thought that the contingency of Twins fans is larger than most people realize. The fact that I’m posing this question on a Twins blog is obviously priming the pump for one answer, but I’d encourage you to be completely honest in how you respond (I won’t judge).

Personally, though it would be an agonizing choice, I’d be tuning into Game 7. Despite all the emotion (usually tears) invested in the Vikings, baseball is still overall my favorite sport and thus the Twins my favorite team.