FanPost

You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd

Some of you will argue that Roger Miller was not quite as good at coaching football as George Halas was. I merely point out George cut in line and was born in 1895. Roger waited patiently until 1938 to arrive, when people had had a fair chance to understand what a Great Depression actually was, then he decided not to participate in pro football, because he had songs to write. However, it's really all a dead issue.

During the away games in the NFL, the 12th Man belongs to the home team. We are not about to overwhelm Soldier Field in a sea of purple. Fans, get down from the cliff. If Bud Grant saw you whining like that, he'd do more than just tell your mother.

Let me suggest at this point in the space-time contimuum that we focus on the second clause of Miller's opening sentence: "you can be happy if you've a mind to".

Verily, sentence diagrammers in Anglican countries will kick the snot out of Roger for his dangling preposition, but your assigned task in communication is to decode the message and accurately deduce its intended content. As the saying goes, those who can't do teach, and those who can't teach become critics. Winning the blame game debate is not an upgrade over loyalty.

As Cal Coolidge said, "Nothing in this world world can take the place of persistence."

Football is a team endeavor. They don't give the Lombardi to the player with the best stats. They give it to the last team standing, the team which most consistently outscores the opposition before the clock runs out.

Sounds a bit like life, does it not? You do not get an unlimited amount of time outs. You cannot complete a touchdown pass or any pass unless the receiver manages to get to the right spot at the right time and catches the football in accordance with the rules, not in accordance with popular fan opinion. Life has rough breaks. Even if they call it the Calvin Johnson Rule, that does not mean it is there operating in his favor.

Away games are hard. Thousands of fans hope you screw up. They do not want you to hear the signals. They are not heaping praise on your mother. The players and coaches have to cope with that to win. That is when you find out as a group if you are a winning team or not. All most vistors' fans can do are the arcane rituals of the helpless. They have to wait for the home games to actively participate. That persistence thing is not as easy to do as it is to say. The plays are drawn up in the playbook to succeed. Whether they do or not depends on team execution, whether the opponents guess correctly and execute properly, and a little bit of blooming luck.

Yes, football is a guessing game. That is why there are options. You read what the defences guess is going to happen, then you do the other thing you have planned in advance that makes that guess dead wrong. When you can do that consistently, you have something. Until then, lady luck plays tricks on you, to checkout your persistence factor.

The next game is in the hands of those who will walk out of the tunnels in Chicago. Most Viking's fans have to keep a stiff upper lip until the home games arrive.

So, how much persistence have you got in the tank? Any clown can jump on a bandwagon. For those people who cheat and jump in line when victory seems nearly and clearly set in stone, the late radio voice of Pete Franklin reserved his most damning F-word: "frontrunner," but people, you can be happy, if you've a mind to. Choose wisely, Grasshopper.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.