Coming Out: A Closeted Sports Fan

OK, I am not going to tread anywhere near BoiFromTroy's turf, as it were.  But I have one sports passion, and one sports passion only (which is one more than most gay men), and today I need to blog about it:

So anyway, this is such bullshit.  ESPN The Magazine has picked my Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl XL, so when do I first get a chance to see this juggernaut on national television?  November 21!  (By the way, the actual ESPN link is available to subscribers only.  They claim you can register for "free."  But in ESPN-land, "free" means "$39.95.")

By that date, I will have had a chance to see those idiotic Dirty Birds from Atlanta three times, with a fourth game on Nov. 24 (can you tell I'm still bitter about having to cancel my ticket to Miami a few years back?), and the Philadelphia Eagles five times, with a sixth game on Nov. 27.  Granted, as a New Yorker, I can probably see them play the Giants on Nov. 13.  (Don't even get me started on the lame "NFL Sunday Pass" contract that shuts cable viewers out until at least 2010.)

I know there is "parity" in the NFL, but clearly it doesn't apply to the television contract.  And I know there is the simple matter of disparate market sizes, etc. etc., but that doesn't mean I like it.  I am The Malcontent, after all.

The odds-makers also have very good things to say about the Vikes, mainly because of their off-season revamp of their defense.  The gayer I've become, the less in tune I have been with sports in general, but it's nice to see names I recognize like Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Napoleon Harris, Fred Smoot and Darren Sharper potentially forming the new Purple People-Eaters.

So my love of the Vikings is the only thing that comes even close to BfT's Trojan boosterism.  (He did name his site and pattern his colors after his team, after all.  Then again, my site is purple ...)  Nothing else for me comes close sports-wise – except for the two times I watched the Twins win the World Series.  Now that was a sportgasm.

I haven't mentioned this to my future football widow yet, but for those of you that are here for politics or video clips or gay issues or pictures of hot young men, you're on notice that I will probably dedicate at least some attention to the Vikes.  That is, until they flame out and fluke their way into a first-round wildcard loss, like they usually do.

(Do I sound like Andy Towle does when he tries to talk politics?)

Comments

[John]

Minnesota, ya don't say? That's a nifty thing, don't cha know.

Heading to a BBQ with a bunch of Minnesota expats in DC this Sunday. I'm hoping for hotdish (and a good post-season for Atlanta).

[The Malcontent]

I will be in Minnesota -- in northern Minnesota, no less -- next month. Up there, they think Lake Wobegon is a reality show.

And a hearty welcome-back to my Stonewall Dem friends. :-)

(I'll be in DC this weekend too, actually.)

[John]

Ah, thanks. One of my favorite memories last summer is driving up Highway 31 from Duluth to Thunder Bay, Ontario while playing Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited".

Bob Dylan = Good Minnesota boy (named Zimmerman) from Hibbing.

Are you from Minnesota?

[John]

Wait, I meant Highway 61.

[The Malcontent]

Well, Minnesota has probably a bigger claim on my citizenship (and certainly my nativity) than any of the myriad other places I have lived, even though I have not lived there in 25 years.

Funny enough, I will BE in Hibbing. I'm well acquainted with "Zimmy's," too.

[The Malcontent]

Well, Minnesota has probably a bigger claim on my citizenship (and certainly my nativity) than any of the myriad other places I have lived, even though I have not lived there in 25 years.

Funny enough, I will BE in Hibbing. I'm well acquainted with "Zimmy's," too.

[The Malcontent]

Well, Minnesota has probably a bigger claim on my citizenship (and certainly my nativity) than any of the myriad other places I have lived, even though I have not lived there in 25 years.

Funny enough, I will BE in Hibbing. I'm well acquainted with "Zimmy's," too.

[Donald]

I am a vikings fan who grew up in Pennsylvania. Glad to know there are more Viking homos out there. I get cable and a lot of it (basic is included in the rent)so I may get to watch them more often. Come to Pennsylvania. I am only 75 west of the city. A straight (so to speak) shot across Jersey down 78.

Go Vikes

[BfT]

Nah. 2005 is all 'bout them Cowboys!!!

[John]

Sorry, that I missed running into you at the Grille this weekend. The Minnesota ex-pat BBQ was great. It even came complete with Republicans and Hot Dish! for ya sure.