Opinion
Over the past academic year, Minnesota sports have entertained
May 5, 2010
Another school year is coming quickly to a close.
But over the course of the year there have been many memorable moments in the world of Minnesota sports. But where do I begin?
During the first week of September the Minnesota Twins were seven games out of the division lead.
A few days later, they would lose former AL MVP and All-Star first basemen Justin Morneau to a back injury.
The season seemed all but over, but if there’s one thing you can say about the Twins, it’s that they never give up and you can never count them out.
The Metrodome had a little magic still left in it, and when it was all said and done, the Twins ended the 162-game regular season tied with the Detroit Tigers, forcing a one-game playoff. This made the Twins the first major league team ever to play in a tie-breaker two years in a row (they lost to the Chicago White Sox in 2008).
But this time, the underdog Twins (they had never led the division throughout the entire season) won the thriller, 6-5, in 12 innings on Alexi Casilla’s game-winning hit scoring Carlos Gomez in one of the best games ever played in Twins’ history.
Although the Twins would go on to be swept by the New York Yankees in the ALDS, it was a fitting end for the aged Metrodome or as Fox Sports North called it a “September to remember.”
But maybe the biggest story in the world of Minnesota sports was the arrival of Brett Favre and the magnificent run by the Minnesota Vikings. I can still remember the day when I “officially” became a Favre fan (it was when he threw the last second touchdown in the win over the San Francisco 49ers). The Vikings started the season 6-0 and went on to win a consecutive division title. But boy did they have a season to remember!
Watching them play and pull off extraordinary wins over the enemies across the border, not once, but twice (how many sacks did Jared Allen have again)?, made the Vikings faithful believe that maybe this was our year. It truly was a remarkable season that ended bitterly in an overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.
And we will gladly take Favre back to take us to Super Bowl XLV. But what may excite me the most about my Minnesota sports, is that this year both teams look to contend for the playoffs.
With another year of experience under their belts and a bad taste from last year, we the fans can expect much of the same success if not more!
The greatest joy from the profound success of the Minnesota teams, come from the fact that our main rivals (the Packers, White Sox, Bears, Tigers, or whomever) have done absolutely nothing and could only watch in pain as the Twins and Vikings moved on while they stayed at home. Sure the Packers fans found pleasure in watching the Vikings fall, but that’s only because they wished their beloved team would’ve been in the Vikings position.
With Minnesota sports you sure get your handful of heartbreaks, but the thrilling rides and game-changing memories make it all worth the while!
Ashley Goettl is an alumna of UW-River Falls. She was editor of the Student Voice from fall semester 2011 to spring semester 2013.