January 25, 2010 5:57 AM

They'll lead us to water...but they won't let us drink

There are no words to describe how I feel. Six inches one way or another makes a difference.

- Gary Anderson, 1.17.99

It would be difficult to accurately describe the sense of disappointment I feel this morning. If you're from Minnesota, you understand...because this is part of our legacy. Growing up in Minnesota as a Vikings fan meant being raised with a legacy of "oh, so close...but not quite". I grew up watching the Vikings lose four Super Bowls, from total blowouts to somehow snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Ever since, when Minnesota has looked as if it might...well, perish the thought, because thinking like that only sets one up for the inevitable crash and resulting disappointment.

One of Minnesota's Super Bowl losses occurred at Rice Stadium on the campus of Rice University in Houston. Several years ago, I went to a Rice-Colorado State football game. As I sat in the stands, I could still feel the disappointment many years later. It was like sitting in a funeral home after the casket has been taken away. So close...and yet so far away....

So it was yesterday, when Minnesota literally fumbled away the opportunity to put away the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game. Losing 31-28 in overtime was an especially cruel blow given my lifelong love affair with the Vikings. After all, it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Journey with me back to the 1999 NFC Championship game, when Minnesota (15-1) lost to Atlanta 30-27. In overtime. In Minneapolis. When Gary Anderson, who hadn't missed a field goal all season long (39 for 39), hooked a 38-yard field goal attempt wide left, the door was left open for the Falcons, who came back and won in overtime...on a 38-yard Morton Andersen field goal. So close and yet....

This time around it was a Brett Favre interception (after a penalty for 12 men in the huddle...WTF??) that killed a late fourth quarter drive that should have put the Vikings in position to kick the winning field goal. Instead, Favre scrambled to his right, threw across his body to his left (anyone who's ever played quarterback...and I have...can tell you that this is a cardinal sin)...and telegraphed his pass right into the arms of a waiting Saints defensive back. Game. Set. Match. So close and yet....

OK, so yesterday's disappointment wasn't Roger Staubach-to-Drew Pearson (the original "Hail Mary"). Nor was it Gary Anderson hooking a field goal attempt wide left. No, this year's disappointment came courtesy of players who couldn't hang on to the ball. Hold on to the ball, and the press is going gaga over a Peyton Manning-Brett Favre duel in Miami. Hold on to the ball, and the state of Minnesota holds its collective breath for two weeks.

Instead, I'm left with yet another disappointment in a long history of them. To deal with it, I holed myself up in my apartment and watched a Bruce Springsteen concert that I had saved on my DVR for an occasion such as this. It didn't make up for the Vikings going belly-up in New Orleans, but it did help me remember that the sun would rise this morning...and so it did. Or at least it will shortly.

Damn. So close...and yet so far.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 25, 2010 5:57 AM.

Today's challenges was the previous entry in this blog.

Beauty may be only skin-deep...but ugly cuts to the bone is the next entry in this blog.

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