January 15, 2016 6:55 AM

Leave it to children to remind us that football is only a game

This week, Minnesota elementary school teacher Judie Offerdahl took the opportunity to turn Blair Walsh’s shank into a lesson about empathy for her kids. The first-graders at Northpoint Elementary School in Blaine wrote some pretty adorable letters to the Vikings kicker.

Sunday afternoon, I was crushed. All the Minnesota Vikings had to do was to kick a 27-yard field goal with :22 left to defeat the Seattle Seahawks and move on to the next round of the NFL playoffs. It was a very makeable kick, the sort Vikings kicker Blair Walsh had consistently converted all season long. I watched the play unfold, waited for the ball to sail through the uprights…and screamed like a stuck pig when Walsh pulled the kick WAY outside the left upright. It wasn’t even close. Minnesota snatched defeat from the jaws of victory…and no one had more attention and blame focused on him than Blair Walsh. For someone like myself who grew up with the Vikings consistently and regularly falling short after coming THIS close, it was a punch to the gut.

After Walsh’s shank, many Viking fans found themselves harkening back to Gary Anderson in the 1998 NFC Championship Game against Atlanta. The Vikings, who’d gone 15-1 and set an NFL record for points scored in a season, were one game away from a Super Bowl berth. All Gary Anderson had to do was kick a 38-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the 4th quarter to put Minnesota up by 10 points. Anderson, who hadn’t missed a kick of any sort all season long, missed badly. The Vikings, stunned and deflated, allowed the Falcons to tie the game and send it into overtime. Minnesota punted twice in overtime and managed to impotently snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as the Falcons prevailed in a game they should never have had a shot at winning.

As soon as the football flew outside the left upright like a mortally-wounded mallard, Blair Walsh immediately began living every kicker’s nightmare. Walsh won’t be remembered for being arguably the most prolific kicker in the NFL in 2015; he’ll be infamous for being the reason why the Vikings’ season ended prematurely. (Never mind the Vikings’ sputtering offense was the reason the game was put onto Walsh’s shoulders in the first place. If they’d been able to move the ball, Walsh’s lack of heroics would have never been an issue.).

It seems that not everyone blames Walsh. Yes, it’s easy to demonize the kicker, to blame him for the Vikings “failure.” This is where a teacher trying to teacher her fist-graders about empathy comes into the picture…and the story goes from sad to adorable in no time flat. Ms. Offerdahl’s students wrote letters to Walsh, and if a read through a few doesn’t put a smile on your face, you need to have your humanity checked.

Dear Blair Walsh,

You are the best player in the unverse. Evryone makes mistakes you’re team still apreciates you! I know you’ll help the Vikings next time.

For Blair Walsh. Keep on trying. Puppys are cute. [Drawing of two puppies with thought balloons filled with hearts] You are handsome. Don’t worry. It’s just a game.

Dear Blair Walsh,

I know that it can be hard to get through things that make you sad, but you have to try and try again. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. One time I made a mistake when I was doing a cartwheel. I felt embarrassed. But you can still help the Vikings win the Super Bowl next year.

Your fan,

Sophia

P.S. You are the best kicker that I know.

P.P.S. I hope you win the Super Bowl this year.

P.P.P.S. I am really a big fan of you.

P.P.P.P.S. I love the Vikings.

I suspect Walsh felt a whole lot better after reading the letters. He clearly was touched and humbled at such a kind gesture, and he repaid Ms. Offerdahl’s students with a visit to thank them in person. It was a classy gesture and a sincere expression of gratitude for an equally classy expression of kindness and compassion.

No one died because Blair Walsh missed a field. Yes, millions of Vikings fans like myself were disappointed (severe understatement), but the Earth continued spinning on its axis, and the sun rose the next morning as it always did. Life went on, and I suspect that this will be but a blip on the radar when Walsh’s career as a whole is considered.

Honestly, I felt all season long that the Vikings were still a couple years away from contention, so that they achieved what they did was impressive. Five days later, it still hurts, enough that I’m not certain I’ll be able to watch the Seahawks as long as they’re alive in the playoffs. But for a shanked 27-yard field goal (normally considered a “chip shot” for a professional placekicker), Minnesota would be in Phoenix to play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

It shouldn’t take a group of cute as a button first-graders to remind us that football is a game and that the results are as fleeting as they are ephemeral, but in this case Ms. Offerdahl’s charges offer up a lesson in perspective.

Why would anyone worry about a missed field goal when puppies are cute?

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 15, 2016 6:55 AM.

And Jesus said, "Someone find me an adulteress to stone!" was the previous entry in this blog.

What's on the Victrola today is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 6.0.8