Minnesota Sports: The Vikings, Twins, Wolves, and The Disease Of Less

I love Minnesota. 

I don't care if people make fun of me for it. We are among the most unique people in this country. We are resilient, tough, genuine and a little goofy. We are supportive, prideful and almost loyal to a fault. There is something about us that is a little bit off to everyone else and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Think about any time you have traveled. If you are from Minnesota and meet someone while traveling the first question always seems to be, "Where are you guys from?" When you respond with "Minnesota," it always elicits some kind of reaction. A laugh. A head shake. A "How do you guys deal with those winters?" 

Those pale in comparison though to this question. One I have been asked several times:

Traveler: Where are you from?

Me: Minnesota

Traveler: What's Fargo like? You don't talk like they do in that movie.

Me: Umm Fargo is in North Dakota, and thanks....I think.

Quite simply, we are a different breed.

Unfortunately these same characterizations that make us successful also fail us as sports fans. Don't read this the wrong way. We do NOT fail as sports fans; we are a great fanbase, but these traits open us up to the constant heartbreak that is Minnesota sports.

Because we are Minnesotans, we let our guard down very easy. Many times we are naive to the real danger surrounding us because we assume that, "Hey everyone is nice." 

We don't demand change because we remember when someone did something good for us a long time ago. It is said that life is about credits and debits. We give too much credit and don't take enough debits.

We heap praise on good when mediocre is expected. We couldn't be more proud when great is the result of something that should only be good. 

Instead of DEMANDING that our teams win a championship, we ACCEPT good when we should be great. We DEAL with mediocre when good should be the norm. And that's what always gets to me. 

Think about the Twins the last couple of years. We laud them during the regular season as scrappy overachievers that play the game the right way. They are a microcosm for all of us and our values in Minnesota. Then the playoffs come and the Yankees mercilessly take us out. We complain for a couple days until we finally gradually accept it as the most logical conclusion to a great season.

Maybe it's that we accept 30 degrees below zero as part of living in Minnesota. Maybe its because we deal with the snow. Maybe there is just something in the water of these 10,000 lakes that makes us settle for less.

I was trying to figure out a way to describe this phenomena. I couldn't find a way to synthesize it into a coherent argument. That was until I read Pat Riley's book.

Miami Heat President Pat Riley wrote a book after his years in Los Angeles called "Showtime." In it he coined a theory called the Disease of More. Riley goes on to explain that after a team wins a championship, subsequent success becomes more difficult to attain due to players, coaches and management's increased ego and desire for the ancillary things that come along with winning. 

In essence, everyone wants more money, more fame, more glory, more women and more recognition. The more winning that goes on, the more team goals get de-emphasized for personal objectives.

When I read this, it hit me what ails Minnesota sports fan. We too suffer from a disease. The disease of less. When a team, or in this case city, consistently falls short of ultimate goals, fans start seeing world championships as implausibilities, and thus, reset their own expectations lower in order to avoid the inevitable heartache that comes with watching Favre throw that interception against the Saints.

The problem then becomes a matter of lowered expectations. Once expectations are lowered, it only leads to a slippery slope. Failure to meet the new, lower expectations doesn't cause outrage, or panic. It only causes one thing: even lower expectations.  

It's the disease of less and it has a crippling hold on Minnesota sports fans.

Lets take a look at recent Minnesota sports history since the Twins last World Series win in 1991. 

The Vikings: 

Dennis Green Era 1992-2001, eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons, 0-2 NFC championship games. Zero Titles. 

Mike Tice Era 2002-2005, one playoff appearance. First team to ever start 6-0 and fail to make the playoffs. Zero Titles

Brad Childress Era 2006-Present, two Playoff appearances, 0-1 NFC Championship games. Zero Titles

The Twins:

Tom Kelly Era-1986-2001. From 1992 onward, eight consecutive losing seasons.  Winning seasons in 1992 and 2001.

Ron Gardenhire Era 2002- Present. Six Playoff Appearances. One series win 2002 ALDS vs Oakland. Zero Titles

The Wolves: 

Flip Saunders Era 1995-2005. Eight consecutive playoff appearances. 0-1 in Western Conference Finals Games. Zero Titles.

WOW! What a shrine to being above average. We are always accepting of just good enough because it is in sports culture psyche. Four SB losses, four NFC championship game losses. Seven consecutive first round playoff exits. 11 consecutive playoff losses.

Look at this list: Dennis Green is like a soup kitchen, always giving the hungry football fans of Minnesota just enough winning to get by until 1998, when he almost killed a fanbase by heaping a Thanksgiving Day meal on the fans every Sunday for an entire season. 

Gardenhire is turning into Dennis Green (hmmm, idea for another article). Grady Little lost his job because he didn't pull Pedro in Game 7 of the ALCS. Gardy has lost 11 straight playoff games and no one utters a peep about firing him.

Saunders brought an expansion team to the playoffs for the first time. That bought him enough good will with the fans of the Wolves to allow him to lose his next seven playoff series and still have a job.

The point here is that we as fans don't have that killer instinct to push our teams over the edge. Minnesota Nice is not just a saying, it's true. When it comes to sports though, we can be too loyal, too one sided, too irrational, just too nice.

It's alright though. We can't help but be who we are. Just remember, we all get to share in the victories, the defeats, the head scratchers and the perpetual goodness. When good things happen, we get to share in the even sweeter glory. 

Just remember: we are from Minnesota. We will find the good in any situation. And we all talk ourselves into believing that sometimes less is more.