Travis KriensSad Vikings Fan

I hated Brett Favre more than any other human on earth growing up. There was no one that could piss me off more than him.

When he retired from the Packers in early 2008, I didn’t watch ESPN for three straight days because I knew what they would be talking about.

But when there were rumblings that he wanted to come back and that he was looking at the Vikings, I could not believe it.

I wondered how I would feel if Favre ever did play for my favorite team. I knew that it would never happen, so I figure that I would still cheer on the Vikings, but not Favre, no matter how well he played.

What changed my mind about Favre and his situation is how the Packers wouldn’t trade him to their division rival where he really wanted to go, but instead traded him to the New York Jets. They even put in a clause that the Jets couldn’t trade him to the Vikings unless the Jets gave the Packers three first round draft picks. Now Favre was on my side and hated the Packers probably more than I did, which is quite a bit.

For the first time ever, I was cheering for Favre and hoping he would do well. The Jets had no connection to the Vikings and all Favre wanted was a chance to keep on playing. After an 8-3 start and Super Bowl talk, the Jets lost four of their last five. Favre called it quits again and even had the Jets release him, so that if he chose to comeback, he could sign with any team he wanted (the Vikings).

When Favre started to get the itch again, the Vikings came calling. Both sides needed each other. The Vikings were only a quarterback away from a Super Bowl and Favre wanted revenge on the Packers. Two former foes bonded together for the common goal of winning, while also sticking it to their most hated rival.

The 2009 season was as good of a season as Minnesota has had in the modern Vikings era and could only be matched by the 1998 team as far as memories and entertainment on the field. The future Hall of Famer had his best statistical year ever and played his best against the Packers.

Besides the Vikings and Favre, the talk of the NFL last season was the Saints and how great of a story it was. I was sick of hearing about the hurricane and how much the team meant to the fans and how the team gave the people hope. I couldn’t care any less. I didn’t think that Saints were all that great when compared to the Vikings and I hoped for a matchup in the NFC Championships game and that’s exactly what happened.

Despite the Vikings dominating New Orleans in every facet of the game, turnovers killed Minnesota. Now I know as a fan of this team, it’s not a question of what team is going to beat the Vikings to end their season, but how will the Vikings come up with another creative way to beat themselves. You would think that if one team turns the ball over four more times than their opponent, including twice inside the 10 yard line, right on the door step of scoring, the other team wouldn’t need another turnover in the final seconds of the game in order to just get to overtime tied.

When I think of Favre becoming a Viking, it will be this game that I will think of the most and how close they were to getting to the Super Bowl. After seeing what happened in that game and knowing that everything the Vikings did that night was better than the Saints, except for taking care of the ball, I don’t expect to see the Vikings win the Super Bowl before I die and I hope to live for another 50+ years. If they do happen to do the unthinkable and I am around to see it, I will think back to all those seasons that could have been and how much sweeter it is the longer you wait. Sometimes it is not the destination that makes trip fun, but the journey to get there and I hope the same is true for Vikings fans.

People are sick of hearing about Brett Favre, and for them, the good news is you have heard the last of him as a player in the NFL. I am glad he came back this past season because if he didn’t, I would have always wondered what would have been had he come back with mainly the same team intact from the year before.

I am glad that Favre played for the Vikings and I had a chance to see what made him so great for all those years that I hated him in Green Bay. I couldn’t wait for him to retire when he was with Green Bay and I couldn’t wait for him to come back this season to the Vikings.

While the 2010 season was the most news worthy and depressing one that I have seen, it was also entertaining, but mostly for all the wrong reasons. From Favre coming back, to Sidney Rice missing over half the season with a hip injury, to Randy Moss coming back and leaving again, Brad Childress getting canned, Favre getting injured, the Metrodome roof collapsing, Favre returning and getting injured again, a game called because of snow and getting moved to a Tuesday and the emergence of Joe Webb, this was a season to remember.