The difference between college football and the NFL and hating the Vikings

On Sportsline Live last week, I predicted that all four road teams would win in the NFL Wildcard playoffs.

I was wrong twice. I thought Atlanta and Indianapolis would also win on the road. As it turned out, Arizona beat the Falcons 30-24 and the Chargers edged the Colts 23-17 in overtime. In a side note, evidently my mother-in-law in California has met Chargers' quarterback Phillip Rivers and his wife a couple of times with her job. Small world, even in California.

I got to thinking (I know, a rarity) while watching the Vikings and Eagles on Sunday that the NFL is much different than college football in a fan sense. For the most part, I think most Wyoming fans were rooting for Utah to beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. After all, it is a Mountain West Conference team against a SEC power. You want your conference to do well and pick up some national respect.

As it turned out, the Utes beat the Tide and now people are actually talking about Utah as the No. 1 team in the country. It won't happen, but at least people are talking.

In the NFL, there is no conference pride. As a Packers fan (true Packers fan), you don't root for the Vikings to beat the Eagles. You want the Vikings to fall flat on their collective faces. Sure, your team didn't even make the playoffs, but that isn't the point. Packers fans hate the Vikings and they hate the Bears. Vikings fans hate the Packers and Bears and Bears fans hate the Vikings and Packers. The Lions? What's there to hate?

The same could be said of Broncos fans hating the Raiders and the Chiefs and so on.

When the Vikings lost yet again in the playoffs, I could only give my best Nelson (Simpsons) impersonation -- Ha, ha!

Now, you have to remember that this comes from a South Dakota boy, so I have plenty of friends back home who are Vikings fans. My brother in Rapid City knows what I am talking about.

While I am not a Vikings fan, I am a Twins fan. I have been since I was but a wee lad. Many people here assume I am a Vikings fan, because they see me in my Twins garb. Packers? Then I must be a Brewers fan? Not really. Twins all the way.

It makes me wonder a little bit about the state of Minnesota. How a state that supports the Twins like it does, yet it still has to get two extensions from the NFL to finally get a sell-out for a playoffs game? If the game is not sold out, Minnesota resident would not have been able to watch the game on television.

Then I remembered that this is a state that once elected a pro wrestler (Jesse Ventura) governor and is apparently going to elect a buffoon (Al Franken) to the Senate. How messed up is that.

By golly, you betcha, that is just Minnesoooda, don't cha know.

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