(Aargh! Two mess-ups with my browser before getting this right.)
Oh wow, there are so many. Although the Vikings haven’t been the Super Bowl in my memory, they’ve still provided a number of moments. Here are my favorite ones that I’ve found on Youtube.
The first came the first season that I really became aware of the NFL and the Vikings. I had “followed” the team for a couple years, but was to young to understand or to care about watching the game. I began sitting down with my dad and watching the games in the 1980 season.
In Week 15, the Vikings could clinch the NFC Central with a victory, but they trailed at home (at the old Met) to Cleveland. The Browns scored their last touchdown early in the 4th to make the score 23-9. The Vikings came back with two TDs, but missed an extra point, so they trailed 23-22. The Vikings had the ball at their own 20 with 14 seconds remaining and no time outs. The following two plays are the earliest individual football plays that I remember.
Runners-up for the Vikings moments: Moss over the shoulder against the Broncos and Favre beating the 49ers, winning over skeptical Vikings fans.
The obvious 1991 moment is Puckett’s HR at the end of Game 6 prompting Jack Buck’s immortal call, so I’ll skip this. My favorite play was a perfectly pedestrian the following night. A boring play with high importance.
As is well-known, Jack Morris pitched 10 shutout innings, so the game is tied at 0 in the bottom of the 10th. The Twins load the bases with one out. Gene Larkin, injured leg and all, pinch hits for the Twins. The announcers wonder whether he’ll be able to run. I recall (I think it was Buck) declaring that if he hits it far enough, he doesn’t have to run. The Brave outfield is playing shallow hoping for the double play. Larkin’s at bat starts at 6:40 in the video at the bottom of the blog post.
Finally, two moments from the 2002 NCAA Men’s Hockey championship game. The Minnesota Gophers are playing the Maine Black Bears at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, about 10 minutes from the Minnesota campus. Despite being one of the most prominent college hockey teams ,the Gophers haven’t been to the championship game since losing 4-3 in OT to Harvard in 1989, and haven’t won since beating North Dakota, their biggest rivals, in 1979. As an analogy, Minnesota in hockey is similar to Duke in men’s basketball - a legendary program which people love to hate. There are about 4 times as many basketball teams total and in the tournament, so the Gopher’s absence is similar to the Blue Devils failing to make the Final Four for 23 years and not even advancing to the Elite Eight for 13.
To set the scene, the Gophers trail 3-2 late in the third. With 58.3 seconds, a faceoff occurs in the Maine end, and Gopher’s goalie Adam Hauser is pulled for the extra attacker. Matt Koalska then secures a place in Gopher history.
Late in the 1st OT, the Bears get called for tripping and the Gophers go on the power play. Grant Potulny was the first non-Minnesotan to play for the Gophers in over 15 years, hailing from Grand Forks, ND, home of the University of North Dakota, mentioned before. Potulny ends the game, securing the first Gopher title in over 2 decades.
