From Mike McCurry’s “Talk of the Town” column in The Clarendon Courier, February 1, 2018
SKOL!
I saw a story in the news recently about a guy who wears a different Philadelphia Eagles football jersey everyday throughout the NFL season. In this story, he and the news reporter are seen counting all of the jerseys that occupy his house – on the floor, on the couch and in his closets – until they finally come up with 217. He not only wears a new jersey each day, but he takes a “selfie”, and catalogs it on Instagram so that his followers can see which one he chose. He said that he knows that some people might think it’s an odd obsession, but he normalized it by arguing that people who drink coffee everyday could be considered odd as well.
Before the NFC championship game on January 21st, my kids were on track to wear a Minnesota Vikings jersey everyday leading up to the Super Bowl. (For the record, they don’t have 217 jerseys like the Eagles’ fan, but they have a few that they need to wash and recycle so that they keep good hygiene).
That was before the walls came tumbling down at the McCurry home. Philly shocked our world – and all of Minnesota fans – by handily beating the Vikings, 38-7 to advance to the Super Bowl.
I know it is sounding like a sour grapes column, and I admit it kind of is; but a lot of people wish the outcome was different – Didn’t you? So many people in the community reached out to us to say they were rooting for purple, and were sorry for the loss.
It was a Cinderella-type of story that didn’t turn out as many had hoped. The loss ended the storybook tale, and the possibility of the Vikings being the first team ever to play in a Super Bowl in their own stadium.
But it was the playoff game the week earlier against the New Orleans Saints that turned so many doubters around the country into believers. Even in my own home, early in the game we were absolutely convinced that a victory was in hand. That was until the Saints rallied began late in the third quarter, scoring 24 of the next 30 points leaving our jaws hanging in disbelief. It was like a emotional roller-coaster, confidently climbing higher until the game twisted into a death march, and we were absolutely sure the Vikings were going to lose.
But in a game referred to as “Minneapolis Miracle”, the unbelievable happened. It was on the last play of the game, where the Vikings’ quarterback, Case Keenum arched a pass from his own 39 yard-line to receiver Stefon Diggs, who made a giant leap catching it over a Saints defender, and ran untouched another 33 yards to score the game-winning touchdown as time expired. The Vikings’ new US Bank Stadium exploded – and so did our home.
We cheered along with Keenim who, like a conductor of an orchestra, lead the entire stadium in the team’s signature “SKOL” chant. It was a moment that will not be forgotten.
So where do we go from there? To a Super Bowl party, of course!
Maybe just like you, we’ll be celebrating the biggest day in sports in a house full of our favorite people and a whole lot of snack food. We’ll cheer “dilly-dilly” to the Bud Light commercials, and we’ll think about the Cinderella story that never happened.
We’ll most likely find ourselves rooting for one of the teams, but we won’t be wearing their jerseys. As of this moment, we’re all planning to wear Cubs.
Maybe we’ll start a new collection.
Mike is a Clarendon Hills resident; husband; Indian Princess; Indian Guide Dad; a Coach; an “old” football player and a real estate broker. Mike’s columns are usually crafted about the buzz in and around the area. It sometimes has a spin on real estate or cultural information, highlight a new business or announce school happenings. He might include a “get-to-know” about some of our interesting residents and even a little about history. Whatever it is, it is sure to be about the “Talk of the Town”.