I assume "real fan" means the point where one puts a team above all others and commits.
It was right away for me. I don't remember the year but it was the fact that my favorite color was purple and the defense was the Purple People Eaters. My Grandmother had recently given me an 8-track tape (google it kids) of Sheb Wooley and my favorite song on it was " Flying Purple People Eater"....so it all fit, from my limited perspective.
I had no real idea how great that team was. But I remember Chuck Foreman and Tark being easy heroes and I loved Alan Page, Paul Krause and Matt Blair too.
Now I wish I was older when that team was at it's peak so I could really enjoy it's dominance...except for those times in January
1997 season. We moved to Minnesota in '96 in the middle of first grade. Didn't really know/understand football until i got to the third grade, been bleeding purple and gold since. Used to have a signed Chris Carter poster taped above my desk. Been all over the world since then but 3 hrs every sunday in the fall even halfway around the world, is carved out for my beloved Vikings.
When I lived in Minnesota, my property manager was telling me about a guy he knew who committed suicide after the loss in '98. Obviously he had a lot of OTHER issues going on--and it wasn't just because of the game--but the loss to the Falcons was the last straw. He committed suicide that night or the next day. Not quite sure on the details--either way, shortly after.
Football is serious, especially Vikings football. Really, really serious. Too bad we are often on the wrong side of the "serious."
Commit suicide? In the words of Clay Davis from the Wire, sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit!
But seriously, I became a Vikings fan in '98. Was a Bears fan and wanted them to draft Randy Moss, but they drafted the greatness that was Curtis Enis and the Vikings did. I was a huge fan of Moss coming out of Marshall, so when the Vikings drafted him, I became a Vikings fan and have been one since. That '98 team with Robert Smith, Cris Carter, Moss, and Jake Reed was a thing of beauty. The "bend, but don't break" defense with Foge Fazio on the other hand was not
Been a fan since the first time I watched them on TV in 1969. I loved the uniforms! Growing up in Idaho in those days I didn't get to see a lot of their games. When they lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl I was disappointed but hadn't been a fan long enough to be devastated yet. That came later. The 98 loss was tough but for some reason I really wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be. The Super Bowl loses were much worse. The loss to the Saints was far worse for me. For some reason I just felt like that season was the magical one and we were going to the Super Bowl.
If we ever win one I am going to....well I don't know what I am going to do. Probably buy every piece of Super Bowl memoribilia I fan get my hands on just so I can convince myself it wasn't a dream.
