Fall is fast approaching and with that comes the start of the football season as well as the fast-approaching hockey season. I was leaning towards talking about the Minnesota Vikings and their season but they’ve only played one regular-season game so far, and I don’t know about you but I don’t put a lot of stake in the preseason. 

As far as the Minnesota Wild, nothing super significant has happened yet, yes that means Kaprizov has yet to sign. Anyway, I thought I’d talk about Minnesota sports as a whole and how hard it is to be a diehard fan of any of our sports, and that does include the Wild. 

For those Minnesota sports fans born in the ‘90s or later, including myself, we haven’t had the privilege of seeing a championship in our top four men’s sports in the last decade or so. Our women’s sports have done well such as the Minnesota Lynx and the Minnesota Whitecaps who have won numerous trophies over the seasons. As of late, however, it’s been a struggle. 

Of course, my parents always bring up the Twins World Series Championships of 1987 and 1991, but I like to remind them I was born in 1992 so that doesn’t count for me. Sadly, even my Minnesota Wild haven’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since back in 2003. With that being said, I’m still a diehard Minnesota sports fan. I may not watch all the sports all the time but I’ll always cheer for them. 

Many of us fans believe we have the “Minnesota Curse” which I believe I have mentioned in prior columns. Our teams can do fantastic during the regular season but as soon as they qualify for the playoffs, they tank. As far as an explanation behind the curse, I have no idea. 

For the Wild, it depends on the season but I firmly believe they have trouble finding that extra step between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs. When the playoffs start, the level of play gets better and why wouldn’t it? Typically, it’s the best teams playing each other so they have to play better to have a chance and the Wild can’t seem to translate their regular-season success to the playoffs. 

The Vikings have had off-and-on seasons over the last few years. Their records have gone up and down, some with great success and some with very little. As far as the playoffs go, it’s about the same as their regular season, basically, a rollercoaster where they make it one season and the next, they don’t.  

Onto the Twins and Timberwolves. The Twins have had a lot of struggles especially recently. The good times I remember were when players like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, and Torii Hunter were still on the roster. They had a lot of success and a lot of losses; I know it probably dates me a bit saying those names that haven’t been around for quite a while but those are the names that stuck with me. I don’t get time to watch the Twins as much but every now and then I’ll catch some of a game and it entices me to watch and remember how much I enjoy baseball.  

The Timberwolves are ones that I haven’t really watched much, to be completely honest, basketball is a game I struggle to watch. They unfortunately are a team that has had a lot of struggles, possibly the most of any of the teams I’ve discussed. They have found it difficult to get players and win games. Out of the last 20 seasons, they’ve had four winning seasons and of those four, three of them resulted in playoff appearances.  

I’m unsure of why they’ve had so much difficulty but it seems to be a common theme amongst the Minnesota teams. All of them struggle from the same curse of losing but in different ways. Some of them can have great seasons and absolutely lose it in playoffs or they have really bad seasons and miss the playoffs entirely. It’s impossible to know all the reasons behind it but for certain it has affected each team. Hopefully, these teams can find a way to win and do it soon so their fans have something to cheer about, including my favorite, the Wild.