Fan Diary of a 42-year old in Colorado (Another VY Post)

Fan Diary of a 42-year old in Colorado

I grew up in Sewanee as a child before moving to Nashville. I was a HUGE Vikings fan as a kid as my mother was from Minneapolis and my relatives would send us Vikings stiff.  Fran Tarkenton was my hero and I loved to watch him scramble.  He could make any play unpredictable.  In retrospect it was amazing to thing what a 5'10" guy with no arm in his mid-thirties was doing to get to 3 Super Bowls.  I remained a Vikings fan for years and years, but I remember what the end looked like.  It was the 1998 season when the Vikings went 15-1 and were the favorites to win it all.  The one and only Vikings game I ever saw was December 26, 1998 at Vanderbilt Stadium (!).   I had already moved away and was back home to see my Mom with my 2 young kids.   I was rooting for Chris Carter (wow great hands) and this new guy Randy Moss and was most pleased as the Vikes stomped the "Tennesse Oilers."

Well they botched the NFC championship game, and, living in Denver, I had to suffer through the haughty glee as Broncos' fans feelings of entitlement were satiated again.  Kind of like Duke basketball fans (I am one).  However, something about the Broncos fans (maybe its my in-laws) turned me off.   By the next fall, with the help and counseling of my friends at home, I was a self-identified Tennessee Titans fan.  Sunday ticket did not exist yet I do not think, so I did my best to see games when I could, as anytime an AFC West team is in action, that is the game here locally.  It also helped that Mr. 8-8 himself, one of the "3 best coaches in the NFL" according to the national media, had a playoff fancy for a time which meant that I could see Eddie George in action more often than otherwise.

I must confess though, while the Titans were my team, and I had an #27 jersey, I did not break down walls, drive around town, or hijack satellite signals to see Titans games.  In 2007, I was lucky to get good tickets to the Titans/Broncos game and went with my brother in law.  We both left with the same conclusion, Vince Young was the best athlete we had ever seen.  He was without a doubt in our minds the best player on that field.  We wondered could someone change the natural laws of the NFL and play like that without getting hurt? The scrambling and running was fantastic.  (Justin Gage dropped like 25 passes that night; why is he even still on the team?)  During the 2008 season, I only saw 1-2 games on TV, though I did go to the Jets/Brett Favre game at LP field.  As the 2009 season rolled in, I listened to a couple of games on Sirius, but mostly contented myself with watching highlights of how Mr. 8-8 himself, one of the "3 best coaches in the NFL" according to the national media, had successfully steered a 13-3 team to 0-6.

Then the bye week came and VY was announced as the starter again.  I can't explain what happened or why I felt the way I did then and still do, but I went to the nearby sports bar to see the Titans on Sunday ticket and to see VY.  I faithfully returned each Sunday for the next 10 weeks (yes the Hou game was a Mon) to see VY.  The first five wins were especially exhilarating.  Option runs, bootlegs, option play action passes, rollouts, moving pockets; everything was unpredictable -both in play calling and on field result.  Like Rich Gannon's "WOO!" when CJ caught the option pitch against the Niners.  Maybe I, like others, have grown tired of the same thing, the suffocating play of the conventional wisdom of the NFL - pocket passers, play calls from guys with headsets, everything controlled and scripted.  Where are all the drop-kicks?  After all the game is called "FOOTball."

When VY won the Cardinals game, I stood up with my headphones and screamed like a madman.  Everyone was looking at me, thinking, what is he doing?  I believed that the Titans could make the playoffs.  I felt certain of that when this season started.   But the soft underbelly of a terrible defense, and a terrible DC choice by Mr. 8-8 reared its ugly head again.  Stats do not lie - they may not tell the whole truth - but they do not lie.  When you look at VY's stats and his rating, one has to conclude that he is not the problem.  He may not be the solution, but he is not the problem.  As a fan I just want to see him play.  I don't want to see him fail.  And, I want to see him play as he is meant to play - widening the field, running and throwing.  How many QB draw plays have there been this year?  There should be one a game.  He is a square peg and folks like Mr. 8-8 are trying to put him in a round hole.  Maybe VY being VY means that he gets killed out there on the field. I do not know.  That is too bad for fans like me if the violence of the NFL game means that everything has to be controlled and VY does not have a role.

What about VY drives a 42 year old white guy to get in the car to go spend money at a bar just to see him play?  Why am I such a fan of his?  Why do I like the Titans better with him as QB?  I know most players don't care about the fans really . Except ATV of course.  What do I have in common with these overpaid jocks or this one in particular? Why do I care?  I do not understand it, but I was indeed at the bar again Sunday watching VY and the Titans like a compulsive reaction.  What will I choose to do this Sunday in Breckenridge?  Maybe just ski for a change, maybe find a place to watch the game, it's a game time decision.

Anyone who was seen/heard/met VY can easily see that he is a simple, good guy who like to play football games.  He has faults well documented here and by the sycophants at the Tennessean (I can't imagine what the local radio shows are like), but as some other MCM posters have noted here, there are worse faults among NFL players.  He also has not deserved the booing from all those fans with double standards.  That is what really kills me.   He gets booed for a bad pass after 12 wins in 18 games, but the guy who went 0-6 gets a standing ovation when he comes in.  For many fans, the 0-6 guy is "getting the job done," even as wobbly passes sail over receivers heads.  Much has been made of it being a Mr.8-8 vs. VY thing.  The failure of VY is on us all.  A very old poem says it best--

My breath crackled the dead air like a shotgun
    As, sheriff and the stranger disappearing,
    The faceless head lay still. I could not run

Or walk, but stood. Alone in the public clearing
    This private thing was owned by all the town,
    Though never claimed by us within my hearing.