Do You Remember the Day You Became a Fan of Your Favorite Team?

Tonight my favorite NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings, begins what I hope is a successful (read: Championship) 2017/18 season at home against the New Orleans Saints.

I can't remember the specific day I became a Vikings fan. However, growing up I can remember football always being on the TV on Sundays and my dad usually donning our teams traditional purple and gold colors every week.

I remember being at my grandparents farm in the fall and my late grandpa would always have the kitchen radio tuned-in to WCCO and we'd listen to the pregame show while we ate breakfast. He would always argue out loud with broadcaster Sid Hartman about what to expect from the Vikings that afternoon. I loved it. It made me want to pay closer attention to the players on the field and learn their tendencies and style of play so I could wage conversations with grandpa the next time we visited the farm.

1998 comes to mind when I cemented my fandom to the Vikings, because that year we drafted "The Freak", #84 Randy Moss. I don't feel like I need to go into super detail why, because that was such a fantastic season for so many reasons, despite the heartbreaking loss in the NFC Championship game.

I got to watch that final game with my entire family at my uncle's farm, and it was then I realized how much one sport can bring people together. I loved every minute of that day because we were all there, wearing our purple, and cheering like we never had before.

So that brings me to today, and dressing my daughter in her Vikings garb for the season opener...

Some day she might ask me why I ever made her a Vikings fan, and I probably won't have a great answer for her other than that's how I was raised. But I'm certainly not mad at my dad, or even my grandpa for making me a fan because of the reasons I just listed above.

Some of my best memories growing up were watching our favorite team 'together' on Sundays. So it's my hope she shares the same fondness as me some day when someone asks her how she became a fan, because I want her to watch the games with me as much as possible and learn to love the game of football as much as I do.

But for now, I just think my kid looks great in purple and in my, soon to be our squads colors. Skol Vikings!