A number of years ago there was a television show called "How I met your Mother." While the show took place in New York City, one of the main characters, named Marshall Eriksen, hailed from Minnesota. Given Marshall's surname, one would expect him to be from Minnesota, probably a play on Leif. During one episode Marshall once made a comment to the effect that "Manners is all that sets Minnesota apart from Wisconsin. At the time I was not aware of the concept called Minnesota Nice.
Is Minnesota nice, an actual ethos of the population? At the time of Mr. Erickson's comment I asked two co-workers, who while they are from Wisconsin, each did graduate work at the University of Minnesota. Each had much more experience with the state of Minnesota than do I. The general opinion, as I recall it, was that they can be nice to your face, but would quickly turn on some one too; in other words, back stab. Minnesota nice, being but a constructed concept, came to mind due to a few things I encountered on the internet or heard on the radio over the past week or more. These events do not put a good face on Minnesota nice.
First, last weekend before the Vikings played the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC conference championship game, a reporter was talking to Mike Zimmer head coach of the Vikings. Coach Zimmer made a reference about how consistently "the team across the state border" has played over the past several years. The reporter asked if he was referring to the Green Bay Packers, to which Zimmer replied, "You can say it." You can see the video here. It used to be that the Green Bay Packers major rival was the Chicago Bears. But, times have changed and I think it is now the Minnesota Vikings. Mike Zimmer must think so too. A brother-in-law of mine who lives in northwest Wisconsin, was hoping the Vikings would win the NFC championship game, so that they could play in the Super Bowl, which this year is at US Bank stadium in Minneapolis, the home stadium of the Vikings. It is not that they would want the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, they wanted the schadenfreude of them losing the pinnacle of football at their home stadium.
But, the Viking play against Philadelphia was such that after the first half little doubt existed as to which team was going to win. Apparently the nice Minnesota fans had to put up with some beer dumped on them and chairs crashed against them by some of the Philly fan base. Philadelphia, to offset the hard feelings that may have been caused by a few fans, donated $7,000 to Mike Zimmer's charitable foundation to fight cancer, a disease from which his wife passed away. Yet, despite the charitable gesture by Philadelphia, anger has set in nice Minnesota.
Going to work this past Thursday I heard the second example that Minnesota is not necessarily nice. A number of Viking fans are applying to be Uber and Lyft drivers, and if they happen to get some Philly fans who hail a ride, apparently they plan to drop them off at the wrong place. Now, that is not a way to treat a visitor, and is quite the opposite of Minnesota nice. But, it gets worse, they also plan to dump beer on them at the establishments in which the Philly fans will want to frequent. This is not being a good sport.
The play of the Vikings may have been pre-ordained, even as many thought they were a team of destiny this year, led by a third string quarterback who was on a hot streak. Minnesota had the top ranked defense in the league, and Philadelphia the second ranked. However, showing fault of such statistics, 25%, or four of the 16 Viking regular season games came against a Green Bay offense led by Brett Hundley, and the offense of the Chicago Bears. Add in the 0-16 Cleveland Browns, and they have five games played against teams with inferior offenses. A nice way to pad your statistics. After defeating the New Orleans Saints, whose defense appeared as if it was replaced by that of the Green Bay Packers, in the divisional round game on a walk-off TD, they went Lincoln Financial Field thinking they could pull an upset on a Eagle team led by second string QB Nick Foles. Foles looked like an all-pro against the top ranked NFL defense. Minnesota kept two strings alive. Of the five times in the past ten years that a divisional round game was won on a walk-off TD, the team scoring that touchdown failed to win the Championship game. Second, no dome team has won going to an outdoor stadium in the past several years. Odd statistics, that one would not think would play a roll, but yet both were kept yet alive.
As for Minnesota nice, any differences from Wisconsin do not come in the form of manners. I would like to think that Wisconsin residents would show a higher level of sportsmanship than the news reports I heard of what Viking fans have planned for those from Philadelphia. As for Philadelphia, for me it took away the hard choice a Packer fan would have for what team they would wish to win the Super Bowl. It is not hard to root against the New England Patriots. But, the Patriots enter the Super Bowl, once again, as the favorite.
Is Minnesota nice, an actual ethos of the population? At the time of Mr. Erickson's comment I asked two co-workers, who while they are from Wisconsin, each did graduate work at the University of Minnesota. Each had much more experience with the state of Minnesota than do I. The general opinion, as I recall it, was that they can be nice to your face, but would quickly turn on some one too; in other words, back stab. Minnesota nice, being but a constructed concept, came to mind due to a few things I encountered on the internet or heard on the radio over the past week or more. These events do not put a good face on Minnesota nice.
First, last weekend before the Vikings played the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC conference championship game, a reporter was talking to Mike Zimmer head coach of the Vikings. Coach Zimmer made a reference about how consistently "the team across the state border" has played over the past several years. The reporter asked if he was referring to the Green Bay Packers, to which Zimmer replied, "You can say it." You can see the video here. It used to be that the Green Bay Packers major rival was the Chicago Bears. But, times have changed and I think it is now the Minnesota Vikings. Mike Zimmer must think so too. A brother-in-law of mine who lives in northwest Wisconsin, was hoping the Vikings would win the NFC championship game, so that they could play in the Super Bowl, which this year is at US Bank stadium in Minneapolis, the home stadium of the Vikings. It is not that they would want the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, they wanted the schadenfreude of them losing the pinnacle of football at their home stadium.
But, the Viking play against Philadelphia was such that after the first half little doubt existed as to which team was going to win. Apparently the nice Minnesota fans had to put up with some beer dumped on them and chairs crashed against them by some of the Philly fan base. Philadelphia, to offset the hard feelings that may have been caused by a few fans, donated $7,000 to Mike Zimmer's charitable foundation to fight cancer, a disease from which his wife passed away. Yet, despite the charitable gesture by Philadelphia, anger has set in nice Minnesota.
Going to work this past Thursday I heard the second example that Minnesota is not necessarily nice. A number of Viking fans are applying to be Uber and Lyft drivers, and if they happen to get some Philly fans who hail a ride, apparently they plan to drop them off at the wrong place. Now, that is not a way to treat a visitor, and is quite the opposite of Minnesota nice. But, it gets worse, they also plan to dump beer on them at the establishments in which the Philly fans will want to frequent. This is not being a good sport.
The play of the Vikings may have been pre-ordained, even as many thought they were a team of destiny this year, led by a third string quarterback who was on a hot streak. Minnesota had the top ranked defense in the league, and Philadelphia the second ranked. However, showing fault of such statistics, 25%, or four of the 16 Viking regular season games came against a Green Bay offense led by Brett Hundley, and the offense of the Chicago Bears. Add in the 0-16 Cleveland Browns, and they have five games played against teams with inferior offenses. A nice way to pad your statistics. After defeating the New Orleans Saints, whose defense appeared as if it was replaced by that of the Green Bay Packers, in the divisional round game on a walk-off TD, they went Lincoln Financial Field thinking they could pull an upset on a Eagle team led by second string QB Nick Foles. Foles looked like an all-pro against the top ranked NFL defense. Minnesota kept two strings alive. Of the five times in the past ten years that a divisional round game was won on a walk-off TD, the team scoring that touchdown failed to win the Championship game. Second, no dome team has won going to an outdoor stadium in the past several years. Odd statistics, that one would not think would play a roll, but yet both were kept yet alive.
As for Minnesota nice, any differences from Wisconsin do not come in the form of manners. I would like to think that Wisconsin residents would show a higher level of sportsmanship than the news reports I heard of what Viking fans have planned for those from Philadelphia. As for Philadelphia, for me it took away the hard choice a Packer fan would have for what team they would wish to win the Super Bowl. It is not hard to root against the New England Patriots. But, the Patriots enter the Super Bowl, once again, as the favorite.
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