Milk Maid
“You think being a Vikings fan is tough, try being a Bills fan!” A friend of mine named Zach from upstate New York has told me that repeatedly throughout the years, any time the Minnesota Vikings self-destruct like their disastrous outing on Sunday.
Most of the time I just laugh it off and try to invoke a “my team is worse than your team” fight with him. He usually wins, but not this past weekend. Even though, the Buffalo Bills are pretty terrible, too.
When I was 17, Lyon County, Minnesota 4-H and Niagara County, New York 4-H began their Interstate Exchange program. Lyon County sent a delegation of about 12 kids to New York for a week and then the following year New York sent 12 of their own kids, all that had been involved in the previous year’s exchange, to Minnesota for a week.
During those weeks, the host county is responsible for housing the 4-Hers and planning fun and educational events and tours for them.
When we went to New York, we toured the Corning Museum of Glass, Niagara Falls, different farms in the area, an energy company, and so much more.
When the New York kids came to Minnesota, we did similar things with them, although, Niagara Falls was tough to beat. One of the New York kids thought this area was so unique, he decided to attend college at South Dakota State for agriculture and now works in Omaha.
Besides the educational side of it, the friendships that were formed have been lifelong and I’m so glad that I decided to go on that trip.
I still talk several of the New York 4-Hers and their families on a regular basis. I’ve been back to upstate New York several times including to be a bridesmaid in Zach and his bride Amber’s wedding. Amber was a Niagara County 4-Her and I met Zach through her.
He’s such a big Bills fan that on one of the nights before the wedding, we had a NFL Draft viewing party. Imagine being one of the lone Minnesota fans sitting in a room full of sad Bills fans.
It was a room that was the perfect blend of optimism and hope mixed with a huge dose of reality that we all knew would eventually come to our snake bitten franchises.
I still remember who the Vikings drafted and Zach asking, “What do you think of that?” It was Christian Ponder and we know how that turned out. When they picked us up at the airport for the wedding, Zach made it a point to stop and show us the Bills’ stadium in Buffalo.
Even though the Bills and Vikings rarely play each other, we still like to poke fun at each other and wage silly bets. On Sunday morning, I read an article that discussed how the Bills’ social media department released a photo that they landed in “Minnesota” but the state they pointed out was really Wisconsin.
Feeling confident about the Vikings, I proceeded to give Zach a tough time about it.
Amber thought the Bills didn’t have a chance either so she dress the couple’s children in Vikings gear on Sunday.
Some humble pie was eaten later that day as my phone kept going off with a lot of trash talk coming in hot from New York. “This is the textbook definition of getting buried,” was one of my replies.
“I turned it off and am working outside. I’m so glad that someone is enjoying the day.” That game gave me serious flashbacks from all the failed attempts at NFC Championships during my lifetime.
As Zach so kindly pointed out to me, “At least you’ve seen your team in the playoffs and reach a conference championship game.”
While he may be correct, I had enough of our friendly rivalry.