It was just a football game

Two friends of mine told me that last Monday had been declared the most depressing day of the year. I figured it was because folks around these parts were in mourning over the Vikings' sudden demise in the NFC title game he day before. I was wrong. This had been so declared by somebody of importance. (Neither could remember who said it.)

But it might as well been over the football game.

I work in athletics and I understand games can be emotional things. But when I see a guy on TV who is claiming he can offer therapy to folks who were traumatized over a close, exasperating loss in a football game, I truly begin to wonder if folks have lost their collective minds.

Then I read that another guy has publicly put his athletic allegiance up for auction ... and some idiotic news outlet is running with the story.

The great, late Red Smith used to refer to covering athletics like working in the Toys and Games Department of a department store. He was, of course, correct. My neighbor Kenny is about as diehard a Viking fan as there is. He wears a jersey when he watches games and shouts advice at the TV at the local saloon where we watch such events.

But when I saw him the next day, he merely shrugged and said it was a fun run. He had moved on.

Listening to talk shows (and the hosts), it is clear, however, that others have not. A pity.

Don't misunderstand. Memories - good and bad - are a great part of athletics. I have never forgotten that Jack Reed hit the only home run of his major league careerin the 22nd inning to defeat the Tigers one day in 1962. Or that Hank Aguirre threw to the wrong base at a key moment in what proved to be a key loss to the Angels in the wild 1967 pennant race.

But the sun still came up the next day and life goes on. The difference here, I suppose, is that after losing that game the other day, Vike fans woke up here to a gray sky and the usual January chill.

To those folks, I offer this bit of sunny therapy: spring training begins in less than a month.