SKÖLIOSIS WEEK 17: OUR GANG—Vikings 27, Packers 25
If anyone knows what it’s like to be a loyal fan of the Purple, it’s the readers of SKÖLIOSIS — your weekly reminder that being a Vikings fan is bad for your health.
The Little Rascals Wave
Anyone with a smart phone (that isn’t fifty years old) could have probably figured this out a lot sooner. Not me. I’ve been walking around all season asking people “what’s the deal with Justin Jefferson’s hand under the chin wave thingy?” I’m not sure I called it a “thingy,” I hope I didn’t.
Jefferson’s finger wave under the chin not only captured my imagination, but it remained a mystery to me. I seemed to remember first noticing it around Thanksgiving, so I was wondering if it was some sort of turkey gizzard gesture, because an all-world NFL wide receiver would for sure want to build his brand with turkey gizzard gestures. Makes sense.
Over the weekend, while watching the Vikings stave off our border battle rival Packers, someone on my group text solved the riddle for me.
The Justin Jefferson finger waggle under the chin is the Little Rascals wave.
Yes, I probably could have figured this out a lot earlier, but now I know. And now you know. And it’s awesome, here’s why.
The 2024 Vikings Are Officially Our Gang
The Little Rascals were affectionately known as the stars of the Our Gang series. The Our Gang series started way back in the silent film days, and was a hit for decades, they even had a Little Rascals movie remake in 1994.
Why is this relevant to your favorite football team, the Purple?
Dig a little deeper, and you can see that the Little Rascals had a pretty badass culture:
What has come to be regarded as its most significant aspect by cultural historians is that the Gang functions as a kind of color-and-gender-blind utopia: girls, boys, blacks and whites all playing and interacting equally side by side, the premise being that kids are innocent, oblivious to the bigoted attitudes that will set in as they become adults.
—Travalanche
It’s not hard to lean into the notion that the 2024 Vikings are official Our Gang when it comes to beloved editions of the Purple. It all starts with Coach Kevin O’Connell, who is basically Ted Lasso without the mustache, a human light therapy lamp that oozes with contagious positivity and makes us all want to buy that purple hoodie with the yellow rectangle he always wears in hopes we become more upbeat ourselves.
Then we have Justin Jefferson, a true unicorn as a selfless wide receiver who would rather see everyone eat, even if that means he’s a decoy for half a season. It makes sense that Jefferson would be the one to bring the Little Rascals energy and “We” over “Me” ethos to the squad.
Next, we have our defense, that appear to spend as much time with a choreographer as they do Brian Flores each week working on their dances tied to vintage films. You’d be hard pressed to find too many 14-2 defenses that represent the innocence of kids being kids better than the 2024 Vikings.
As fans, it’s safe to say the 2024 edition of the Vikings has shown us enough to love this group. Sure, we’ve had previous high points like the 15-1 squad in 1998, and the “pants on the ground” Favre team. But we haven’t had a culture like the one Coach O’Connell has built. It’s good. It’s positive. It’s selfless. It’s truly an “all for one, one for all” 3 Musketeers environment.
So, let’s all buy in, shall we. Let’s lean in. Let’s hold the stereo over our head outside the window. Let’s be willing to get hurt. Let’s say “I love you” and risk the heartbreak.
Let’s officially make the 2024 Minnesota Vikings Our Gang, and everything that goes along with that.
Also, I’m just happy the hand under chin wave had nothing to do with a turkey gizzard.
Getting to the Big Easy, Won’t Be Easy. It’s Still the Vikings
If you’re a Vikings fan, you’ve felt the change this season. It feels a lot different than the one-score victory team that KOC and Kirk Cousins put together a few years back. Even the National pundits are starting to believe this Vikings team could find their way to New Orleans for the, dare we say it, Super Bowl.
Where you notice the change the most is in your confidence as a fan. This season, we expect to win. I watched this Sunday’s game against the Packers at the White Bear Bar, and most of the Vikings fans I talked to before the game thought we’d win the game. We believe. When is the last time this happened?
The 2024 Vikings have somehow cut through the scar tissue with a pizza cutter and made us believe. Like really believe, I even had a buddy tell me he could help me get Super Bowl tickets if the Vikings make it, because “you should really be there if it happens. It’s a once in a lifetime deal.” And he’s a Packer fan!
That said, these are still our Vikings. And if anyone knows the only safe place to watch the Vikings is “through your neighbors window,” it’s Sköliosis. And the 2024 Vikings do have a recipe, and it looks something like this:
Get off to an early lead.
Have a midgame lull, where we completely let the other team back into the game.
Take the drama all the way to the bitter end, when the Vikings defense secures victory with a late game interception and corresponding movie reference dance sequence.
What does this recipe mean for Vikings fans? It means the playoffs are going to be a rugged ride. It means you’re going to want to buckle your seat belt, grab an air sickness bag, and hold on tight.
No one said it’d be easy, they just said it’d be worth it.
Bye, Bye, Bye
For 2024 Vikings fans to truly transform into well-adjusted humans may require one more thing. We’re probably going to need to beat Detroit this Sunday night and get that first round bye.
While they may not be as virtuous as the Little Rascals, another boy band, NSYNC, knows that “Bye, Bye, Bye” is the Vikings best way to reach the top of the charts this season. Plus, Timberlake did play the Super Bowl halftime show (twice), which must be a good sign.
Make no mistake, if we want to completely change our body language as the nervous nellie fanbase that we are, we need to beat Detroit on Sunday night and get the first-round bye. It would change everything.
If the Vikings win Sunday and get the first-round bye, the team gets a couple weeks to rest and recharge. Coach O’Connell will have the time he needs to whip up a few more pitchers of purple Kool-Aid, and marinate the boys in positivity and belief. We’ll get to watch teams beat the crap out of each other in the Wild Card round as we wait, and rest. And hell, at that point we’ll only be 3 wins from the promised land.
If we don’t win Sunday, it feels like the demons will come out. You’ll hear your uncle mumbling, “We’re 14-3 and have to play on the road. The world is against us.” And we’ll have to either sweat out a painfully stressful road game against the likes of Los Angeles, Tampa, or Atlanta. Personally, I do not trust myself in this situation. No matter how much progress we’ve made this year, if a 14-3 Vikings team ends up being a #5 seed playing on the road . . . Baker Mayfield doing Baker Mayfield things . . .Oh no. I just don’t like how that movie ends. I can already hear the proverbial other shoe dropping from here.
So, let’s win Sunday.
It’s Our Game Sunday night, the Lions are banged up especially on defense and the Vikings offense is a juggernaut.
One more win, a bye bye bye, and the 2024 Vikings will officially be Our Gang. Maybe, they already are.
Epilogue: Donate to a Good Cause
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SKOL!!
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