And we're back...

It's been a long time since I posted anything here, 79 days to be exact. 

Or 1,896 hours if you want to be more exact; 113,760 minutes more exact still.

As often happens in life, the time got away from me.  A new job started in November has limited my time, the holidays and a trip out of the country for a friend's wedding ate up more time still.  As often happens during the end of the year, with so much to wrap up and as much to begin anew, these preiodic jotting simply slipped to the bottom of the prioity list. 

Truth be told, it was less about time (which I always manage to waste in spades, I assure you) and more about apathy.  As I said in the last post pre-hiatus, my muse was gone.  Sure there was a half-hearted peptalk that followed, "everything going terribly is not an excuse when terrible is the norm" and all that, but it just wasn't kicking.  I was burned out on the terrible, the terrible had done me in.

As a battle-hardened veteran of struggles with success, I'm not proud to admit that.  But this blog was intended to be a coping mechanism in sorting out the kind of crushing heartbreak only dealt by failure in big moments.  Not a daily dose of sports Prozac to numb the despair of perpetual ineptitude. 

It all got to be too much, and after the NHL lockout took away what seemed like our one chance at redemption before it even had a chance to breath, I tuned out.  As I said, I'm not proud of it, and rest assured that this blog was always coming back.  It just took longer than it should've, and for that I blame myself.

Several weeks ago, with a busy holiday schedule and heavy workload looming, I told myself that my New Year's resolution was to get this thing started again.  Since then, funny things have been happening. 

For the first time in several years, I walked into my favorite Vikings bar for a big game, it was packed to the seams, and they actually won.  For the first time in what seems like forever, the Gopher basketball team looks like a group worthy of expectations higher than "if they can just go .500 in the Big Ten, maybe we can make the tourney".  For the first time ever, we're going to get to see the team skate that we anticipated so feverishly when the news came down last 4th of July.

Do I take credit for any of this?  Absolutely not.  To the contray actually, I'm just hoping my return doesn't f**k everyting up.  Loyal readers may recall that this blog began shortly before the 2009 NFC Championship game, and things have been going downhill ever since.  If the Gophers get routed by Michigan tomorrow, I'm going to curse myself mightily for the timing of this post, superstition is a cruel master.

 But another funny thing happened in the past few weeks, Patrick Reusse penned this piece for the Strib about a potential end to our sports horrors, even inserting the word "Loserville" in it's title.  Is he right, and we're finally done wandering in the wilderness?  Who knows, but it's clear that there's at least a reason to tune in, win, lose or draw.

I told myself when this started out that it wouldn't end until we had a professional sports team with a title.  (And no, smartass, the Lynx do not count)  I plan on sticking with that.  Don't think I'm back on the bandwagon just because things are looking better, anyone who knows me will tell you I've always been driving it.  It's was just tough taking the time to rehash everything when it had already been so painful to watch in the first place.

Out watching the Gophers play Illinois last Wednesday, when Andre Hollins knocked in a half-courter off the glass with the shot clock expiring, everyone in the bar went nuts, just like when Blair Walsh kicked the Vikes into the playoffs.

That sound, for better or for worse, hits the tuning fork in my heart, and on both occasions, made me realize it was time to get back to work.

Let's Go Minnesota, this isn't over yet.