When it comes to the argument about which sports fan base is the most tortured, we will accept very few answers that aren’t “Minnesota.” When you’re talking collectively, we have a pretty good claim to things. Oh, and if you say “Boston,” we will swing you around and throw you through a Dunkin’ Donuts — since that’s possible from pretty much any place in Beantown. If you narrow it down to a specific team, we also will accept very few answers other than “the Vikings.” The record — four Super Bowls lost, three NFC title games lost in stunning fashion in the past 20 years, etc., etc., getting angry — speaks for itself. Cubs fans, you say? There are still plenty of them who are more upset when the vendor runs out of Budweiser than they are about 99 years of post-season failure. There is, however, one city and team on the short list of acceptable comparisons: Buffalo and its Bills. Those poor [redacted] were on display again last night. We thought the Vikings had a bye week; that game last night sure looked like something the Purple could accomplish: intercept a quarterback five times, dominate a game at home, seemingly have it wrapped up several times, only to have every possible thing go wrong when it really mattered: the interception, up 24-16, that gave Dallas new life; the subsequent three-and-out after Romo had re-gifted the pick, giving the Cowboys another shot; the seeming momentum swing back in their favor after a great defensive play against T.O. seemingly sealed the game on a two-point conversion try; the kick in the gut when an on-side kick was not only recovered by Dallas, but recovered 23 yards downfield with only 2 seconds elapsed; the jubilation of an overturned call via replay; the realization it meant there were still 13 seconds left instead of 1; the inevitable moving into field goal position (that part, to be fair, reminded us more of the Gophers than the Vikings); and, of course, the kick being made (not once but twice, bringing to prime time the terrible rule that we wrote about a few weeks ago that allows teams to call a time out right before the ball is snapped); as an aside, not only did Nick Folk make both kicks from 53 yards, they were so accurate that if Manute Bol was standing in the exact middle of the uprights, about five yards back from where the bar extends from the ground, both kicks would have nailed him in the face. Just perfect kicks. That kind of finish can only happen to the Buffalo Bills or Minnesota Vikings. Your thoughts on the tortured franchises debate?

Quickly: Thank you, Cleveland, for sparing everyone another 10-12 days of Yankees-Red Sox blather. Also, this ALCS has the potential to be pretty good. … Mark Cuban wants to be a bleacher bum if he buys the Cubs. The big problem with that? Everybody who’s ever been to a Cubs game knows that right field sucks. Especially when you’re sitting in left field, where everything is much better.
Mystery link! Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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