This thought experiment used to generate fun bar and dorm room conversations way back. Let's see if it can spur some forum relief from off-season blahs.
A genie offers you one wish: guarantee that any team in any sport will win at least one trophy of your choice before you die. The parameters:
I'll start: For me it's easy. The Minnesota Vikings and the Super Bowl. A USMNT World Cup would be a close second, but the Vikings still get my wish here. I've been following them since they reached and lost 4 of the first 11 Super Bowls. Since then -- and I was 14 at the time of their last SB in 1977 -- they've never made it back but they are usually very good. I can't find it now but a few years ago I saw a stat that the Vikings had played more playoff games over the last few decades than anyone but I think the Steelers and Patriots. They just never win a championship, and at least once every decade they suffer an utter gut-punch loss:
1975 - Drew fucking Pearson (first ever Hail Mary)
1988 - Darren fucking Nelson
1998 - Gary fucking Anderson
2009 - Brett fucking Favre, a million AP fumbles, and 12-men on the field penalty
2016 - Blair fucking Walsh
And none of those are even the Super Bowl losses.
So, my wish would for the Vikings. I would exercise the option not to remember I made it. In fact I like to think I made this wish and don't remember it. The thought consoles me.
A genie offers you one wish: guarantee that any team in any sport will win at least one trophy of your choice before you die. The parameters:
- It has to be a team, but can be pro, amateur, school, or country.
- The guarantee is for 1 championship. The Genie is all-knowing, and if the team was going to win at least one or more anyway your wish doesn't add to the total.
- You cannot leverage the wish into a secondary effect: eg, you can't wish that your child's team wins UCL and thereby guarantee he becomes a professional world class soccer player.
- Ridiculous longshots and absurdities are OK, as long as the team/country is technically eligible. If you want to wish that a country in the Sahara desert wins the Olympic Hockey Gold medal, go ahead. Picking a team in the bottom division of a soccer pyramid to win the top league championship also is OK. Picking a bottom division team in the US to win MLS Cup and leverage it into creating pro/rel is not.
- If a team competes in multiple competitions you pick one.
- Betting on your choice directly or indirectly at any point voids your wish.
- You have the option to forget your wish after you make it so you're not spoiled in any way. Mention your choice on this when you answer.
I'll start: For me it's easy. The Minnesota Vikings and the Super Bowl. A USMNT World Cup would be a close second, but the Vikings still get my wish here. I've been following them since they reached and lost 4 of the first 11 Super Bowls. Since then -- and I was 14 at the time of their last SB in 1977 -- they've never made it back but they are usually very good. I can't find it now but a few years ago I saw a stat that the Vikings had played more playoff games over the last few decades than anyone but I think the Steelers and Patriots. They just never win a championship, and at least once every decade they suffer an utter gut-punch loss:
1975 - Drew fucking Pearson (first ever Hail Mary)
1988 - Darren fucking Nelson
1998 - Gary fucking Anderson
2009 - Brett fucking Favre, a million AP fumbles, and 12-men on the field penalty
2016 - Blair fucking Walsh
And none of those are even the Super Bowl losses.
So, my wish would for the Vikings. I would exercise the option not to remember I made it. In fact I like to think I made this wish and don't remember it. The thought consoles me.
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