Purple People Apparel: Vikings Fans and Their Jerseys

As EVERYONE knows, the biggest news from last Friday was that I attended a Minnesota Vikings football game. The second biggest piece of news was the the Minnesota Vikings played a football game. So let's talk more about me (:-D). What I noticed while I was at this game was just how many weird jerseys Vikings fans still carry around. Weird ones. It's not like most places where you'd walk in and see dozens of new rookie jerseys to support the team, or even a throwbacks of classic and great players. No, these were fans who were wearing Tarvaris Jackson jerseys proudly still while there was nary a Ponder in sight. A bit weird, isn't it? The Star Tribune noticed the same thing:

Fans descend upon the stadium wearing their favorite jersey, be it one for a Hall of Famer or a barely knew 'em. Friday night was no exception; with the Vikings playing their preseason home opener, attendees mingled around the Metrodome Plaza before the game, taking in the sun, listening to the music and drinking a cold one.

And then probably spilling beer on said jersey. Whatever. Point being, the Tribune noticed this trend as well and went on to take diligent notes of the jerseys they noted during Friday night. I wasn't that thorough, but my memory is stellar, and so I'll list their main categories and then chime in with a few anecdotes.


Their list is as follows:

1. Adrian Peterson Rules All
2. Other Current Vikings? Not So Popular
3. Where Art Thou, Christian Ponder?
4. The Great and the, Uh, Not So Great
5. Purple Good, White Bad

First, OF COURSE Purple Jesus is the most sported jersey. He's pretty much the only recognizable player on this team. I keep thinking it's weird that people keep wearing their old Moss jerseys, or pull out a Hovan, or Culpepper, or just say screw it and don a Troy Williamson number 19 classic. But what are your other options? Charlie Johnson? Erin Henderson? Mistral Raymond? No person in their right mind would buy one of these jerseys. The fact is, beyond Purple Jesus, the Vikings just don't really have any marketable players. Percy Harvin would be the obvious second choice, and I would say that I noticed a fair amount of #12s being worn. Lot's of people also have Jared Allen jerseys because they think it's SO HILARIOUS that a guy wears #69 professionally. Almost as cute as those ugly bumping Packer fans from yesterday. But beyond maybe those three, no one else is a real sexy jersey to own. Especially not Marcus Sherels.

They talk about other current players in the regard, and mention the likes of Winfield, Kevin Williams, and even Christian Ponder as not being very represented, and I'd agree with that. Winfield would actually be an awesome jersey to have. The only defensive back jersey I've ever owned was an unfortunate Fred Smoot one. But you know what, I stand by that. I was pretty excited about him. He sucked, sucked big, but what a character, and I right?! The odd one is the lack of Ponder jerseys. Usually a first round quarterback will get his fair share of the jersey market, but Ponder for whatever reason hasn't been able to convince the Vikings faithful to invest in him both on and off the field. I would suggest he stop wearing his shirt and make a public plea that he'll wear any Ponder jersey a fan gives him at a game, and offer to give it back afterwards too. I'm a god damn brilliant marketer.

The not so good jerseys are of course the aforementioned Williamson, and even the occasional Erasmus James which pops up. I had a buddy who owned both of these jerseys, which is super, super sad. Hovan would be another one I'd throw in this category. He's FINE, I guess, but is it really a jersey you'd want to own? I wouldn't. I'd wear a Moe Williams one though, in a heart beat. 

Finally, the Tribune makes note of fans apparently preferring the purple home jerseys to purchase over the away whites. On one hand, this makes sense. Purple is the primary color of the team, and it's what clearly distinguishes us from the other teams. Other teams have white, too, you know. The only problem is that the default clothing combination with a purple jersey is always blue jeans, and that always just looks ... weird. Purple and denim are what the opposite of boner inducing would be. White and denim, white and khaki, white and YELLOW BOARD SHORTS would look like shit, but the first couple of examples are actually OK. I don't know. Maybe it's just me not being very enthralled with purple and denim, but it's a pretty boring combination. 

For me, aside from the Fred Smoot purple jersey, I also own a white throwback Adrian Peterson one, with a white throwback Chuck Foreman, and of course a purple Randy Moss one. I'm pretty sure everyone owns one of those jerseys. But let's hear your worst purchase in the comments, or share what your best jersey sighting has been a game in the comments.

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