A Legend in Purple and Gold

The Inimitable Legacy of Dennis Green

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

It’s been a really difficult year to be a Minnesota sports fan. Oh sure it’s always difficult to be a Minnesota sports fan, but this year is different.

Flip Saunders is gone. Prince too. And now Denny Green.

I was lucky growing up in Fargo, North Dakota in the ‘90s. I inherited a childhood filled with Kirby Puckett and Kevin Garnett and Cris Carter. And though I didn’t know to appreciate it at the time, I got a decade or more with Minnesota coaches Dennis Green, Flip Saunders, and Tom Kelly, three genuinely good, beloved men that left a legacy both on and off the field.

I was a spoiled Vikings fan in the ‘90s. We all were, really.

Ugh, why do we never have a good defense to go with our awesome offense? Ugh, always stuck around 9–7. Ugh, why can we never win the big one?

“Always winter, but never Christmas.”

It took a decade of floundering and top-10 draft picks and booze cruises and Mike Tice and Brad Childress to finally appreciate what we had in Denny.

The Vikings averaged 10.7 wins a season from 1992 to 2000 without a single season below .500 ball. They made the playoffs in 8 of those 9 years and…