Okay, so, I’ve been digging into this whole thing about which NFL team Iowans root for. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, you know? We’re smack-dab in the middle of the country, no NFL team to call our own. So, where do our loyalties lie? I started off by just asking around, chatting with friends, family, and folks at the local sports bar. I got a mixed bag of answers, to say the least.
Then, I decided to get a bit more methodical. I started looking at stuff online, you know, what people were saying in forums, what those “expert” analyses were claiming. There’s this one report that kept popping up, claiming that the Minnesota Vikings are our team. Apparently, they’re the favorite, according to some survey or something. They even went as far as to list a top 5, but the Vikings were at the top.
The “Evidence”
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Proximity: This is the big one. Minnesota is right there, bordering Iowa. Makes sense that folks would gravitate towards them, especially considering the lack of a closer option. I guess for a long time the Vikings have been the closest thing to a “local” team for many Iowans.
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TV Markets: Someone made a good point about which teams get shown on TV the most in Iowa. Apparently, it’s a mix of Bears, Chiefs, Vikings, Broncos, and Packers. For baseball, we’re mostly Cubs and Royals fans, with a few Cardinals and Twins fans sprinkled in.
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Anecdotal Evidence: I even found this one guy online who was like, “I was born and raised in Iowa. So, obviously, I am rooting for…” and you guessed it the Vikings!
But then, you’ve got people saying, “No way, it’s the Green Bay Packers!” Or, “We’re Chiefs kingdom!” So, it’s not exactly a clear-cut case. Plus, Iowa football is huge here, and we are proud of our college team. One guy put it this way, “Iowa football isn’t just a developmental program.” We love our Hawkeyes!
So, after all this “research,” I’m still not 100% sure. But, I’d say the Vikings do have a strong claim to being Iowa’s adopted team. It’s a mix of them being close by, being on TV a lot, and just, I don’t know, maybe a bit of a bandwagon effect.
At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to personal preference. But it’s definitely interesting to see how these allegiances get formed when you don’t have a team in your own backyard. It is more like we don’t care much about NFL but we do love our own Iowa football team.
