"Don't Stop Believin'"

I have always really liked this song (honestly, who doesn't?) but my absolute love for this song did not occur until September 27, 2009. I'm not sure that anyone besides die-hard sports fans will understand this, but this is my favorite song ever because of one football play in an early season game. Okay, so here is the play (in case you don't remember - haha).

Now let me explain what the hell this play has to do with a Journey song from 1981. So (obviously) my family and I are huge Vikings fans. During the summer of 2009, the completely improbable happened and we ended up with Brett Favre as our quarterback. We all spent 20 years completely hating Favre's guts so this alone felt like living in the twilight zone (an analogy for the uninitiated- imagine you have been a devout Catholic your entire life and you walk into church one day to find that Satan is your new priest). At the time this play occurred, it was still early in the season and most real fans were not totally sure what to think of Favre. He'd been pretty good the first couple of games but not anything fantastic. For obvious reasons, we were wary to trust the guy we'd hated for years. This play changed all that - because after this play (pardon the cheesiness) we collectively started to believe.

You may be asking "one play? you completely made up your mind in one play?" Well it was the end of game, we were down by four, we were about 40 yards from the end zone, and there were only 12 seconds left. Essentially one more play, and it would have to be a touchdown. So...the odds of this occurring were not good. In fact, a LOT of "fans" were already filing out of the Metrodome. We of course NEVER leave early (insert smug smile here).

"Okay, okay, enough about football, isn't this post supposed to be about a song??" Okay, so this no-name receiver ends up catching this impossible touchdown in very back of the end zone. Predictably, the stadium went nuts, and even more predictably, the play was soon under review. So as soon as they announce that it's under review, the entire stadium groans and then becomes silent. And right at this moment, when we are not sure whether to be ecstatic or morose (Vikings fans typically feel more of the latter), the opening piano riff of "Don't Stop Believin." Since you have already watched the previous clip of the play, you will know that we got to be ecstatic and it was one of those fantastic moments where you hug complete strangers and people are jumping up and down and you and 60,000 people all feel the same way at the same time.

I don't know if this post will make sense to anyone who wasn't there and wasn't a huge Vikings fan, but my brother has the same reaction to this song as I do (okay, so not exactly the same, I almost started crying the other day when I randomly heard it on the radio). So now every time I hear this song, even the "Glee" version, it reminds me of that one play and that feeling that *anything can happen.* And sometimes, that thing that happens is AMAZING. And I think it's good to always be reminded of that.