Vikings Bye Week–Time for Some Vikings Haikus
It’s the Minnesota Vikings’ bye this week, which means a couple things: the Vikings don’t play a game this weekend (resuming play on Sunday night, Nov. 18, at Soldier Field in Chicago against the NFC North leading Bears), and it is “Vikings bye-ku week.” That means, in keeping with tradition from my former Vikings site called VikingsJournal.com, we include a story of Vikings haikus—employing the Japanese poem structure that allows us to take a small break from the typical Vikings story and poetically express out thoughts and feelings about the current Vikings season.
The tradition started with Bo Mitchell, a former colleague of mine at VJ (who, if memory serves started the bye week haiku practice before coming to VikignsJournal.com). Mitchell is vice president of content for SportsRadar US and he still covers fantasy football extensively for 1500ESPN and specifically the Fantasy Football Party podcast. Mitchell graciously allows us to borrow his intellectual property and continue the bye-ku tradition. We are hope that he will chime in with some of his own if the muse strikes.
That is where you come in. I have included several of my attempts at Vikings haikus, and we hope you will do the same. The traditional haiku format includes three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the third. No rhyming is required (but it can), the only requirement is the haiku somehow include some reference to the natural world or one of the four seasons. That can be difficult (and you can see below how I have shoe-horned in some of those references), but that is part of the fun and challenge. Really, we will enjoy reading any contribution you would like to make to keep flow going.
So, check out these Vikings bye-kus (my name for them), tell us what you think, add some of your own and enjoy the bye week. Here we go:
Rain drizzled pregame
U.S. Bank roof kept us dry
Thielen was thwarted
From their den they leapt
Lions sail ‘cross Viking seas
Detroit didn’t roar
‘Cross the bye be Bears
Upstart bruins of the North
Make them cubs again.
Player days away
They focus on fam not fields
Zim must ford the bye
Ten sacks at The Vault
Mitch races field side to side
He will run; can’t hide
Rhodes not Barred last game
Cook, but sad we had no Diggs
Nature, heal them soon.
Nineteen without Stef
A notion not for this world
Kirk finds hanging Chad
Open the big doors
Let nature freeze out the Pack
North crown goes thru Minn.
Kirk played the “tundra”
Threads passes through small windows
Exceeds expected
Footballs float like leaves
But Diggs and Adam catch them
Fans cheer and chant “Skol!”
Heaven and earth move
When Zim’s defense comes to play
Still king of the North