Kevin O’Connell caught up with Dan Barreiro after the Minnesota Vikings’ practice on Tuesday, and Barreiro had an interesting question for the coach. After talking about parents coming up to O’Connell during his son Kayden’s baseball games, Barreiro asked O’Connell about the baggage that Vikings fans carry after so many heartbreaking losses.
O’Connell acknowledged that he can feel the emotional investment that Vikings fans have in the team. “I would rather have that and those feelings towards their team than not caring,” he told Barreiro. “And I do think it is born out of love of their team.”
He said that he feels that Vikings fans have a unique connection with their team, and he’s met families who have been Vikings fans for generations. It happens all the time. In the offseason, he was at Home Depot picking some stuff up, and he said a few people came up to him with a heavy request.
I’ll tell you this, it was during the offseason, Saturday, the honey-do list came out. I went to Home Depot, and in a matter of about 20 minutes there, you know, I’m not very familiar [with the store’s layout]. … I got about two things in 20 minutes trying to find everything. But in the process, I had three or four folks come up to me and just shake my hand and say, ‘Before I die, coach.’
And some of those folks were a little older, so I was saying to myself, ‘We better get back to work, Kayden, because I don’t know how much time we actually have.’ And there were some young folks, and I say, ‘Hey, I just hope you guys understand how much of an honor it is for me to be the coach of this team.’
The entire interview is informative and interesting for any Vikings fan. Barreiro asks O’Connell about work-life balance, his relationship with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Josh Oliver, how he handled the Danielle Hunter situation, and more.
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