You’re expecting something snarky and sarcastic. But it’s time for a new year of positive blogs. At least one. As the Vikings head into their first playoff game since 1865, one which they are having trouble selling tickets for, can we sit back for a moment and appreciate Zygmunt and Mark Wilf, the team’s New Jersey-based owners?

The Wilfs want to win and will spend what it takes to get there. That doesn’t always work out (see the Chicago Cubs), but the opposite rarely does either (see the Chicago Bears). The Wilfs have told their hand-picked management that they want to get to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl and will spend what it takes.

Now it’s not clear the Vikings have a quarterback from which dynasties are built, and this team may well lose to the Eagles on Sunday, but it won’t be because ownership takes a Pollyanna fan base for granted (see the Wild), it won’t be because ownership has been cheap or stupid or bizarrely loyal to management that has proven itself to be incompetent (see the Timberwolves). And it won’t be because management has concluded that acquiring star talent simply isn’t worth the cost (see the Twins).

The Wilfs may be proven foolish, but for now, they are every sports fan’s dream date. So before the Metrodome lease expires, before the stadium brinksmanship starts, and before we decide we hate them, let’s pay homage to these reclusive boys from Jersey, who fly in and sit down in our plastic stadium (next to Brian Lambert’s suite, I’ll note) and cheer against the team they grew up loving because they are putting their money and hearts where their mouth is. They overpaid for this team, they may not get their stadium, and a decade from now, they will probably be cursing the penurious Swedes on the icy prairie.

Can we at least sell out the Metrodome and prove to these boys our Purple Pride is at least equal to theirs?