Minnesota and Wisconsin fans don't agree on much when it comes to local sports. (They do agree on a lot of things in life since we're virtually the same creatures outside of our sports allegiances, but neither group would want to admit that).
That said, there are five things that fans on both sides of the border should agree are true when it comes to sports:
*The Twins and Brewers are playing four times this week — Monday and Tuesday in Minneapolis, then Wednesday and Thursday in Milwaukee. It's nice when these teams play, and the rivalry is pretty good regardless, but listen: It's so much better when the teams play six times in a season — a full three-game series in each city, sometime in the summer, over a weekend.
The MLB schedule changed in 2013, making the two home, two away thing the norm based on geographic interleague rivalries. As it is, this is the fourth time in five seasons the Twins and Brewers have done this Monday-Thursday home-and-away series. The worst was last year when it was in April. The best in that five-year span: a three-game weekend series at Target Field in early June, then a three-game weekend series at Miller Park in late June. It sure was nice when that was the norm, not the exception.
*Speaking of which, we should all agree on this regardless of where we live: Target Field is a superior ballpark to Miller Park, largely because Milwaukee's park has a roof that makes it feel giant. The roof makes it easier to plan a road trip but harder to enjoy it.
*If we can agree on that, Minnesotans should be willing to agree with Wisconsin fans on this: Lambeau Field is awesome. It is quite possible to hate the Packers and still love this beautiful stadium. The Vikings improved their stadium situation dramatically when moving from the Metrodome to U.S. Bank Stadium, but they will never match what Lambeau has to offer.
*It's fun to have Brett Favre as the quarterback of your team. By a lot of measures, Aaron Rodgers is a superior quarterback to Favre, but when it comes to capturing the hearts of Packers fans it feels like No. 4 still leads by a wide margin. His greatness was a part of it, but so was the manner in which he played — high-risk, high-reward.
Vikings fans grudgingly admired it for several years, then learned full well what it felt like to root for it during Favre's two seasons here. Outside of 1998, I'd say 2009 is the most memorable and fun Vikings season of the last 40 years. Favre was a huge part of that.
*When all else fails, when Minnesota and Wisconsin fans can't agree on anything else, it's helpful to turn to common enemies. On the pro side, fans can always agree to dislike the Bears. On the college side, Iowa is a safe bet. If an argument ever gets to heated between rival fans, it can usually be defused by saying something like, "Yeah, well the Bears are still the worst."
