The biggest home football game for a Minnesota team in my lifetime came on Jan. 17, 1999. My best friend and I had tickets, but a work obligation charting key plays for the game from the office pre-empted my attendance at that fateful NFC title game.
A week's worth of disappointment leading up to the game quickly gave way to gratitude that I didn't have to witness that overtime loss to the Falcons at the Metrodome. So much sadness and disappointment in one place.
I was still technically a University of Minnesota student at the time, finishing up a fifth "bonus" year with a few classes while embarking on the very beginning of what has become two decades at the Star Tribune.
The Vikings had vaulted high above everyone else in the local sports pecking order with that charmed 15-1 regular season. The Gophers had finished below .500 for the eighth straight season.
For so many reasons then, it is strange to think this let alone write this: Saturday's matchup at TCF Bank Stadium between the Gophers and Badgers is the biggest home game for a Minnesota football team since that Vikings/Falcons game in terms of pregame anticipation and what's at stake.
The Vikings have had some big ones since then — including a playoff game that produced the Minneapolis Miracle and a regular-season game pitting Brett Favre against his rival former team — but their biggest ones have been on the road: three NFC title game losses after the 2000, 2009 and 2017 seasons.
The Gophers have had some big ones, too — most notably in 2003 against Michigan.