Believing in rivalries and getting wrapped up in them is inherently impractical, both for fans and players. As a player, then can sharpen your focus at times and make you lose it at times. They definitely shift it from the inherent tasks at hand: playing within yourself, executing the system or specific plays you have been taught, and simply trying to win. As a fan, they give enhanced meaning to games that really might not mean any more or less than others and they create a sense of good vs. evil that by and large amounts to getting upset about colors and laundry.

But the impracticality of rivalries is really what makes them fun. We know it's absurd to hate a certain team. But it adds color to a monotonous black-and-white pattern and awakens the competitive spirit that makes sports so wonderful.

As such, we have to say this: Even as the Wild saw its road winning streak end at seven games with a 2-1 loss in Winnipeg last night, Minnesota fans as a whole should be rejoicing. That game -- as noted by plenty of others, including Russo -- felt like it could be the start of a new rivalry. It was the first game ever between the Wild and Jets, whose previous incarnation moved away before the Wild existed. It certainly won't be the last, as the teams get set to duke it out as regular foes in the NHL's realigned conferences.

If Tuesday night was indeed a spark that can carry over -- and we don't see why not, since both teams figure to be competitive going forward, with a natural geographical tie-in to boot [rhymes with about, Canadian friends] -- it could be arriving just in time on the Minnesota sports scene.

So many of the other major sports rivalries we have right now appear to be diminishing. Vikings/Packers was off the charts in 2009, started to fade in 2010 and is really suffering now with both teams going in completely opposite directions. Gophers/Badgers will always have some juice, but again the football rivalry has been so lopsided that it's hard to make too much of it. Gophers/Iowa? Sorry, we've just never cared that much. Gophers/UND hockey will lose some of its flavor when Minnesota joins the Big Ten in that sport. The Wild has tried to pretend Vancouver is a rival, but that worked better when Todd Bertuzzi played for the Canucks. His last season there was 2005-06. The Timberwolves have never had a sustained rival that we can recall. Twins/White Sox was a blast in the 2000s, but that too needs both teams to be relevant in order to be sustained. We're hardly convinced that will be the case in the next couple of years.

As such: Welcome, Wild vs. Jets. Please become a long, sustained, great rivalry. We could really use it, as impractical as that might be.