Eric Gerster is a Minnesota sports fan, born and raised. As an athletically-inclined kid, he practiced his swimming, played hockey in the freezing outdoors of Minnesota winters, basketball when he hit a growth spurt, baseball when his peers caught up, in addition to football, tennis, and backpacking. Given his love for playing sports, it’s no surprise that he’s a loyal Minnesota sports fan.

Eric’s earliest memory as a Minnesota sports fan was going to see the Minnesota Twins at the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. He was too young to remember who played, but the Twins won, and that’s all that mattered. His love for the Twins would only grow and he was lucky enough to find tickets for Game 7 of the 1987 World Series against the Cardinals, sitting right down the third baseline. The Twins won, and he’ll never forget how every fan stayed and saluted the players as they received the trophy. He also remembers watching the 1991 World Series from college, including Game 6 when legendary Twin Kirby Puckett’s catch against the wall saved a potential game-winning hit, followed later by his walk-off homerun.  That was topped only by Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in the 1-0 Game 7 win against the Atlanta Braves.

The 1991 World Series win by the Minnesota Twins was legendary

A strong, but decidedly more painful memory for Eric Gerster would be the Minnesota Vikings’ overtime loss in the 1998 NFC Championship against the Atlanta Falcons. He specifically remembers that Gary Anderson missed his only field goal of the season late in the fourth quarter, which would have put the game away. Of course, he also remembers Brett Favre’s throwing a late game interception against the New Orleans Saints in the 2009 NFC Championship game. They would lose that game in overtime as well.  The losses were devastating and it took days to recover.

Eric Gerster’s favorite sports teams are the Minnesota Vikings for football, Minnesota Twins for baseball, and the Boston College Eagles (his alma mater) for college hockey. He also counts himself a fan of Boston College’s football and basketball teams, as well as the New York Rangers for professional hockey.