Dear Readers: Thank You
Josh Frey
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This isn’t going to be a typical Minnesota Vikings news piece. In fact, this is going to have very little to do with the Vikings at all. You see, after 2+ years of writing on PurplePTSD.com, today I’m posting for the 1000th on this website. This is that post, and it wouldn’t be possible without our loyal readers.
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Because of that, my hope for this 1000th piece of writing was to do something more meaningful than the usual debates of whether or not the Vikings can be Super Bowl contenders, or if Kirk Cousins is a good quarterback. Instead, I wanted to take some time to say thank you.
Before I ever started writing on this site or our sister-site, VikingsTerritory.com, I had a dream of being a sportswriter. I still have a paper somewhere that I wrote back in the 8th grade describing this dream. Except up until recently, I wasn’t sure if that dream would ever truly become a reality.
See, for months leading up to my college graduation in the spring of 2020, I searched for jobs in a traditional journalism role that would fit the dream I envisioned for myself. Except, it was 2020, and everywhere I turned, companies had turned me down for various reasons. Either they weren’t hiring because they didn’t have the money to hire, or I didn’t have enough experience in the field, or they just hung me out to dry after a couple conversations.
Eventually, I found myself back living with my parents and delivering pizzas just to get some cash in my pocket. My dream felt all but dead, and I had just about accepted that I was just going to be another statistic of college graduates that failed to land in their field of choice.
It was probably a bit hyperbolic for having just exited college, but that’s the way my mind operated at that time. If it could go wrong, it probably would.
I wasn’t sure where to turn, but then, I got the news that my parents were moving from their home in Idaho to Minnesota. So, somewhat on a whim, I figured I’d at least take some time to road trip across the country, do some mental healing, and see what there was to see in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
A week prior to the trip, on my daily scour through online job postings, I noticed one from a company looking for a writer to cover the Minnesota Vikings, fantasy football, general NFL, and NFL Draft.
If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t put much thought into the application. One, I had come to expect disappointment at that point in my life, and two, I had grown up a New Orleans Saints fan. A Saints fan writing about the Vikings? That’s like trying to mix oil with water; it just doesn’t work.
Still, I submitted a resume, a cover letter, and some writing samples from my college days. Then, I went on the road trip and didn’t think much of it.
After a few days on the road, I arrived in Minnesota, and noticed an email from a “Joe Johnson”. Wouldn’t you know it, that Vikings guy got back to me. We set up a time to chat on the phone, and after some awkward conversations regarding 2009, 2017, and 2019, I was officially going to be writing about the Minnesota Vikings, among other things, on his two websites. Then, on August 31st, 2020, I wrote my first article on PurplePTSD going over some NFC North fantasy football players for that season.
Things got off to a solid start, and we did many projects together, including launching his newest site, TheDraftTeam.com. I still worked other jobs on the side, but the dream seemed to be alive again.
Then, in the summer of 2021, heartbreak struck. Joe unexpectedly passed away, and uncertainty took over again. His presence had been what made me confident in my writing ability and style. For anyone who knew Joe behind the scenes of his Vikings rants, he was the best hype man and mentor that you could have asked for in this sea of sports writing. On top of that, just a few weeks later, I had both my parents in and out of the hospital due to bouts with COVID.
With everything happening behind the scenes, writing went to the wayside for a while. I still posted every once in a while, but I wasn’t sure if people would want to read what I had to say anymore. The final six months of 2021 were probably the darkest point in my life.
Gradually, as time wore on, I grew back into writing for PurplePTSD and VikingsTerritory. I loved it too much to stay away forever. Just over a year after Joe passed away, his sister Stef and her husband Mike reached out to me and offered me a position as the managing editor of PurplePTSD. I accepted the offer, even with some worries that I wouldn’t be able to be the presence on the site that Joe had been for so many years.
Now, a few months later, I don’t think things could have turned out any better, and it wouldn’t be possible without the faith that you readers have put in our entire team to give Minnesota Vikings news on a daily basis. We’re on track for our best year yet on this site, and I can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store.
I can’t believe how many people have allowed this converted Vikings fan into their lives, and I will never take for granted how much each and every one of you mean to me. So, whether this is your first time reading my work, or your 1000th, I want to sincerely thank you, Vikings nation, for sticking with me and all of us here at PurplePTSD through the ups and downs that is Vikings fandom. Skol.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.