“We’re just cheering for laundry.” — comedian Jerry Seinfeld

I grew up in Iowa rooting for the Minnesota Vikings of the 1970s. I cheered for the Purple People Eaters. They instilled an appreciation in me for defense in sports contests. I remember how mean and tough the Minnesota Vikings were when they played at Metropolitan Stadium.

Alan Page. Carl Eller. Jim Marshall. Gary Larsen.

I think of that NFL Films clip of them getting down in their stances as their exhaled breath is visible in the cold winter air. You could sense the intimidation they gave their opponents.

Of course, all Minnesota Vikings fans revere Fran Tarkenton, the only man on the planet who can get away with being named Fran without being made fun of. And Coach Bud Grant today is a legend.

Even though they went to four Super Bowls and lost them all, the Vikings were winners. They were one of the great teams during what some argue was the NFL’s greatest era.

And in those days, players stuck around.

Eller played for the Vikings from 1964 to 1978. Marshall played from 1961 to 1979. Tarkenton was QB from 1961 to 1966 and 1972 to 1978. Grant coached from 1967 to 1984 and came back for the 1985 season. Page played from 1967 to 1978. Larsen was only 1965 to 1974, but 10 years today is a long time with one team.

The great quarterback Brett Favre played with the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 2007. That’s 16 seasons with a single team.

According to the NFL Players Association, the average NFL career is 3 1/2 years. I couldn’t find how long NFL players’ average stay with a team is, but it does seem they move around a lot more than they used to. That’s true in all sports — hence, the Jerry Seinfeld quotation.

Change happens, and we have to get used to it. I didn’t mind when Green Bay kicker Ryan Longwell became a Viking in 2006, but I did notice the irony. We get accustomed to fair and good players changing uniforms.

But it’s another thing when great players do it. It’s hard to accept. It’s even harder to accept when they switch to play for the bitter rival team. Favre was the hated apitomy of Packerland.

I suppose this was how Raiders fans felt when running back Marcus Allen played for the rival Kansas City Chiefs. He eventually was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Chief. I don’t imagine Favre will enter the Hall of Fame as a Viking.

But if he were, boy, wouldn’t that be great revenge?

Speaking of change, some folks don’t like it when we put comments from the online edition in the print edition because of their anonymity. I see their point, too. However, like I can accept Favre as a Viking, I have come to accept online comments in print sometimes.

The world changes.

Here are what folks online said after I mentioned I would write a column about Favre becoming a Viking:

sbahr: “When are we going to get back to having a franchise quarterback like Tarkenton? That position hasn’t been notable since then, we’re never going to create another Tarkenton or even a Manning, or a Brady, or an Elway, etc. if we keep going with the same mantra of pick up the official old guy of the league for a one-season wonder and then start back at square one again the next year. I was all ready to get on the Sage-train this year, he looked great. If Favre can do well, fantastic, I’ll cheer for him. I think he’s a great quarterback, but the Vikings need to take a seriously hard look at how they’re managing that spot.”

Wildbill: “All Brett Favre has done is switched jerseys and taking orders/paycheck from a different team. Apparently, he lives in Mississippi still.”

3trees: “It’s harder and harder to cheer for a team that is just a piece of laundry. So my suggestion is to support your local high school teams, and college teams where it is not about a paycheck, but about a love for a game.”

tquam: “While part of me is happy to see the Vikings are trying to do what they can to improve the team for this year, I think that it is a bad move. Farve throws more interceptions than anybody. He is well beyond his prime. A person can look back and say that Joe Montana should have retired a 49er and the same will be said about Brett someday: He should have retired a Packer. I hope I am wrong and he leads us deep into the playoffs, but the reality is he probably won’t.”

leftys2221: “I think it is a good move. He will not have to pass a lot like he has had to in the past four or five years. He has the best running back and running game in the league and that is the focus of our offense. All he needs to do is connect on the third downs that we get sometimes. Just manage the game. He will do no ’gun slinging’ or anything close to that.”

Culture_Warrior: “You win, you’re in. That is the bottom line in the NFL. Tim, we need a wait-and-see approach. The Vikings are really not out anything. If Favre gets hurt or bombs, we have Plan A to fall back on. This is not like the infamous Herschel Walker fiasco where the Vikings traded their future away on the hopes of one running back. I do think the whole thing could have been handled better.”

HenryLea: “I gotta tell you that Favre is no piece of laundry no matter where he plays. Do you really think that Seinfeld is a football fan? I am sure Seinfeld is the more talented comedian when it comes to TV or the movies, but I really can’t see him dropping back in the pocket or being chased by a 300-pound lineman. When it comes to professional football there are very few great quarterbacks. There a lot of great college quarterbacks, but that greatness rarely translates to the professional sport. Why is that? I gotta believe it’s a combination character and courage. Compare Ryan Leif’s professional and college careers with Favre’s. We now have one of the very few greatest quarterbacks to play for the Minnesota Vikings. He is from Hattiesburg, Miss. He is ours for now. Enjoy.”

Warhog: “I don’t care, except to irritate the cheeseheads.”

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every Tuesday.