Vikings fan is getting the trip of a lifetime thanks to Twitter

Dane Mizutani, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read
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It was “Sports Day” at the Rocket Mortgage offices in Phoenix earlier this week, so naturally, Jason Harmon used it as an excuse to rep the Vikings ahead of Sunday’s NFC playoff game against the New York Giants.

He slipped his vintage Randy Moss jersey over a white hoodie, slapped on some khaki pants to match, and finally, laced up his newly purchased purple-and-yellow Nike Dunks to tie the outfit together.

“I bought those shoes as good luck for the playoffs,” Harmon said. “I’m pretty sure they work.”

No kidding.

Shortly after arriving at work on Thursday, the 30-year-old Harmon heard his iPhone ping. He looked down and saw a Twitter notification illuminated on his home screen. His heart started to race.

You see, a few days earlier, Harmon tweeted at the official account for the Vikings, jokingly asking for free playoff tickets. It was pretty late at the time — 11:48 p.m. CST on Sunday to be exact — and Harmon figured why not shoot his shot. He fired off the tweet and went to bed.

It gained very little traction in the immediate aftermath, not a surprise for Harmon, and he went about his life as normal. Which brings the story back to that moment inside the Rocket Mortgage offices in Phoenix.

Remember that Twitter notification? It was the official account for Delta replying to his tweet from a few days earlier. Not only did the airline offer to cover his flight to Minnesota, it tagged the Vikings and petitioned for some free playoff tickets on Harmon’s behalf.

“I was like, ‘Who’s messing with me?’ ” Harmon said. “I genuinely thought it was fake. Then I clicked on the profile and saw the 1.6 million followers.”

That reply from Delta came across at 1:07 p.m. CST. He immediately texted his wife Jenna a screenshot of the interaction. He followed that up with about a dozen messages before deciding to call.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be real life,’ ” Harmon said. “I was sitting there like, ‘Are the Vikings actually going to respond to this?’ ”

They did — at 1:10 p.m. CST — and told Harmon to check his direct messages.

After responding with some basic information, Harmon constantly refreshed Twitter as he waited.

“They left me on read for a little bit,” Harmon said with a laugh. ” It felt like hours even if it was probably only like 30 minutes.”

Eventually, someone from the Vikings called him with the details. They were flying Harmon and his wife to Minnesota and putting them up in a hotel. They sent him the free playoff tickets, which included field passes for pregame, as well as a gift card to the team store.

They will be in the house when the Vikings play host to the Giants at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

This won’t be the first time the Harmons set foot inside U.S. Bank Stadium this season. They attended the game between the Vikings and New England Patriots on Thanksgiving. They took a stadium tour a couple of days later and captured the picture for their pregnancy announcement at the 50-yard line.

“I told my wife if we have a boy, and the Vikings win the Super Bowl, we have to name him either Kevin, Kirk or Justin,” Harmon said. “She hasn’t agreed to it yet.”

Admittedly, Harmon knows his fandom for the Vikings doesn’t make a ton of sense. He doesn’t have any connection to Minnesota. He grew up in California, for crying out loud.

His late father, who passed away in 2015, is pretty much the only reason Harmon latched on to the Vikings in the first place. The franchise bonded them. No matter the heartbreak.

It’s slowly morphed from a passion to an obsession for Harmon. He has spent the past decade in Arizona, where he and his wife watch almost every game at a nearby bar called Boondocks.

“Since the Minneapolis Miracle, that’s been a Vikings bar,” Harmon said. “Someone got me a drum this season, so I’ll stand up on a table and lead the Skol chant.”

In fact, Harmon was supposed to host the watch party at Boondocks on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say that’s not happening. Not after going viral on Twitter.

“It’s been a little overwhelming,” he said. “I have an obsession with this crazy football team, and all of this is happening because of that.”

Less than 24 hours after the Vikings contacted Harmon, they announced on Twitter that rapper Ludicrous would be performing at halftime on Sunday.

“It’s pretty fitting,” Harmon said with a laugh. “That’s pretty much the only way to describe this week.”

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