'I Went Nuts': Paul Allen Relives Historic Call Of Diggs Touchdown
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- "It's going to be 48 and drizzly and we're bringing the purple rain," Vikings broadcaster Paul Allen exalted after the walk-off touchdown drive.
It was the perfect description to a storybook ending. Allen's unbridled excitement took fan's looming despair and launched it into a universe of euphoria.
"You know, up to the final play I just analyzed where everybody was and then Stefon Diggs caught it. The analyst Pete Bercich and yours truly, seriously, went from zero to 100 in a millisecond," The KFAN radio broadcaster and Vikings play-by-play announcer said.
The Vikings were down to a third and 10 yards to go, 61 yards away from the end zone with only 10 seconds left on the game clock – that's when Allen's call ignited the radio airwaves.
A cell phone video shows Allen in the press box, pumping his fists and jumping up and down, climbing aboard his personal cloud nine.
Monday on his morning radio show he explains that he had just caught the eyes of Vikings coaches, who were in the booth next to his.
"I went nuts. I absolutely channeled the energy of their excitement and shared it not only on the radio but with some fist pumps and fun," Allen said.
On his 9 to noon radio show, Allen and former Viking quarterback Sage Rosenfels relived the game-winning moment.
"This feeling that you and I are having right now, that a lot of Vikings are having right now, a lot of Saints fans are having right now on the other end," Rosenfels said.
Allen says that in his 16 years in the play-by-play booth, there's been too much heartbreak for Vikings fans to bear.
He has felt his share of it as well.
"I don't call these games like a Syracuse-trained announcer," Allen explains, saying he's a fan too.
So when it came time to replace disappointment with disbelief, his was the perfect voice to put to words what fans felt in their guts.
"I've been right next to a lot of it and I was able to feel good not only for the team but for the fan when the Minneapolis miracle took place," Allen explained.
A miracle Vikings fans hope to relieve a couple more times, ending in a long-elusive Super Bowl victory right here at home.