Alexander Shun | @alexpshun
Digital Content Manager | KFAN.com
Offensive tackle Riley Reiff, a South Dakota native, may have grown up close to Minnesota, but that doesn't mean he was a Minnesota Vikings fan.
"My favorite team was the [Oakland] Raiders but my mom was a Vikings fan," Reiff admitted when speaking with the media via conference call Friday afternoon. "She is really happy right now."
It seems odd that a guy who grew up so close to Minnesota would like a team thousands of miles away in California, yet that was what happened with Reiff.
So how did Reiff come to like the Raiders? He blames his dad and the mailman.
"My dad was a Raiders fan and so was the mailman so I kind of got brainwashed into it," Reiff joked. "[The mailman] would always tell me stories about the Raiders and how great they were so I became a Raiders fan. He used to stop by and talk a lot."
Growing up in South Dakota, Reiff recalled how the Vikings' and Raiders' games were always the games that were on and how his mother would always cheer for the Vikings; she'll surely cheer for them even more now.
Interestingly enough, Reiff is now a member of the Minnesota Vikings and I would imagine probably quite a big fan of the purple and gold.