Vikings great Alan Page has mixed Super Bowl memories

For his overall contributions to the state, there might be no greater Viking than Alan Page, the Hall of Famer, Minnesota Supreme Court justice and the co-founder, along with his wife, Diane, of the Page Education Foundation, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

There can't be many players in all of pro sports who have had a greater post-career than Page. Still, since it's Super Bowl week, I called him to see what he remembered about playing in all four Vikings Super Bowls. Page is one of only 11 players to accomplish that.

"You know, the object of the game is to go out and play, and play as well as you can and get as far as you can," Page said of the four losses. "And my view of the world is, you go out and tried no matter what — and you know, if you stop and think about it, there are a whole lot of things that never make it.

"And am I happy we lost? No. But then the object is to win and whether it is, quite frankly, a preseason game, you go out to perform and to play well and do the best you can, and losing hurts no matter what it is."

Page said that the two closest games, a 23-7 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl IV and a 16-6 loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl IX were the toughest.

"I think it is probably a toss-up between Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Quite frankly, I don't remember all of the details, but I just remember we were in the game the whole time, but we just could not get anything going," he said. "The reality is that in life you win some and you lose some, but you go out and try to do the best you can and hopefully you come out on top. That does not always happen."

Still the former Purple People Eater doesn't think the Vikings were outclassed in those games.

"You look at those teams we had, and I think certainly the team that played Kansas City, the team that played Pittsburgh, I think those were great football teams," he said. "Would it have been better [to win]? For sure, but we did as well as we could."

When asked if he was looking forward to the Super Bowl, Page said the game doesn't command as much of his life these days.

"I am a casual fan at best, but that's always been the case," he said. "I will look forward to seeing it, I suppose maybe bits and pieces of it, and looking forward to seeing what the final score is."

Does Page think that there's a drastic difference between the game of today and when he played?

"No, no, not at all. They are bigger and stronger and all of that, but different in terms of being players? I think there are a lot of talented players, there are some that you know just are, but I don't think there is much difference other than, again, the size and all of that," he said. "The game is the game. It has changed, not in its fundamentals, but I think it is a lot easier to throw the football."

Yes, while Vikings fans have long lamented that the team couldn't win one of those four games, there's no denying that the Vikings years with Page and his core teammates were one of the great runs in football history.

One of the less-known football families in Minnesota will make another Super Bowl appearance on Sunday. Jeff Seeman of Chaska will work his second Super Bowl as a line judge. He also was an official of the 2010 Super Bowl between the Saints and Colts and started his NFL career in 2001.

Jeff is the son of Jerry Seeman, who was a Plainview High grad who played football and basketball at Winona State and worked in education and also became a successful NFL referee starting in 1979. Jerry also worked two Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXIII between the 49ers and Bengals, and Super Bowl XXV between the Bills and New York Giants.

Perhaps more impressively, Jerry became the senior director of officiating for 10 years and was credited with implementing the modern replay system.

So it will be a special day for the Seemans, who have had an NFL official in the family for 38 years.

Another Minnesotan, Mike Spanier from Sartell, will be an alternate official, meaning he will be on the field and could see action if another referee needs to leave the game.

• University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler talked to the Minnesota Daily about P.J. Fleck's $3.5 million contract. "It's an enormous amount of money, I realize that," Kaler said. "But it's also essentially the average salary for a Big Ten football coach. ... I expect as his teams perform at a high level that we will drive additional fans to TCF Stadium and that will be additional revenue that will offset that sum."

• The Timberwolves now have the option of getting center Nikola Pekovic's contract off their salary cap if they determine his NBA career is over because of injuries. The NBA collective bargaining agreement stipulates that one year after a player played his last game because of injury, the team can seek an insurance claim on the remainder of his contract and open up their salary cap. Pekovic last played Jan. 31, 2016, and the team already ruled him out for this entire season. He is due $11.6 million next season, so that means the Timberwolves, who would have had $77.8 million in contracts for 2017-2018, will now be closer to $66 million. That would leave them around $40 million in cap room. That will be necessary because Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins might be looking for expensive extensions this offseason. Restricted free agent Shabazz Muhammad also will be looking for a new deal, and the Wolves need to decide if they want to keep him.

• The Gophers hockey team has a great signee in Mat Robson, who is a goalie for the Penticton Vees in the British Columbia Hockey League. This season Robson has a 2.15 goals-against average in 40 games, which is the second-best mark in the league. Robson would be the third Canadian to play for coach Don Lucia and the first in 11 years.

• Despite missing the entire 2016 season, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater's jersey was the top seller among Vikings players, according to the NFL Players Association. Bridgewater ranked 34th in the NFL; the only other Vikings in the top 50 were safety Harrison Smith at 41, wide receiver Stefon Diggs at 43 and running back Adrian Peterson at 49.

• Another note out of the Australian Baseball League: Maple Grove native Roman Collins, who was a fifth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals in 2015 and played last season in their Class A system, is third in the ABL in hitting with a .336 average to go along with 22 RBI and 25 runs scored for Melbourne.

Sid Hartman can be heard Mondays and Fridays on AM-830 at 8:40 a.m. and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com