Most days of the week, Ben Theis is just your average 20 year old. He goes to school. He goes to work. He plays with the family pug Phantom. He’s a regular Clark Kent, if you will.

But come game day, the 2007 Chaska High School grad transforms from a regular guy into a caped crusader. Donning royal purple and gold spandex, Theis becomes Superfan, ready to engage crowds and cheer his Minnesota Vikings onto victory at a moment’s notice.

“I’ve been a Vikings fan probably since birth,” he said, explaining that his dad began dressing him in Vikings gear and taking him to games at a young age.

Theis would grow up to become one of the team’s most ardent and devoted fans –through good times and bad. For this Chaska resident, the Vikings are undoubtedly the center of his world. So it comes as no surprise that come Sunday, both he and his dad will be in the stands at the Mall of America Field hoping for a post-season win against the Dallas Cowboys.

Vikings everything

Theis will be there in his Superfan garb – a combination of yellow wrestling boots, spandex sewn together by a handy aunt and Superman items gleaned from eBay and repurposed to fit in with the Vikings color scheme. He’s had the outfit for the last three years and wears it to all the games, eliciting quite a few stares from those that drive past him on the way to the Metrodome.

Of course, it likely all makes sense when gawkers get a look at the car he’s driving.

“This is my second Vikingsmobile,” he said. The purple-painted car, complete with Vikings logo on the door, jersey-covered seats and football headrests, is Theis’s pride and joy.

He has a P.A. system that emits the sound of the Vikings horn and, when he steps on the brake, in addition to activating the brake lights, the tail lights flash “Vikings.”

“I get a lot of gestures,” he said. In Minnesota, most of the gestures are thumbs up, but Theis admits that if he dares cross over into Wisconsin with his car, “most of the gestures are with the other finger.”

Theis gets it. He’s no bigger fan of Viking’s rival Green Bay Packers than Packer fans are of the Vikings.

“I hate green and gold,” he said, noting that he goes as far as to separate peas and corn and won’t eat a green M&M followed by a yellow one without ingesting a different color in between.

“That’s where I get a little weird,” he said.

He has made one exception when it comes to the Packers, though. Where he once despised Brett Favre and No. 4, he is finally able to fully embrace the former Packer quarterback – now that he’s a member of the Vikings, that is.

“I had to decide, do I hate Favre or like the Vikings more,” he said, when rumors of his move to Minnesota began to circulate. “I realized my love for the Vikings is greater than my hatred for Favre.”

He’s even managed to add a signed Favre jersey and a Favre book to his vast Vikings collection.

“It’s probably easier to count the things I don’t have,” he said of his fan cache.

Theis has enough pieces of Vikings memorabilia that he’s been able to maintain a nine-year streak of wearing something Vikings-related every day, from bracelets and shoes to ties, socks and underwear. He even has a tattoo of the Vikings on his back.

“It was my 18th birthday present,” he explained.

Biggest fan?

So is he the biggest Vikings fan? Theis won’t say that, but he will say this. “I’m in a certain class.

“I think I can hold my own.”

Being a Superfan does have its down sides, though. Theis said when the Vikings make him nervous during the course of a game he has a tendency to chew off all his fingernails.

“After games, if they lose, I don’t talk much on the way home,” he said. “That kinda bugs my dad.”

His passion for the Vikings was also a contributing factor to the demise of his last relationship.

“I liked the Vikings too much, I worked too much,” he said. “It would probably be ideal if I found another Vikings fan.”

And what if the worst happens and the Vikings make good on threats to leave the state if they don’t get a new stadium? Well Theis is in it for the long haul.

“I’ve actually had serious conversations with my parents about leaving with them,” he said.

Theis is hoping it doesn’t come to that. He’s a huge proponent of the Vikings’ bid for new digs and even participated in a cold December rally at the state capitol to show his support.

Theis’s love for the Vikings has shaped many facets of his life, from how he dresses to how he decorates his bedroom to his career aspirations. Though he showed an early interest in teaching while at Chaska High School, Theis now goes to school in Mankato for sports management. His dream job? A position with the Vikings, of course.

Until then, he’ll keep cheering for his favorite team and hoping for a Super Bowl victory.

“I would buy everything,” he said when asked what he would do if they won.

And if they should make it to the Super Bowl and lose? A regular season loss takes Theis a good day to recover from. How would he handle a big post-season loss?

“Honestly, it would kill me,” he said.

Either way, he plans to be in Miami if they make it that far. His dad will be there, too.

“It’s another reason I like [the Vikings],” he said. “It’s him and I.”

But despite Theis’s encouragement, you won’t catch his dad in any sort of spandex.

“I tell him every superhero needs a sidekick,” he joked. “He won’t do it.”

That’s OK with Theis, though. He’s just happy to have great game memories to share and bond over with his dad.

“I’m hoping my favorite memory hasn’t happened yet,” he said. For that, he’s looking toward Feb. 7 and Super Bowl 44.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer