Per PFT, the Chargers are looking to waive the oft-injured Marcus McNeill prior to paying him a $10.5million salary for the upcoming year. Normally I would be loathe to sign an injury risk such as this one, but his character and his previous performance really makes it worth taking a risk.

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Thought this was a pretty good one for discussion, in light of current events. Enjoy!

I, as a die-hard fan of baseball as a child, just recently returned to my full fandom after a good 14 years of avoiding the sport. I still played when I could, but watching the game lost a lot of the magic it had when I was young.

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And here is the team by team listing:

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Anyone here notice that the NFL Network now has content on Hulu?

They have yearly highlights, Super Bowl highlights and yes... the 1998 NFC Championship game, all available for streaming.

Here is our favorite page:  Minnesota Vikings on Hulu.com

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I figured I would help Citrus out a little bit, as it is tough to rid a copy and paste of the formatting associated with that type of webpage.

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I really don't want to build muscle.

I don't care about the #1 rule to building muscle

I don't care if I should or should not waste my money on powders, creams, pills and/or salves.

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NFL.com has a video on the front page of Jared Allen giving a tour of his Scottsdale, AZ home.

A good watch, and pretty amusing.

Jared's crib on NFL.com

I figured I would post the link here, for those who might miss it today.

But one line makes me respect the big guy even more than I did in the past: "If you're gonna hunt it, eat it. That's my rule" and a good one at that.

Could Tarvaris Get Booted?

As the NFL world waits for Brett Favre to make up his mind, the folks in Minnesota are beginning to imagine what life with Favre would be like.

It might not include Tarvaris Jackson.

During a chat Thursday, Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer Judd Zulgad wrote that he wouldn’t be surprised if T-Jack was the odd man out in Minnesota if Favre joins the team.

In Zulgad’s scenario, Sage Rosenfels would be the backup this season and potential starter in 2010, with John David Booty slotting behind him.  (Maybe Sage will be reading PFT again by then.)

On one hand, it’s hard to imagine Brad Childress letting go of Jackson, the quarterback he hand selected in his first draft with the franchise. Jackson also continues to have significant support within the Vikings locker room.

On the other hand, Jackson is entering the final year of his rookie contract and, well, he’s Tarvaris Jackson.  Rosenfels is under contract for three more years, and just received a $1.4 million signing bonus.  He’s not going anywhere.

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I know it is early in the season, and I kind of hit on this topic in a previous post. But it is still fun to postulate.

The Vikes, though I am biased, are looking to be a very strong team this year. Last year many were picking us to be Super Bowl contenders based on the assume improvement of Tjack.

Then we got into the season, and were stuck with Frerrote and a playbook that is duller than Brad Childress Emceeing the Annual Turtle-Wax Convention.

I can't help but wonder "If we had Harvin last year, would it have made a difference?". Which is a valid question. We have to truely consider the fact that the pick was based on his versitility, and are we really going to utilize him to his fullest extent.

Loadholt is a great addition to the line, and I think he will easily slide into the starting RT slot.

I figure, considering the schedule, we should close to an  11 win season this year if we are not out-coached.

The Packers look to have addressed their needs in the best way out of the teams in the north. BJ Raji is going to be a beast and Clay Matthews is a nice addition for their switch to a 3-4.

They were in the top 8 in scoring last year, and lost many of their games because they just couldn't stop the other team from marching back down and scoring. I don't think their offense will change one bit, but you can expect them to clamp down on opposing offenses.

I can see them rivaling us for the division title at 11 wins as well.

The Bears had an arguably good offseason. They did not address their reciever needs much. Iglesias is a good pickup, but he is going to have a hard time being a #1 guy. 

Cutler is still a question mark in my book. His personality issues could be a major problem, or they could be severely overblown. Either way, I still think Orton will do better in Denver than Cutler will do in Chicago.

Matt Forte is going to make another huge leap this year, If he keeps it up he could end up being the best all-around back in the league.

Chicago's Tight Ends are pretty darn good as well. They might be Cutler's saving grace.

I figure there needs to be some kind an over-under type bet as to where the team will end up because it all hinges on Cutler's adjustment.   I say 10-6 if Cutler adjusts welll and 7-9 if not.

The Lions just stink.

Kidding.

They are rebuilding, and have made some excellent pickups. But Kevin Smith is LOOONY if he thinks the Lions will make a playoff run this year.

Stafford will take at least a year to adjust, and with Calvin Johnson out there he should be at least a serviceable starter this year. But I still think they should sit him for one year and get him another recieving threat.

I put the Lions at 5-11.

I enjoy a good game of poker.

Been to only 5 poker rooms in Minnesota, Fon-Du-Luth when they had one there, Black Bear, Grand Casino, Running Aces and Canterbury.

I like that Hold'em has increased the amount of suckers that you see in the poker rooms, but it has also increased the amount of good players. The only problem is you rarely see a game other than hold'em in the smaller rooms.

Just once I would like to walk in and see some Omaha, 7 card stud, Razz, 5-card draw or even an A-5 or 2-7 triple draw game going.

I even like my football team to gamble a bit, which is why I liked the pick up of Percy Harvin.  But I don't see Childress as a poker player. If he was, he would be playing 5 card draw and would only bet when he was dealt 4 aces.

Guessing by the amount of new posts, I would venture a guess that plenty of you are already out on the lakes and rivers.

I figure we can get a decent discussion going as to what areas you like to fish, what lures you like, what line you use etc.

Anything to take the topic off what it has been for too long.

I enjoy river fishing, but have never been much for fly-fishing.  It's nice to fish on rivers up here, due to the geology of the area there are plenty of large rocks jutting into the rivers creating some real good hiding places for Bass.

I don't have a huge collection of lures, but my main staples are Mepps Comets or Agilas. I picked up a few cheapo Matzsuo spinners when they were on sale at Gander and I like the look of them in the water. But, then again, I am not a fish.

I have some good "the one that got away" stories, but right now there is only one fish I would be happy to let the line snap on. I would even let my favorite lure go if we don't land this old lunker.

As excited as I am about Percy Harvin, I am also really excited about Asher.

Listening to a few interviews with him, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders and a humble nature. I guess that is the difference between CB and WR besides the obvious height and hands differences. They are much more likely to be humble and hard working than a Wide Receiver.

His man-to-man coverage skills are going to be a real key asset for us in the coming years. With Winfield getting up there in age, I am happy to have a guy like Asher behind him and Griffin.

I was excited for some of the recent openings, but still have yet to see anything but X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Entertaining at best, it is filled with your standard action movie cliches. When I watch a Wolverine movie, I watch it because he cuts things up with his blades and doesn't die when he gets mangled.

When a huge explosion happens, I expect Logan to be inside the explosion getting blown out of the building and then recovering quickly. What I don't expect is him to do the "badass walking away from a huge explosion while not even reacting to the BOOM". I can name 20 movies in recent memory with that same sequence and I expected more from Wolverine.

Anyways, I don't know how I feel about this new Star Trek movie. If Gene Roddenberry had nothing to do with it, I can't expect it to be worthwhile.

I am REALLY excited about the new Tim Burton movie "9". It looks incredible.

Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIpZxBczWUg

Boy am I glad to see the Bats alive and well. 

For a while there we were racking up losses for our pitchers because we had no run support for them. I mean, Liriano has not been pitching like a 1-4 pitcher. But then again, why base their performance on wins? You can have the best pitcher in the world, keeping the other team to less than a 1.0 era, but if your team can't score you get a loss? Silly.

I am glad Casilla got sent down, not because I don't like him, but because I think his head is somewhere else. He seems distracted out there.

Delmon Young has got to pick it up as well.

Man, isn't it beautiful?

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I am about to go buy my fishing license.

Living "Up Nort" is a real pain in the ass for a good 7 months out of the year, and I am not nearly financially stable enough to be a snowbird, so I am stuck wtih SAD and a mean case of tendonitis from all the shoveling.

But I can't complain, this time of year rolls around and I remember why I put up with the slush, sleet, snow, salt, shoveling and a few four-letter words that don't necessarily start with the letter "S".

Mmmmmmm.... Walleye.

With all the talk swirling around a toilet bowl that is the Favre retirement, I figured it is a good time to really think about our QB scenario.

This is not about Favre, this is about the current QB's.

Now that the draft is complete, we have an idea as to what our team, as well as the other teams in our division, will look like when the season starts. This should give us a more objective look at the situation.

First, let's think about our opponents, and what kind of year they will likely have in '09.  I'll start with the Lions.

The addition of Stafford, Pettigrew, Williams and Delmas are all good pickups for a team that is in the deep stages of rebuilding. But let's be realistic, it is going to take more than a year or two for this team to gel.

Stafford is a solid starter. But without a solid offensive line and help at RB, he is going to have a rough start to his career should they choose to start him early.

I would expect it to be at least 2-3 years before the Lions start to become contenders in this division.

The Bears made a splash with the pickup of Cutler, as we all know. Cutler, who has no shortage of people talking about his personality issues is a bit of a question mark.

What is not a question mark are the recievers he has to throw to. Matt Forte is arguably the best reciever on the squad, followed by Greg Olsen. Neither of which are actual Wide Recievers. WIthout a clear-cut #1 wideout, Cutler is not going to be nearly as good in Chicago as he was in Denver.

That is not to say he is going to suck, but he is certainly going to have a difficult transition and that works to our advantage.

I figure with the lack of a solid recieving threat we can expect the Bears to spend a few years in the 7-9 range until they get a Legitimate go-to guy.

The Packers are the biggest threat. Their problem last year was not a lack of Offense, but a severe lack of defense. They addressed those issues well, with the addition of BJ Raji and Clay Matthews, but they need more than that if they are going to overcome the problems on Defense.

Both of those players will make an impact on their rush defense, which was bottom 10 in the league last year. But the move to a 3-4 defense, and the lack of a solid pass rush, you can expect their defensive woes to continue. You can even expect a drop in their pass defense as Harris and Woodson get older.

Considering the situation the rest of our division is in, and the situation we are in, do we really need to upgrade now?

Both Tjack and Sage are capable of providing us what we need, which is about 200 YPG, a TD and some 3rd down scrambles. We have been complaining about a lack of weapons in the passing game, and now we have one of the biggest playmakers in the draft again this year which should help our QB's out.

We are in a good position, with a likely spot at the top of the division again this year. Why should we throw a monkey wrench into something that is continually getting better?

Don't get me wrong, I like that we addressed two of the areas that we were lacking and as of the 86th pick we have a bit more depth at CB.

What I have an issue with is the fact that Jeremy Maclin fell to 19 and we didn't make the move to get him.  I am higher on Maclin than I am on Harvin, no matter how high Harving is himself.

Personally, I think he would have been a better pick not only because he wide widely considered to be the 2nd best WR in the draft, but it is better for our "culure of accountability".  The kid is fast, has excellent vision and can make people miss. Along with great hands, he doesn't seem to have a problem staying healthy.

Considering we would only have to move up 3 picks to get him, we would not have to have given up too much.

The Eagles were the only ones I was worried about when Maclin fell, and they traded up to get him.

Another issue I have is the addition of a statue of a RT for a team that runs zone blocking.

Doesn't a zone blocking scheme require quick, agile, smaller linemen; as opposed to the large, slower lineman that we have on our team?

I guess if I didn't have something to complain about, I wouldn't be happy.

So new reports are out that Boldin, who we know wants to be either traded or have a long-term contract, is being shopped by the Cardinals.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/12/cardinals-shopping-boldin/

Please, make a run for him Childress. I don't know if I could handle it if there is no move for at least a solid QB or a #1 WR.

a a a a a a  a a a a  a  = + 75 words.

I am usually against just a copy and paste of another article, but for those of you who have not been over to PFT today there is an interesting article.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/08/cutlers-long-term-status-in-denver-remains-up-in-the-air/

The more time goes by, the more it seems like the whole "We are absolutely not going to trade Cutler" talk is looking more and more like it is just damage control.

We know there was a phone call between the Vikes and the Broncos. We know the coach wants his own QB. We know Cutler is pissed that he was shopped without his knowledge.  We know how these things tend to pan out.

Cross the fingers... Cross the toes... Cross your arms and your legs... If you have any other appendages, cross them as well.

The real question is what do we have to offer them in trade?

Is there another team out there we could do a three-way trade with?

I thought a three way between Us the Chiefs and the Broncos could be possible, but do the Chiefs still want draft picks?