SBNation.com User Blog: Christopher Gates

You've Got To Know When To Hold 'Em

Christopher Gates — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:27:07 -0000

So, apparently "Vine" is a thing now. I don't know much about it, but it kind of seems like YouTube for people who don't quite have the attention span to sit through a 30-second YouTube video.

But the kicker for our Minnesota Vikings, Blair Walsh, seems to have the whole Vine thing figured out. As we know, with the release of Chris Kluwe, the duties for holding on field goals and extra points have fallen on the shoulders of rookie punter Jeff Locke. And, as you can see from the video above, shot on location by Walsh, it appears that Locke doesn't miss an opportunity to practice his craft.

We're seeing a bit of a transition in the Vikings' special teams units. Prior to the 2012 season, the trio of Kluwe, Ryan Longwell, and long snapper C...

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/19

Christopher Gates — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:03:54 -0000

We've hit the middle of the week, everybody! And with that comes another opportunity to hang out with your fellow fans of the Minnesota Vikings and talk about pretty much anything you want.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-The Vikings were getting set to play host to linebacker Desmond Bishop, who used to play for. . .

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO HE USED TO PLAY FOR! (Picture via Wikimedia)

-Despite the visit from Bishop, current middle linebacker Erin Henderson said that he isn't giving up his spot for anyone.

-We also gave you an update on how the nominations for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament are going. Remember, there are just 24 hours left for nominations and recs (though I think the overwhelming majority of nominations are out of the way at this point). The nomination post is located right here, and is also pinned to the top of the main page.

From some other outposts around the internet. . .

-Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN is not surprised that the Vikings are still browsing the middle linebacker market.

-Pelissero also reports that receiver Greg Childs and linebacker Michael Mauti are both getting closer to rejoining the Vikings.

-There are a few different ideas being bandied about for the area surrounding the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

-Tight end John Carlson acknowledges that his 2012 season was a "debacle."

The rules for the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, folks. No politics, no religion, no bad language, and please don't feed the trolls. Nothing too racy in the pictures, either. . .not looking to get anybody fired here.

For today's music. . .I might be stretching a bit to keep with the theme, but I think it fits. . .and hey, it's Queen, which makes it perfectly acceptable anyway.

I think there's going to have to be a "Queen Week" here sooner rather than later with the music.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget to rec your favorites in the nomination thread for these next 24 hours, and we'll effort to bring you more stuff as the day goes on.

Greatest Viking Of All Time: Nomination Update

Christopher Gates — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:39:19 -0000

Hey there, everybody. I know we still have 24 hours left in the nomination process for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament, but I wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going thus far.

First off, I want to say that you all have come through in exactly the manner I knew you would when I put this idea out there. So far, through 48 hours. . .well, nearly 48 hours. . .144 people from Vikings' franchise lore have been nominated by you readers out there. While the field is starting to take shape a little bit, there are plenty of things that can be decided over the next 24 hours.

The #1 overall seed is looking like more of a lock, but there's still some room for movement at the top of the board. Likewise, there's an opportunity for people to move into. . .or fall out of. . .the tournament at the bottom. As it stands now, the gap between #60 and #70 is just five "recs." Remember, it's a 64-person field. . .there may be a "play-in" game if there's a tie for the bottom spot or something. . .so it's up to you to get your favorites "rec'd" and into the field. Not surprisingly, the tournament is skewing a bit towards the more recent editions of Minnesota Vikings teams, but that's alright.

I'm not going to give the full list at this point, because I don't want to potentially bias anybody. But if you do a scan through some of the nominees, you can get a rough idea of who stands where in the field at this point.

The official thread for nominating and recommending players is still located underneath this post right here, so if you haven't already gotten involved, you still have some time to do so.

Thanks again to everybody for their participation, and for kicking off this major project of ours in a huge way.

Desmond Bishop To Visit Vikings Today

Christopher Gates — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:38:02 -0000

As I said in the Open Thread, everyone prepare your best DERP THE VIKINGS ARE SIGNING THE PACKERS LEFTOVERS DERP one-liners. Or, you know. . .seriously. . .get over it already.

The Green Bay Packers released linebacker Desmond Bishop yesterday, and his first stop as a newly-minted free agent is going to be with the Minnesota Vikings. Bishop has played one of the inside spots in the Packers' 3-4 defense, and it is unclear whether the Vikings would want him to play the weak-side linebacker position (keeping Erin Henderson in the middle) or to have him move to the middle of Minnesota's 4-3 (which would probably be less of a transition and allow Henderson to stay at the position he has been at for the entirety of his career to this point).

After leading the Green Bay defense in tackles in 2011, Bishop missed the entire 2012 season after injuring his hamstring in a pre-season game against the San Diego Chargers.

If the Vikings were to sign Bishop, it would do a lot to help their linebacking corps, provided that Bishop is fully recovered from his injury from last season. If he is, the Vikings would still be getting a pretty damn productive football player.

If anything happens on this front, we'll let you know as soon as it does.

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/18

Christopher Gates — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:18:50 -0000

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to your home for Minnesota Vikings coverage. The Vikings start their mandatory mini-camp today, so hopefully we can get some stories out of that for your reading enjoyment.

We only brought you a couple of stories yesterday. . .one was about how the Vikings are open to the idea of playing more games overseas over the course of the next couple of seasons.

The big one, however, was the kickoff of nominations for our Greatest Viking Of All Time tournament, and you folks have come through with flying colors on that one. There have been over 100 different individuals nominated for our potential field of 64, so there are going to be plenty of folks left out. The nomination process has a couple more days left, but a lot of the pertinent names have already been nominated, I think. You can still rec people in order to increase their seeding, however.

From other places around the internet. . .

-Apparently former Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop is going to be visiting with the Vikings, so dust off your DERP VIKINGS SIGNING THE PACKERS LEFTOVERS DERP lines, I guess.

-Antoine Winfield decided that he wasn't returning to Minnesota roughly 15 seconds after he was released. (So much for having a decision to make there at the end, I guess.)

-Minnesota is still pushing for e-gaming to help with the stadium funding.

The rules for the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been. . .no politics, no religion, no bad language, and please don't feed the trolls.

For today's song, another one that's a bit of an oldie.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for this Tuesday, ladies and gentlemen. We will effort to have more news for you later on.

Vikings "Open" To More Overseas Games

Christopher Gates — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:51:43 -0000

Over at the National Football League's site for the United Kingdom, one of their reporters spent the last week visiting three of the four teams that will be making the trip to Wembley Stadium this upcoming season. After the now-requisite "Holy crap, Adrian Peterson's handshake nearly broke my hand" bit (something that also, apparently, applies to rookie corner Xavier Rhodes), there was this revelation from Vikings' VP Lester Bagley:

I interviewed Vice-President of Public Affairs/Stadium Development Lester Bagley and my final question focused on the potential for more Vikings games in London. He did not rule out that possibility, especially as the Vikings do not move into their new stadium until the summer of 2016. That leaves the 2014 and 2015 seasons as further opportunities for us to watch AP and his teammates in action in the UK. Bagley indicated that the Vikings wanted to see how things went in and around the 2013 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers but it was definitely a possibility for the future.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. With the Vikings moving into TCF Bank Stadium for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, there's already the possibility that they're not going to have enough space for all the season ticket holders, never mind people that want to buy single-game tickets. That would be a serious loss for the team from a financial standpoint, particularly when they could put one of their games overseas and make up those losses.

So, it's not surprising that the Vikings would be open to the idea of playing more games overseas, be it in London or another location of the NFL's choosing. Frankly, at this point, I think I'd be more surprised if they didn't have at least one game outside of the United States in the next couple of seasons.

Greatest Viking Of All Time: Nominations

Christopher Gates — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:47:02 -0000

Okay, folks, the big day has arrived. . .the day where we start accepting nominations for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament. Yesterday, we put up some resources that might serve as a help to folks that are looking for current and former members of the Minnesota Vikings to nominate. Let's go over some of the things for the nominations once again.

To Nominate Someone:

-In the comments section, post a comment with a subject line of "Nominate - Name" (where, obviously, you'd put the name of the person you were nominating).

-You may make a case for the individual you're nominating, if you feel it to be necessary. Any other debating should fall under the main nomination for that individual. Basically, all the posts that are flush with the left-hand side should have the word "Nominate" in the subject line.

-Please adhere to the above format to make people easier to find during the process.

-And, even if there's a misspelling, I think we can generally figure out who you mean. (-:

To Support A Nomination:

-When you see the name of an individual that you support, hit "rec" for that particular comment. That will give your support to that particular person. At the end of the nomination period, the comments will be closed and we will go about tallying up the recs for each individual nominated.

Other Stuff:

-Please make an effort to not nominate a person more than one time. The first nomination for an individual will be considered the "official" nomination for that person, and any subsequent, duplicate nominations (as well as the recs that go with them and any debate that fell underneath the duplicate nomination) will eventually be deleted. The reason for this is two-fold:

1) It makes things easier on us when it comes time to tally things up.

2) It prevents "stuffing" of the ballot box. If someone is nominated three times, they can potentially rack up three times the recs of other individuals, for example.

We'll be deleting the duplicates in as expedient a manner as we possibly can. Obviously we can't monitor things 24 hours a day or anything.

-We'd like for the focus of this to remain, as much as possible, on someone's time with the Minnesota Vikings. The example that came up the other day was Brett Favre. Yes, he was with Minnesota for two seasons, and had one outstanding season during that time. If you feel that to be enough to put him among the 64 greatest Vikings of all time, throw out a nomination for him and see who agrees.

-Remember, this is not just limited to players. It can be anyone with a connection to the Minnesota Vikings that you feel is worthy of recognition.

I think that covers just about everything.

The comments on this post will remain open for 72 hours, meaning that at 8 AM Central time on Thursday, no further nominations will be accepted. At that point, we will go through and put together the seedings and the opening round match-ups, and we should be ready to start the full-blown tournament a week from today.

With that, nominations for The Daily Norseman's Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament are officially. . .OPEN!!

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/17

Christopher Gates — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:57:31 -0000

It's mandatory mini-camp week for the Minnesota Vikings, everybody! Woo-hoo! Hopefully we can get some stories out of Winter Park over the course of this week from the team's last get-together before Training Camp in late July. Between now and then, however, we've got some fish to fry right here.

Specifically, the nomination process for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament will get underway at 8 AM Central time, which is about 90 minutes away. All of the rules and things of that nature will be in the post, and it will be easily accessible for you.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-We asked you to tell us all about your game day ritual, if you've got one.

-We then asked which NFL team you would cheer for if, for whatever reason, you couldn't be a fan of the Minnesota Vikings.

-We gave a shout out to all of the fathers out there on their special day.

-We gave you some places to check out while you're considering who to nominate for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament.

-And we asked you what other sports you might be interested in.

Lots of community building type stuff in there. Yes, it's the off-season.

From some other places around the internet. . .

-Apparently rookie cornerback Xavier Rhodes wanted to be a pro wrestler as a youth.

-Vikings VP Lester Bagley rates his top five NFL stadiums. . .well, at least until 2016, am I right?

-Antoine Winfield spoke a bit about leaving Minnesota.

-John Carlson thinks he can still be an impact tight end for the Vikings. (Wouldn't that be nice?)

-And I include this link for the sole reason that I did not know that Rex Ryan used to be a ball boy for the Minnesota Vikings.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as always, folks. . .no politics, no religion, no bad language, and no feeding of the trolls. (Oh, and if you post pictures, nothing too racy. . .remember, there are probably people reading this site at work.) Other than that, the world is your oyster.

With our tournament getting underway this week, I think a week of songs about being the best would be in order. Let's start with this one, because it comes with a montage!

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Monday, ladies and gentlemen. Keep an eye out for the nominations thread for our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament, and we'll try to have more stuff for you throughout the day today.

What's Your Interest In Other Sports?

Christopher Gates — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:14:15 -0000

The Minnesota Vikings are, for most of us, the most important part of our sports fandom. Sadly, when the season ends in December or January. . .or, hopefully this coming season, in February. . .it leaves quite a void. Luckily, there are lots of other sports to fill that void available. So, we're sort of curious as to what other sports teams that you use to fill the gap in the off-season.

Personally, I'm a Minnesota guy in pretty much every sport, which as made for a lot of ups and downs. . .sort of like the Vikings.

There's the Minnesota Twins, another team that I've followed since my youth. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at what I feel, to this day, is the greatest baseball game ever played anywhere, that being the Twins' 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series (along with the other 8 million people that claim they were there. . .but I have a ticket stub to prove it). Then, I got the other side of that, as part of my part-time job as a teenager working at the mighty KQLX in Lisbon, North Dakota, was running the board for Twins games from 1993 to 1995. Those teams were awful, but the team of Herb Carneal and John Gordon were interesting, at least.

The Twins have had a bit of a rough stretch after a really long run of success at the top of the American League Central. Hopefully they're on their way back up.

I don't follow hockey as closely as a guy from the Upper Midwest should, I don't think. I was a big North Stars fan until they skipped town. . .Norm Green still sucks, if you're scoring at home. . .but when they left, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention until the Minnesota Wild were established. I do love playoff hockey, though, because I think the intensity is unmatched in any sport. I'm trying to get more into the Wild and learn some more of the nuances of the game, but it hasn't taken thus far.

Then there's the NBA. How to put this. . .I want to care about the NBA. Really, I do. I was a huge fan of the NBA growing up, rooting largely for the Boston Celtics until the Minnesota Timberwolves came along. But the NBA has marketed their sport in such a manner that they clearly have teams that they want you to care about. . .and I don't want to care about any of the teams the NBA wants me to care about. I'm clearly supposed to care about the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls, as well as a few others. . .and I just don't.

Over the last 30 years, only seven different franchises have won an NBA Championship, and that won't change regardless of who wins this year's NBA Finals. The NBA is largely becoming the way Major League Baseball used to be, with the haves and the have-nots and a lot of teams simply being out of the running before the first month of the year is up. Since Minnesota is, definitively, one of the "have-nots" of the NBA, my interest has waned quite a bit.

A few other things. . .

-I'm developing an affinity for Minnesota Golden Gophers football, even though I've never attended the University of Minnesota. Probably comes from having covered them for SB Nation's Minnesota regional site for a couple of years.
-I'm at the point in my life now where I'll watch golf on television. Yes, I'm getting old.
-Not terribly big into NASCAR or anything. Although I do join a friend's fantasy NASCAR thing on Yahoo! every year. . .and stop paying attention after about three weeks.
-I'm starting to get into the UFC a little bit, which I'm guessing is at least partially a function of AFN showing all of the pay-per-views for free over here. I'm not to the point of getting a t-shirt with a skull and some random jibberish on it, but maybe eventually.
-Yes, the WWE is "sports entertainment," not sports per se. But I'll watch the heck out of it anyway.
-I keep telling myself I'll get into the English Premier League for soccer. . .and I never do. Followed it a bit when I was stationed in England, but that was over a decade ago.

So, how about you folks? What are your other sporting interests?

Greatest Viking Of All Time: Helpful Resources

Christopher Gates — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:58:14 -0000

So, as we've mentioned once or twice already, our tournament to crown the Greatest Viking Of All Time will be kicking off on Monday, when we start going through the nomination process. I expect the action to be fast and furious, so I want to put a couple of things out there (I'll remind everyone of these things in the actual nominations thread as well).

-Before you nominate someone, do a thorough search to make sure that they haven't already been nominated. (Even if you have to do a Ctrl-F on the page or something.) If they have already been nominated, simply rec the comment where the individual was nominated. Multiple nominations will just make it that much trickier to compile the results for the seedings.

-The comments for the nominations post will stay open for 72 hours. At that point, the comments will be closed, and I will tabulate the results. We'll then get the bracket set up, and the full-blown tournament should be set to get underway by Monday, June 24. We'll announce all of the seedings before that, though, complete with an updated version of the bracket.

In order to help folks get some ideas for who to nominate, we have a couple of places to look.

-The Vikings' encyclopedia on Pro Football Reference has pretty much everything as far as Vikings history is concerned, at least as far as statistical records.

-Remember, the Vikings did their own 50 Greatest list a few seasons back. I'd expect that most, if not all, of those guys will make our field of 64.

-In addition, there's always the Vikings Ring of Honor for players that have made their mark in Vikings' history.

If anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to throw them out there.

Remember, though, it isn't just players. . .it can be coaches, trainers, general managers, owners, whoever. . .if you think they're one of the greatest in the history of the Minnesota Vikings, throw their name out there and see how many folks agree.

We'll be underway with this in about 24 hours or so, folks. Hopefully this is something that everyone is going to be able to enjoy a lot.

Happy Father's Day!

Christopher Gates — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:38:44 -0000

Fellow fans of the Minnesota Vikings, today is the day where we have to recognize the men who played a role in bringing us into the world. Yes, today is Father's Day, and whether you're celebrating it for the first time as a father (like Eric), for the first time as a grandfather (like Ted), if you've been doing the Father's Day thing for a while (like Kyle and Mark), or even if you don't have any kids and are just celebrating your own fathers, today is a pretty big day.

Personally, my dad (who is a registered member of the site, even. . .you've probably seen him here before) played a big role in pointing me in the direction of Vikings fandom. I was even born on a Vikings game day (September 26, 1976, when the Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions by a score of 10-9 at the Silverdome). The story I've always been told is that I was polite enough to wait until halftime to show up. I can't verify that one way or another. I really don't remember much about that day.

My dad would watch the games every Sunday, and when I was old enough to actually understand and/or care about what was going on, I'd sit and watch and ask lots of questions. The first season I actually remember was probably the worst in Vikings' history, the 1984 season when the team went 3-13 and spent the second half of the year just getting slaughtered week in and week out. But, through all that time, we stayed the course, and without him I likely wouldn't be a fan on the level that I am today.

Did you father play a big role in your becoming a Vikings fan? If you're a father, are you attempting to point your children in that direction or letting them chart their own course of becoming a fan?

Regardless, to all of the fathers out there, here's hoping that all of you have an outstanding Father's Day this year!

If You Couldn't Be A Viking Fan. . .

Christopher Gates — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 01:14:08 -0000

Hello and happy Saturday to all of you out there. With the weekend plodding on with no real news of any significance, I thought I'd pose another in what could become a series of hypothetical questions.

We know that we're all here because we're fans of the Minnesota Vikings, the team that we've been fans of for as long as we have been for whatever reasons we might have. However, this question involves the other thirty-one teams in the National Football League. Specifically, the question is this:

If you couldn't be a fan of the Minnesota Vikings (for whatever reason), what NFL team would you pick up as your team?

Personally, I think my interest in the National Football League would drop considerably if I couldn't cheer for the purple and gold on Sundays. I'm not sure how big a fan I could be of any other team. However, if I had to pick one, I think the choice would be pretty easy.

If there were no Vikings, or I couldn't cheer for them, and I had to pick a new team. . .I think that team would be the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers, to me, represent one of the most stable franchises in the National Football League. Since 1969, exactly three men have coached the Pittsburgh Steelers (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin). They rarely have the drama that a lot of teams have (though they're not completely immune from it), and it's rare for them to have long stretches where they're languishing at the bottom of the league.

Also, from watching games on television and my interactions with other fans both before and since I began running this website, Steeler fans are the best fans in the NFL. (Well, the best non-Viking fans, obviously.) They're always well-represented at road games, and I expect them to be quite well-represented when the Vikings and Steelers clash in London this September.

So, if for some reason I could no longer be a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, I think the Steelers would be my choice.

I'm not sure if this is something anyone else has thought about. I've never really been big on the concept of having a "second favorite" team or anything, and I wouldn't call the Steelers that. It's more about the level of respect I have for their franchise and how they conduct business.

What are your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen?

What's Your Game Day Ritual?

Christopher Gates — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 09:19:28 -0000

Happy Saturday, everybody. . .my apologies for not having anything up following the Open Thread yesterday. Lot of things going on in the real world, in addition to getting geared up for our Greatest Vikings Of All Time Tournament. (Don't forget, the nomination process starts on Monday.) So, I thought I'd throw out more of an open community question for everyone to debate to start the weekend off.

We know that the truly hardcore fans of any sports team are a different breed compared to your more casual fan. One of those things is that a lot of folks have superstitions or rituals that they follow leading up to the games every week.

Now, to quote latter-day American philosopher Michael Scott, I'm not superstitious. . .but I am a bit stitious. I'm one of those sorts of people who figures that if something worked last week, there's a good chance that it will work this week, too. For example, our Minnesota Vikings won their season opener in 2012, so the next week I attempted to do all the same things I had done the week before. . .same jersey, same beverages, all that sort of thing. In Week 2, they lost. After that, I changed things up. . .different jersey, different beverages, that sort of thing.

Yes, I understand that it's ridiculous to believe that my choice of clothing and/or refreshments has any impact on the outcome of a football game that's being played a couple thousand miles away. But I also know damn well that I'm not the only one that does it.

So, I ask all of you folks out there. . .what's your ritual on game day? If you attend the games live, do you go to the same spots before and after? If you're watching on TV, do you change anything from one week to the next? Let us know, everybody!

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/14

Christopher Gates — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:17:05 -0000

We've managed to reach Friday, everybody! The Minnesota Vikings have concluded their last session of Organized Team Activities for the off-season, and will kick off their mandatory mini-camp on next week at Winter Park. The Vikings are one of only three teams (along with the Atlanta Falcons and the Tennessee Titans) that have not conducted their mandatory camp, so the Vikings will have some of the stage to themselves next week. . .such as it is at this point in the pre-season.

Since yesterday, the only story we've brought you was Eric letting you know that the Vikings (along with every other team in the NFL) are going to be a lot more selective about what sorts of bags they are going to allow fans to bring into stadiums this upcoming season. Let's see what the rest of the internet has for us. . .

-A group of folks are going around the state attempting to sell people on the charitable gaming that will help to fund the new Vikings stadium.

-Everson Griffen is looking forward, not backward, when it comes to his contract season.

And. . .well, that's about all. So, if you would, indulge me for a moment.

I want to take a moment to recognize the man that helped get me my first job in high school, a part-time DJ at the mighty KQLX AM/FM in Lisbon, North Dakota. His name is Bruce Dougherty, the man who was pretty much the voice of sports in southeastern North Dakota for the better part of three decades. He's since moved on to Casper, Wyoming, and today will be his last day behind the mic before retiring. He'll be doing updates on KTWO starting. . .well, right about now. Go ahead and give it a listen, if you feel so inclined.

Congratulations, Bruce! And thank you for, at least in part, guiding me down the path I'm on today.

With that. . .the rules of the Open Thread are the same as always. No politics, no religion, no bad language, and no feeding the trolls.

Here's our last one-hit wonder for this week:

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for this Friday, everybody! Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll effort to have some more good stuff for you as the day goes on.

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/13

Christopher Gates — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:18:14 -0000

We're getting closer to the end of another week, everybody. It's the final day of Organized Team Activities for the Minnesota Vikings before they move on to their mandatory mini-camp next week at Winter Park. After that? A full five more weeks of waiting before we finally get to the start of Training Camp and, mercifully, to some pre-season action.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-The big announcement yesterday was our tournament to determine who you think is the Greatest Viking Of All Time. The link goes to the stream for the whole event, where we already have posts about the nomination process (which starts Monday), the voting process, and how the opening round match-ups will be set. The event has its own group as well.

-Mark put together another alternate scenario for our favorite football team, pushing the WayBack Machine to the year 2007.

-We asked which Vikings player you thought would make the best coach.

-A certain someone named Terrell Owens thinks that he might be a good fit for the Minnesota Vikings.

From some other outposts around the internet. . .

-The Vikings are giving Brandon Fusco some snaps at center (his college position, where he was the Division II Offensive Lineman of the Year as a senior) in case John Sullivan's recovery from microfracture surgery doesn't go as smoothly as hoped.

-Two Vikings linebackers, Chad Greenway and Nathan Williams, had successful knee scopes on Wednesday.

-The father of (now) Miami Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace continues to insist that his son turned down $16 million in extra money to sign with the Dolphins over the Vikings.

-More talk about the recovery of wide receiver Greg Childs.

-Audie Cole is still "part of the conversation" at middle linebacker for the Vikings.

The rules of the open thread. . .well, you know what they are. No politics, no religion, no bad language, and don't feed the trolls.

And, hey, as long as you're here, feel free to like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.

Here's another one-hit wonder for your musical enjoyment for this Thursday.

Yep. . .enjoy having that in your head for the rest of the day.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Thursday, ladies and gentlemen. Keep it tuned right here, and we'll have more for you later on.

Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament: Clarification on Match-Ups

Christopher Gates — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:04:18 -0000

I thought I'd address this after seeing a few of the comments in the threads we've had about the tournament thus far.

As we mentioned in the piece about the seedings and so forth, the top 64 seeds will be determined by who gets the most "recs" after they are nominated for a spot in the field. The more recs an individual gets, the higher "seed" they will receive.

Obviously, more popular players will get the higher seeds, which means that the odds of two "big name" individuals meeting up in the first round is kind of slim. . .unless, of course, one of the two just doesn't get enough recs from the Daily Norseman faithful here for whatever reason.

The brackets will be structured in much the same was as the NCAA tournament is. There will be four brackets with 16 people each. The brackets will all be structured as follows for the first round.

#1 seed vs. #16 seed
#8 seed vs. #9 seed

#5 seed vs. #12 seed
#4 seed vs. #13 seed

#6 seed vs. #11 seed
#3 seed vs. #14 seed

#7 seed vs. #10 seed
#2 seed vs. #15 seed

The purpose, much like the NCAA tournament (or any other tournament, really) is to give the higher seeds an easier road (in theory) to the championship. Sure, there are likely going to be upsets along the way, but that's another part of what makes this interesting.

So, you more than likely aren't going to see match-ups like Bud Grant vs. Adrian Peterson or Alan Page vs. Fran Tarkenton in the first round of our tournament. (I'm assuming we won't, anyway.) Once we get deeper into the tournament, however, those are the sorts of match-ups that are going to make for a lot of outstanding debate as we get closer to crowning our champion.

Just wanted to put that clarification out there for those that thought that some of the "big names" in Vikings history might wind up getting eliminated right away. That's why it's important to rec your favorites when the time comes.

Again, all of the nominations and stuff will be taken starting on Monday.

Which Viking Would Make The Best Coach?

Christopher Gates — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:46:21 -0000

Have to give credit to Adam Schefter for posing this question on his various social media sites.

Today, the ~~New Jersey~~ Brooklyn Nets (Edit - Shows how much attention I generally pay to the NBA) hired Jason Kidd to be their new head coach. Kidd was playing basketball as recently as a month ago for the New York Knicks, but after just having announced his retirement, the Nets have decided that he's coaching material.

So, Schefter put the question out there about which current NFL player would make the best coach. I'd like to focus it more on our favorite football team and ask which current Minnesota Viking would make the best coach.

I'm going to go with a guy that might not immediately jump to mind and hasn't been here all that long. That guy is backup quarterback Matt Cassel.

Cassel has gotten the opportunity to play for a few different coaches and in different systems, including getting to work with Bill Belichick while backing up Tom Brady in New England. The Vikings obviously thought highly enough of him to bring him in for a sort of mentorship role, and there's a pretty good chance that he could transfer that into some sort of coaching position.

There really aren't a lot of old, "grizzled" veterans on the current Vikings' roster, which makes it kind of tough to determine whether any of them would make good coaches. But, Cassel was the guy that popped into my head when I saw Schefter's question.

Who do you think would qualify, folks?

Terrell Owens Thinks He's A "Fit" In Minnesota

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:58:52 -0000

A few days ago, wide receiver Terrell Owens made the statement that he would retire this year if he didn't get another opportunity in the National Football League.

(Every football fan in America simultaneously. . ."You mean he wasn't retired already?"

Well, at it turns out, he still hasn't gotten any calls from National Football League teams to this point. . .but he thinks that a couple of teams would be a good fit for him.

Though he obviously can't be choosy at this stage, Owens explained his best fit would come with a team operating a West Coast offense. He cited the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs as options.

I think I can pretty confidently state that there is no chance of this actually happening. Owens will turn 40 in December, and hasn't played a down in the NFL since 2010. He attempted to catch on with the Seattle Seahawks last season, but the team released him after about three weeks.

With the pronounced youth movement that's taking place in Minnesota, the odds of the team signing a 39-year old wide receiver that hasn't played in the NFL in two full seasons are pretty much negligible. But, you know, kudos to Terrell Owens for keeping his name out there, at the very least. Frankly, I'd rather bring back Randy Moss (not that that's happening, either. . .because it's not). At least Moss was in the NFL last season.

Greatest Viking Of All Time Rules Of Engagement: Voting

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:41:46 -0000

Now that we've explained how the nomination process is going to work, let's take a look at voting.

"Can't we just use a poll?" Well, I suppose we probably could. However, polls have the possibility of getting. . .how you say. . .skewed. So, we're going to use a more fair and even-handed approach for this, and it's going to be pretty simple.

Every day after the seedings are determined and the tournament has started, we will have a new match-up for you. The post will have a brief description of each person in that particular match-up, and from there you'll be asked to vote for who you think should win. To do that, all you're going to do is post a comment with the word "Vote," and then the name of the person you're voting for. For example. . .using the same one as I used in the nomination thread. . .if you want to vote for Bud Grant, you would simply put "Vote - Bud Grant" in the heading of your comment.

The voting will remain open for 24 hours, with the deadline clearly posted. At that time, the comments for that thread will be closed, and the votes tallied up to determine the winner.

Again, using our friends from Cageside Seats as an example, here is their post for the finals of their tournament to determine the greatest wrestler of all time.

So, once again, you need to be a registered member of the community to be able to vote on these match-ups. As pointed out earlier, any schlub can vote in a poll (or put together a script to vote for them. . .a lot). But by using this method, only real Vikings fans will be heard on this.

We'll do refreshers for both this and the nomination/seeding process when we get to the actual times to do those things. But that's an overview of how we're going to go through the voting process for this tournament.

Again, I hope that you folks are looking forward to this as much as we are. It should be a lot of fun for all of us.

Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament Rules Of Engagement: Nominations And Seedings

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:17:03 -0000

So, now that we know what all the hubbub is about, how are we going to go about doing this?

Well, before I get too far in, I want to give a big thank you to the folks at SB Nation's blog devoted to professional wrestling, Cageside Seats. A lot of the ideas that we're implementing for this tournament come from the folks over there. In fact, the incredible graphic that you see that will be our canvas for the tournament was designed by J.M. Williams, a graphics wiz that has done extensive work for the SB Nation combat sports sites. Their way of putting a tournament together is something that I think works out quite well, and should give us the best and most accurate results possible.

On Monday, I'm going to put out a post calling for nominations for the tournament. The way this is going to work is that somebody will put out a name of someone that they think belongs in the bracket in the comments section for that particular post. The format for this will be the word "Nominate," followed by the name of the player they want to put up for consideration.

For example. . .and I'll use someone that will obviously get in. . .if someone wants to nominate Bud Grant for the tournament, they will put up a post with "Nominate - Bud Grant" in the subject line.

After someone puts a name out there, people that agree will "rec" that comment. . .again, this is why folks need to be registered, because you can't comment or rec unless you are. The thread will stay open for a couple of days (pinned to an easily accessible location), and at the end of the time period, I will go ahead and look at all of the players nominated and how many recs they received. The four people that get the most "recs" will be the four "#1 seeds" in the tournament. The four people that are next will be the #2 seeds, and so forth until we fill out our 64-person field.

If you want to see an example of this, here is the nomination post that Cageside Seats did for their tournament to determine the best finishing maneuver of all time.

People can make a case for the person they're nominating, if they feel it necessary, and people can debate the merits of the nomination as well. In the case of a tie, I'll either flip a coin or use some other method to break it.

From there, we'll fill in the bracket, and the tournament will be underway!

Once again, the nomination thread will come out on Monday, just after the Open Thread hits the site. Hopefully you've all got folks in mind for this already. . .outside of the obvious ones, I mean.

Daily Norseman's Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:02:59 -0000

That big announcement that we talked about yesterday? Well, this is it.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to set out to determine who you, the readers of the best damn Minnesota Vikings website on the internet, feel is the greatest individual ever to don the purple and gold. And this entire endeavor is going to revolve around you, the readers.

Notice how the bracket is blank at this point? Well, that's because you folks are going to determine who is seeded where. Through the use of comments and recs. . .which is why we wanted to emphasize yesterday that you needed to be registered in order to participate. . .you folks will determine who the top 64 Vikings in history are. And we don't necessarily just mean players here. We're talking about players, coaches, executives, trainers. . .whoever you think is a great representation of our favorite football team.

From there, once the seedings are determined, we will be going through one match-up a day, "March Madness" style, until we get down to determining who the readers of The Daily Norseman feel is the greatest Minnesota Viking of all time.

Like I said yesterday when I mentioned this, I hope that this is something that all of you are truly going to enjoy, and something that will hopefully spark a lot of discussion and debate. Sure, there might be some clunkers or mismatches in the early rounds, but as we get closer to the end, there are probably going to be some pretty spectacular match-ups for folks to debate and vote on.

More to come soon here, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your patience as we get all of this put together.

The Daily Norseman's Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:02:26 -0000

That big announcement that we talked about yesterday? Well, this is it.

This stream is going to house everything having to do with this tournament. We'll be adding some "Rules of Engagement" over the next little while here, and by Monday we will be ready to really get underway with this entire process. All of this is going to be added to the stream and the group that we have dedicated to our little endeavor here.

More to come soon here, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your patience as we get all of this put together.

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/12

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:39:53 -0000

We've hit another hump day here in Minnesota Vikings country, ladies and gentlemen. The Vikings' final Organized Team Activities continue today, but we've got plenty of other stuff prepared for you as well.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-We let you know that there's a pretty major project coming to our site here. We'll have more details about that coming later today.

-Former Vikings' defensive end Kenechi Udeze is back with the team, this time as part of a coaching fellowship.

-Linebacker Chad Greenway will be undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery later on today.

From some other sites across the internet. . .

-OMG ADRIAN PETERSON GOT A DAY OFF AT PRACTICE YESTERDAY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH EVERYBODY PANIC!!

-Receiver Greg Childs is still on track says. . .receiver Greg Childs.

-Do not adjust your monitor. . .Greg Jennings really did wear pants like this to play golf the other day at his charity tournament.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, folks. No politics, no religion, no bad language, and please don't feed to trolls.

"One Hit Wonder" week continues for this week's ambient music.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Wednesday, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy your day, and keep it tuned right here for some more good stuff.

Chad Greenway To Have Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Christopher Gates — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:59:46 -0000

The Minnesota Vikings have been able to count on Chad Greenway leading the linebacker corps ever since 2007, Greenway's second season in the National Football League. He's still going to be there this year, but he won't be doing a whole lot between now and then.

According to the Vikings' official website, Greenway will be having a scope done on his knee on Wednesday. Head Coach Leslie Frazier said that Greenway was having a little tightness in his knee, and the team thought it best to have the surgery done sooner rather than later. Greenway is expected to be ready for the start of Training Camp on July 25 at Winter Park.

The Vikings have two days remaining in their current Organized Team Activity session, and a three-day mandatory mini-camp next week. That will conclude the activity by the team until Training Camp officially gets underway. Hopefully the team can remain relatively healthy between now and then.

Kenechi Udeze Back With Minnesota

Christopher Gates — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:42:18 -0000

Some pretty good, if unexpected, news coming out of the Minnesota Vikings' latest round of Organized Team Activities today.

Former Vikings' defensive end Kenechi Udeze, the team's first-round selection in the 2004 NFL Draft, is back with the Vikings on a coaching fellowship, according to Ben Goessling of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Udeze played for the Vikings from 2004 to 2007, and was then diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He received a bone marrow transplant to fight the disease, and missed the entire 2008 season as a result. He attempted to come back for the 2009 season, but suffered from peripheral neuropathy in his feet, meaning that his feet didn't have the strength to plant firmly and give him any burst. He formally announced his retirement from the NFL prior to the 2009 season, and according to the article still suffers with the same problem in his feet.

Udeze spent some time as an intern with the Seattle Seahawks last year, where he worked with Pete Carroll, the man who coached him in college at the University of Southern California. Udeze will be with the Vikings through their second pre-season game of this season.

It's good to see Kenechi Udeze still around the football field, and particularly back in Minnesota where it all started for him in the NFL. Hopefully he can continue his coaching career somewhere, whether that somewhere is in Minnesota or not.

Major Project Launching Soon

Christopher Gates — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:26:51 -0000

Here at The Daily Norseman, we realize that we're currently stuck in the doldrums of the off-season. Believe me, we hate it as much as you do. Quite frankly, there's a good chance that we hate it more than you do. We want the 2013 Minnesota Vikings' season to get underway just as much as everyone else does.

But, we still have plenty of time to kill on that front, and in light of this, in the next week or so we will be launching one of the most ambitious projects that we've ever undertaken here with this web site. It is something that all of our readers will have the ability to get involved in from start to finish, and it's something that we think is going to spark a lot of interesting debate.

The key, however, is that you won't be able to participate if you're not a full-fledged, registered member of our little community here. That's why we're sort of teasing the whole thing for everyone, in case you're one of those long-time lurkers that has been looking for a reason to get involved with the rest of the commenters here at our humble little corner of the interwebs.

Hopefully we'll be able to lay it out more fully for you by the end of the week. We should be able to, in any case. I'm pretty sure that I can promise that you're all going to enjoy it, though.

So, for now, we'll simply leave you all to speculate as to what this thing might be, and we'll be looking for more stuff to bring you here in the meantime.

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/11

Christopher Gates — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:02:19 -0000

Good morning once again, ladies and gentlemen. Time for another opportunity to hang out with your fellow Minnesota Vikings fans and talk about whatever you'd like to talk about during your Tuesday, wherever you might be.

Unfortunately, we've only posted one more story since the last Open Thread, that having to do with Adrian Peterson making the cover of one of this year's Madden NFL games after all. (You can see that as good or bad, depending on how strongly you believe in curses, I guess.) However, there are some stories out there from other sources, mostly about former Vikings.

-Pro Football Talk named their Mount Rushmore for the Minnesota Vikings. (As with any PFT story, don't bother reading the comments. Too much Viking-hating garbage from the usual, expected sources.)

-Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN will be live. . .well, not tweeting, but doing something. . .from today's Organized Team Activities at Winter Park.

-Our friends at Hogs Haven have news about former Viking cornerback Fred Smoot coining a new phrase to describe the infamous "Love Boat" incident.

-The Buffalo Bills have released former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

-Devin Aromashodu will officially not be back in Minnesota next year, as he's returned to the Chicago Bears.

The rules of the Open Thread remain the same, ladies and gentlemen. . .no politics, no religion, no bad language, and don't feed the trolls.

Today's one-hit wonder has a special place in my music library, as the records show that it was the #1 song in the country the day that yours truly was brought into this great big world of ours.

The disco era was glorious, wasn't it?

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Tuesday, everybody. Enjoy the rest of your morning/afternoon/evening, and we'll be back with more later on.

Adrian Peterson Makes Madden Cover After All

Christopher Gates — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:38:26 -0000

A few weeks ago, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson lost in the finals of the tournament to be on the cover of Madden NFL 25, named because it's the 25th anniversary of the iconic gaming franchise. He lost to legendary Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, who will appear on the game for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii (among others that I'm missing, I'm sure).

However, it turns out that Peterson is going to be on the cover of Madden NFL this year after all. How so?

It was announced today that the latest installment of the Madden series is going to be a launch title for the next generation of video game consoles, namely the PlayStation 4 and the XBox One, both of which are slated to make their debut during the upcoming holiday season. And, as it turns out, everyone's favorite running back. . .or, at least, our favorite running back. . .is going to be the cover athlete for the PS4 and XBONE (heh, "XBONE") versions of the game.

There hasn't been a firm launch date given yet (that I've seen) for either of the new consoles, other than the nebulous "holiday" designator. However, there are many places that are taking pre-orders as of now. I'm not going to endorse one particular retailer over another, but there are quite a few of them out there. (I'm weighing the different options myself.) If you want to discuss the merits of the PS4 and the XBONE, feel free to do that here as well.

Congratulations to Adrian Peterson on becoming a Madden cover athlete, particularly after we thought it was all settled for this year.

Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 6/10

Christopher Gates — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:24:51 -0000

Well, it's another Monday here in Minnesota Vikings country, ladies and gentlemen. The Vikings kick off their final Organized Team Activity session today, and this one will run all week long at Winter Park. Hopefully there will be something of interest coming from that during the course of the week for us to share with you.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-Certified Athletic Trainer Eric Sugarman™ and the rest of the Vikings' training staff are up for an award connected to Adrian Peterson's rehab from his knee injury. (You are voting, aren't you?)

-CCNorseman's FanPost containing his "Ultimate Power Rankings" is here on the front page, starting with the offense.

-Wide receiver Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns will be missing the first two games of the 2013 season, meaning his first action of the regular season will come against Minnesota.

-Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier appears to finally be getting some respect in league circles.

-The search for Kathlynn Shepard, a young Vikings fan that had been abducted near her Iowa home, came to a tragic end over the weekend.

-We took a look at one individual's opinion of whether Adrian Peterson could have the first back-to-back 2,000-yard rushing seasons in NFL history.

-The Minnesota Vikings spent a lot of time ahead of their opponents during their surprising 2012 run.

That should be enough to keep everyone's appetite sated for now.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been. . .no politics, no religion, no bad language, and please don't feed the trolls.

For this week's music, we're going to take a look back at some "one-hit wonders" over the years. The idea for this came when I read this article over the weekend that says the following song still makes its artists over half a million dollars a year.

And for today's installment of "Gates tries to make everyone feel as old as he feels," that song game out twenty years ago. Yes, twenty. Two-zero. That means it's probably older than some of you that are reading this.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Monday, ladies and gentlemen. Keep it tuned right here, and we'll try to have some more good stuff for you throughout the day today.

Vikings Led A Lot In 2012

Christopher Gates — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:03:01 -0000

This comes from a story that came out a while back, but I had forgotten about it until just now.

A site called Football Perspective took a look at which teams in the National Football League spent the most time leading, trailing, and with the score tied over the course of the 2012 season. The team that spent the most time in the lead was not surprising. . .it was the New England Patriots, who spent 65.2% of all the time they played in the 2012 regular season with a bigger score than their opponents.

The team that found themselves in second place in that category was surprising. . .it was our favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings led their opponents in 2012 for 58.7% of the time that they were on the field during the 2012 season. They also spent the least amount of time tied, and less time trailing than all but six teams this past season, all of whom made the playoffs. To contrast that, the team that had the lowest percentage of time led was the Kansas City Chiefs, who had a lead for only 10.9% of the time they played in the 2012 NFL season. Sort of explains how they wound up with the #1 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.

As the article explains, this is why the Vikings (as well as teams like the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers) can get away with the type of run-heavy offenses that they use. They spent a lot of time last season in the lead, so they were attempting to shorten games with the rushing attack. Of course, it helps that all three of those teams have some really talented running backs to give the football to as well.

In the case of the Vikings, it was really key for them to get out of the blocks early. . .as the article points out, in nine of the Vikings' ten victories in 2012, the purple held the lead for at least 45 minutes. (The lone exception to that was the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.)

This sort of connects to the article I put up just a little bit ago about Adrian Peterson's chances at a second consecutive 2,000-yard rushing season. If the Vikings can continue to get out to leads and play from ahead like they did in 2012, then Peterson's chances should increase, and he will have a greater likelihood of achieving that mark. If they can't, then Peterson's opportunities will, in all likelihood, be lessened.

The ability to get and hold onto the lead is also coupled with the team's ability to hang on to the football. Obviously, if the Vikings can hold on to the football, their opponents will have fewer chances to score and should score fewer points. The Vikings need to keep their trend from 2012 going in that regard, too, and that goes back to a number that we repeated so many times last season that you can probably still sing along with it now.

-In games where the Vikings were even or better in turnover ratio, their record was 10-0.
-In games where the Vikings were in the negative in turnover ratio, their record was 0-7 (including the playoffs).

Many people, myself included, expect to see a much more balanced offensive attack from the Minnesota Vikings in 2013 than they had in 2012. If they can follow the same formulas that they did in 2012, there's a very good likelihood that they will have at least the same level of success that they did last season. . .if not greater.