I figured to give some debate and discussion today, I'd toss this out. I'll also give you a little bit of my thought process as well:

First of all, a few descriptions:

I'm in a keeper $100 auction league. Normally, we get to franchise one player which increases their costs by 10%, and keep a maximum of two rookies at $1 for two years. Anyone else on our roster we have right of first refusal on. However, with the sale of Fanball, they scrapped all of our worth history, so we were able to keep two rookies and the rest of our players were set to $1 and we were unable to franchise anyone. So our auction was a little borked this year, but on the upside, we had more fun than we've had in the past few years, so we're considering keeping the format and adding in the franchised player.

There's twelve teams, and the scoring is pretty basic. Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR/TE, 1K, and 1 DEF. 1 pt 25 yds passing, 1 pt 10 yds rushing or receiving. 4 pts for thrown TDs. 6 pts for rushing or receiving TDs. 2 pts for 2 pt conversions. 3 pts for any FG, 1 pt for any XP. Returned kicks and punts go to the player receiving and not the Team D. Team D scores 1 pt for sacks, 2 pts for fumbles or INTs, and 6 pts for turnover TDs and blocked FG/punt TDs.

That said, let's get on with the show!

Continue reading this post »

I, (the signed below) hereby vow to:

Continue reading this post »

Let's not mince words about this. The O-line was atrociously bad last year. Why? Three reasons:

The Players.

Mike Martz.

Mike Tice.

There's already been plenty of focus on the players, so I'm going to target the coaches. O-line's are judged on two factors. Penalties and Sacks. And since there's no site I can find that gives details on penalties caused by O-lines, you get sack stats.

Here's Martz's and Tice's side by side, since holding an Coordinator or O-line coach or better position.

So, from what we know of each coach, we know that Martz favors a pass-happy offense, where the running back is used in space as another receiver, and the TE is a exaggerated FB, and Tice played as a TE, taught blocking to other TE, taught blocking to O-lines, then passed those duties on to someone less qualified when becoming a HC. So, how do all these sacks affect the QBs? Well, let's look at how many injured QBs have each had under their watch?

So, what can be done? Well, for starters, as is already obvious, the Bears need a better O-line. Given that the site's fan base believes that the two first players the team should pick are OL, and they need to specialize in pass protect.

Tice, if able, should attempt to get the players to focus on pass protection during the off-season. Though, if he will not have time to get the O-line to mesh, there's not much he can do.

And Martz needs to design and use plays designed to the strengths of his players. I just spent three and a half season watching Brad Childress trying to smash good players into typecast roles in a West Coast Offense. If Martz keeps trying to smash the Bears offense into The Greatest Show On Turf, he's going to end up getting Cutler injured and out of the league a lot sooner than he should be.

I have been informed, that apparently I dance around like a tool.

That is because at roughly 2:55 PM CST, I was filmed for a little bit during the game. And since I believe humiliation is best when shared publicly with others, if someone TiVo'ed the game and did not delete it yet (My lack of TiVoing the game shames me) and can find a way to post the footage. I'd be deeply embarassed. Then appreciative.

And that's me in the Russian hat.

I'm not too sure how many people here read Bill Simmons' column on ESPN, but I do. He's funny, and he normally seems like he has his head on straight. He's a much bigger Basketball guy than a Football guy, but he still cranks out columns giving the gambling lines on teams during the football season. For those of you who don't read him, here's what he had to say about the Pack vs Bucs game.

Packers (-9.5) over BUCS
Mayday! Mayday! The Josh Freeman 2009 White Flag has been thrown. By the way, Aaron Rodgers is this year's Great Game Against A Bad Team MVP. His stats have no correlation with his actual effectiveness. Even Al Bundy didn't hold his balls this long.

That last line killed me. If you're interested in more of his columns, I recommend looking up the Vengeance Scale. It should be required reading for just about everyone.

Finally, Go! Pack! Go!

...

What? I picked them in my survivor pool this week. Don't look at me like that.

Yes, it's rivalry week, and yes, the Vikings do not like the Packers and the same thing goes for most of their fans and vice versa. That said, lemme lay down a few rules of conduct since we've already got trolls making insulting posts on the DN.

Continue reading this post »

Yes, it's rivalry week, and yes, the Vikings do not like the Packers and the same thing goes for most of their fans and vice versa. That said, lemme lay down a few rules of conduct since we've already got trolls making insulting posts on the DN.

Continue reading this post »

I normally don't give the "experts" the time of day,  But I thought that this one would be worth sharing

Continue reading this post »

Apparently a radio host in Cleveland thought it would get him some page views to bash on the Vikes with a video on YouTube. Which is more like bashing on the history of the Vikings, saying that Favre is old, and saying that the state of Minnesota sucks. I will not link to it, because, frankly, I see better thought arguments put out on 4-chan.

Chris Baker from KTLK responded with the following YouTube video. It also rips on the history of the Browns, but at least it's funny.

Continue reading this post »

I know we've all had our fun making fun of him. And the Lions. And him again with the stupid pictures. But I figured folks over here would be interested on reading what answers Seifert got when he talked with the players about the coaching changes he's made. You can find the article right here. Enjoy!

Grrr... One friggin word short.

UPDATE from ChiFan13: Got rid of his link and had to add some words.

I wanted to give a bit of a better representation of the two quarterbacks, then my off-the-cuff stuff from Friday night and Saturday morning, so I sat down this afternoon and watched the two quarterbacks in action. I also paid close attention to the Special Teams. After last year, I feel it's necessary. Below is the play by play analysis.

Continue reading this post »

There are few good things about ESPN, and one of those things is no longer there. Bill Simmons is moving on to better things, and I look forward to seeing where he lands. I look forward to seeing the continuation of the vengeance scale, more rules to betting, mailbags, and his analysis of the football season when it again comes upon us. I hope I never have to go through another heart-breaking article similar to when his dog died, but if he writes it, I will read it. Just wanted to pass along the info.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=4343991

Hey folks, I'm moving at the end of the month, and there's some stuff I'm just tired of carting around all the time. So, thank goodness for eBay. You can find all the stuff I've got listed so far here:

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/robertrence_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_ipgZhttp://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SellHub3

And since I've got a lot more crap to get rid of, I'll be adding it as I clear through. If you've got any questions, let me know.

The AP article is as follows:

Edit: A link to the story can be found here

MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Olympic officials, Major League Baseball and other professional sports organizations are getting into the NFL's fight with two Minnesota Vikings linemen who were suspended for violating the league's anti-doping policy.

MLB, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League asked Monday for permission to file paperwork in federal court in support of the NFL, which wants to suspend the players for four games. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed a similar motion on its own.

Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, who are not related, have never been accused of taking steroids. The two linemen tested positive last summer for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, that can mask the presence of steroids. They took the weight-loss supplement StarCaps, which contained the diuretic but wasn't listed on the label.

The leagues contend their own drug testing programs would be affected if the linemen are allowed to fight their four-game suspensions in state court. USADA argues uniform rules are needed "to ensure a level playing field."

Continue reading this post »

A LOT has been said about the differences between the Quarterbacks. Stats have been hashed up, injuries have been scrutinized, and recently Defensive Indifferance made an in-depth post about it, as was pointed out on Gonzo's Viking Vegur. So, remembering how well Thomas Jones ended up doing last year, I decided to do a side by side comparison. And not to be incomplete, I figured I'd check Ryan Grant's stats as well from Green Bay.

Continue reading this post »

This is not a drill. Childress has actually gone on public record about this now during a morning interview on KFAN. And much thanks to Kevin Seifert at ESPN for the following article summarizing it:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcnorth/0-12-37/Childress-speaks-on-Favre----in-the-present-tense.html

Highlights are as follows:

Minnesota coach Brad Childress made two key points Wednesday morning in his expansive comments on the Vikings' pursuit of quarterback Brett Favre:

He established no deadline for Favre to sign a contract.

He wants Favre to join the team if his arm is healthy.

Asked whether he thinks Favre can help the Vikings in 2009, Childress said:

"My opinion is that he was a great player. He obviously had a setback last year and was playing very well early. If in fact he's had that surgery, I'm anxious to see exactly what he has left in that cannon. Because he had a pretty good arm, as we know."

But Childress left little doubt that his interest in Favre remains in the present tense and is tied to the physical condition of Favre's arm. He has explained the situation to his current quarterbacks, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, and said, "I'm not worried about" their reaction.

"I've talked with Sage and Tarvaris," Childress said. "They're competitors. Do they like any of the conversation? Absolutely not. But they know this: I'm charged with adding and subtracting players from this team to make us better. Every day when I walk into this office, there's not a day that I don't try to look and see if we can't get better at some position. If this is going to make us better down the road, and if this has got a chance to happen, I'm going to take care of the Minnesota Vikings."

The partial podcast can be found at the link below:

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/MINNEAPOLIS-MN/KFAN-AM/PWRTRIP061009_ChildressFINAL.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=MINNEAPOLIS-MN&NG_FORMAT=sports&SITE_ID=612&STATION_ID=KFAN-AM&PCAST_AUTHOR=KFAN_AM_1130&PCAST_CAT=Sports_Radio&PCAST_TITLE=Purple_on_Demand_-_Vikings_Podcast

Okay now that this is actually up, I can add a commentary. Damn other fans who I need to beat to the blogging punch.

*Shakes fist*

For the most part, this is Seifert's article with the opinions cut out. So now I'm tossing in my own opinions.

By actually coming out and saying this, Childress has effectively shut all the (will they/won't they) speculation up. And I'm fine with that. Now the speculation will focus on two things: Favre himself and WHEN not IF he will join the team. Which gets one spotlight off of our training camp. He has also spoken with the QBs about it and while he knows they're not happy, he doesn't give a damn.

This is a first for me, but I think this is the first time I've seen Childress show proper leadership qualities.

So what we're left with now is... repair time. And I'm fine with that. There are those who say "OMG, y aren't u studying or with the team NOWWWW?!?!?" And the flat answer is, he doesn't know if he can. If his arm still isn't feeling well eight weeks post surgery, why the hell would he be here in the first place? Additionally, most teams will run a player through a physical before signing them and I don't see any reason why that should change now. Our worst case scenario is that on August 3rd, Favre shows up and says he's ready. At which point he gets only six weeks with the first team before heading out onto the field against Cleveland.

Coached by Mangini.

This should be interesting.

Might as well enjoy our time being innundated with Brett Favre news. I advise that you do not play this game with Skol-aid or any other alcoholic products. You should be working during the day. Not drinking.

Or camping out on the DN's front lawn.

But I digress.

Have a swig of soda if:

There is a "new" News story about Brett Favre.

An un-named source is sited.

They mention, "mowing the lawn", "using his tractor", or "wrangler jeans"

Bus Cook is quoted as saying "Brett Favre will remain retired" or a variation on the theme.

Have two swigs of soda if:

A Viking is quoted for their thoughts on the matter.

Ted Thompson is mentioned in the article.

Have three swigs of soda if:

A Packer is quoted for their thoughts on the matter.

Down your drink if:

The news is actually a substantial development.

In all honesty, those two words shouldn't go together. At all. But this is an angle I feel it is important to highlight in it's own post.

Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty had this to say (courtesy of the Associated Press):

"He says it would be "a wonderful little salt to rub in the eyes of some of our Green Bay Packer friends."

Pawlenty laid out the scene: "Can you imagine Brett Favre going into Lambeau Field in Viking purple and maybe even wearing No. 4? There would be audible gasps. There would be 60,000 audible gasps as he came out of the tunnel."

Now, ever since Zygi has come to own the Vikings, he has had two priorities:

1) Spend the money necessary to improve all facets of the Vikings organization. Winter Park went from being a step above the Y to a top of the line center. The coaching staff swelled from bare-bones over-stretched also-rans to well-compensated specialist... also-rans (Zing! Eat it Childress!)

2) Get a new stadium, complete with a large real-estate park nearby. While publically, this one shows up once every few months, this is certainly the most important to Zygi. And at every turn, Pawlenty has shot the idea down. In fact, this is the first time I can recall Pawlenty saying something positive about the team. And Zygi knows the political game. (Thank you Viking83 for pulling up the wheel-greasing here) He did real estate in Jersey, he can do it here. And now he has a weak point to needle at with Pawlenty.

Additionally, according to Access Vikings, ESPN has pointed out that there may be a possible sticking point with Favre not wanting to work out during the mandatory off-season training camps. If the result of the meeting is that Childress says "No, I don't want him." I think Zygi would over-rule him. So far, Zygi has simply been willing to sign the checks to get what he needs. And if Childress appears to be an active barrier preventing the Vikings from getting a new stadium. Zygi will likely give Childress two options. Stop bitching or get shit-canned.

I've given my perspective on it from more of a organizational standpoint. Do you think I'm off my rocker? Or does Favre REALLY give us a better shot at a stadium?

If you're going to be watching the draft this weekend, I'm sure you're going to be hearing about past drafts. Specifically, a draft where the Vikes allowed their pick to slip during the first round. And just in case you're thinking people MAY have forgotten about the event. DJ Gallo's already dragging the joke out of the grave and brushing the dust off.

So:

How many times do you think the talking heads will bring up the event?

Saw this on ESPN today. Rip it all you want, it's still the first place I check for info.

The NFL schedule will be released Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, in prime time for the first time. The entire 2009 regular-season schedule, including sites and times for all 256 regular-season games, will be released.

So, in a little under a week, we get to find when we get to yell at Packers, Bears, and Lions fans more frequently than usual. Politely, of course.

The folks over at Mile High Report made a point that I had to think about for a bit today, and I feel it's important enough to open up a topic over here.

Last year, a few of you may remember a certain quarterback wanted to be released, and have no restrictions on to where he could sign. (He also wanted a chance to actually compete for his job, but I digress)

This year, we have another quarterback who was slighted by his team, wants out of town, and let's be completely honest here, we, as fans of the Vikings, see nothing wrong with stirring the pot in order to see him wearing Purple and Gold.

However, the major link between these two players is that they share an agent who appears that he's gotten a taste of the spotlight, and seems to be enjoying it too much.

Which leads me to believe that even if we did get Cutler, we'd have about two years before this leech would stir the pot again, and then it would be us going through the extremely fun situation that folks in Denver are going through now.

So, am I being overly paranoid, or will we see another Bus Cook agent causing similar stress fractures this time next year?

As a side note, I still believe that Scott Boras is the most obnoxious agent there is. Announcing during the World Series that your client is available? Low.

Hey folks, sorry I've been away for a while. Real life's been busy, and I had to do some comp maintenance, which caused me to lose my password to this site, which caused...

You don't actually care, do you?

Alright, so just a few comments on the NFL dealings as of late:

The Williams Wall is set for trial in June. Which means it'll wrap up around the end of training camp. I still see the case as that yes, while the Williams' did break the NFL code of conduct, the NFL has an obligation to the health of it's players to disclose it's knowledge of harmful suppliments. So while it's likely that they'll end up suspended, hopefully the NFL will change it's policy. Also, some other players are affected, but I care significantly less about them.

Two NFL players are currently lost at sea and things are looking grim. Hopefully they show up soon along with the other two people on the boat.

Houshetc... is currently spending the night in the cities, and he'll have his decision tomorrow. Hopefully he's happy wherever he ends up. More hopefully, he'll be wearing purple and gold next year. C'mon Zygi!

The Patriots dealt Vrabel and Cassel to the Kansas City chiefs for a 2nd round draft pick.. After franchising Cassel ( which would require TWO first round draft picks in order to steal from the Pats) and after the Broncos supposedly offered a 1st round pick for him. Additionally, as of note, former members of the Pats organization are also now in the KC and Denver organizations at the GM level and Head coach level respectively. What does this cause?

1) People wondering about a lot of backroom deals.

2)  KC and Denver hate each other more.

3) Denver's QB is demanding a trade.

And, hey, will ya look at that? The Pats play the Broncos this year. Funny that they wouldn't want to give them their quarterback, now, isn't it.

Bill Belichek(sp?) is pretty damn crafty. And I'm sure that if he could find a way to cause a team he would play later in the year undue amounts of stress that would primarily be directed at another team, he'd do it in a second.

that covers about all the areas that I think needed mentioning. I wish we'd gotten Garcia instead of Rosencrants, but hey, you work with what you got. Hopefully Childress will give him an actual chance to win the starting job instead of handing it to Jackson. Again.

Man... I wish we kept Tomlin.

It wasn't the best Super Bowl I'd ever seen, but I'd rank it solid third, behind the Rams/Titans and last year's flat out awesome game.

The best commercials went to Hulu's Brain Drain, followed by Conan O'Brian shilling for Bud Light in Sweden.

All in all, good game, I'm glad I watched it, now I'm gonna go let the Nyquil do it's trick.