The Vikings lost today, something that everyone was likely witnessed with great joy by most people here.  Being in school, I have to work weekends, but Des Moines does have a Vikings affiliate, so I was able to listen to the game.   The Vikings are a bad football team.  Their QB is old and can't throw it to the the right team, their defense is old and overrated, and their head coach is hated by pretty much everyone on the roster.

Everyone seems to realize this - everyone except Chris Gates.  Look, i get that right after a loss is probably not the best time to write about the game.  Emotions are raw, you're trying figure out what happened, etc.  Over the course of the season, as the Vikings have lost game after game, we've been witness to Chris blame the media, the fans, officiating, etc...for the Vikings woes.  I have yet to see Chris write that the Vikings are a bad team.  When Favre threw three second half INT's against the Packers, it was the officials.  Today, it was the grass.  Or the officials.  It's hard to tell whose fault it is this week that the Vikings suck.

Today, Chris took it to new (lower) level, even by his standard.  His scapegoat for the latest Viking collapse? Drum roll.....Packer fans.

http://www.dailynorseman.com/2010/11/14/1813787/vikings-fall-27-13-to-nfc-norths-best-team

That's right.  One Packer fan got under his (paper thin, like transparent) skin, so Chris decides to throw his weight behind the Bears.  Now that's all well and good, maybe it Chrissy's way of finally realizing that the Vikings are a lot closer to the Cowboys or Lions or Bills than they are to being a decent team.  Now, I suppose it certainly possible that the Bears win the division, but I think todays result at Soldier Field had a lot more to do with the Vikings being bad than it did the Bears being good.

Then again, this is par for the course for Chris.  Instead of looking at the Vikings own failures and ineptitude, it's always easier to find a straw man or blame the officials.  Or the media.  Or Packer fans. 

But maybe Chrissy can look at it this way.  When next year comes around and nobody gives a shit about the Vikings anymore and they don't get a new stadium, maybe they'll move to Los Angeles and Chrissy go watch his favorite team get their asses kicked in person.

Don't know if anyone has seen this yet, but the Register apparently sent a cameraman to Kinnick on Saturday night, and he shot some pretty good video.  There is a bit of the pre-game, the team running onto the field (complete with the fight song and Enter Sandman fighting it out), the Stanzi pick-6, TonyMo's first TD, and the coup de gras - Tarpinians hit on Stonum, extreme close-up style.  He/she kept the camera on Stonum long enough that you can hear the crowds reaction when the hit got replayed on the video board.  Good stuff from the Register.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=videonetwork

I know that Jake went on the record with DM Register earlier this month to shoot down rumors that he was heading back home....but according to Scott Dochterman, those rumors have fired up again.  Theres also a 30+ post thread about it on HR, and it was mentioned in a thread on Cyclone Fanatic.

The old saying is that where there's smoke there's fire...anybody know anything?  OPS?

http://iowa.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=803&tid=121972406&mid=121972406&sid=940&style=2

like the true champions they are.  From Mike Hlas:

http://mikegh.wordpress.com/

"You’d think Northwestern people might hold a grudge against the Outback Bowl selecting Iowa over their alma mater.

OK, so the Wildcats are ranked and the Hawkeyes aren’t.

OK, so Northwestern beat Iowa in Iowa City.

OK, so the Cats are 9-3 and the Hawks are just 8-4.

But NU alums aren’t bitter. Nooooooo."

Hit the link to get the rest - is this 75 words yet?

For taking the conservative route and kicking the field goal.  Heaven forbid you go for it, and at the worst make Carolina go the length of the field with 1 timeout.  Kick coverage had been atrocious all day, yet for some reason you decided to roll the dice when everyone in the stands and everyone watching on tv knew what would happen.

Sorry if I'm a debbie downer, but thats how I feel, and I doubt that I'm the only one.  Deciding to kick the field goal was the epitomy of playing not to lose.

I know BTN carried the game today, but does anyone remember what channel Dish Network carried it on?  I had to work and called my wife to have her record it, but she couldn't find it on BTN or any of their overflow channels.  Did anyone else have this problem, and if not, what channel was it on?

meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow is this post 75 words yet?