John. Randle. Was. Crazy. He often barked like a dog before the ball was snapped. John Randle makes Jerod Allen look like Andy Griffith. And now Randle is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010.
Other than being insane, what made Randle special was the fact he was undrafted. For a defensive lineman, he was undersized at "only" 6' 1", 287 lbs. And yet, he became a game-changing pass rusher.
I have to admit that I am surprised that Randle made the Hall of Fame before Cris Carter. But, it is very well deserved. The dude was fun to watch.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
John Randle - Hall of Fame
Friday, February 5, 2010
Things Might Be Looking Up
As the smoke rises and the pall lifts from another crushing end the Vikings season, it is that time of year to start looking forward to baseball. As I look out the window at four new inches of snow, it certainly doesn't look like baseball season. The excitement of Target Field opening, however, along with some recent moves by the Twins have got me looking forward to this season more so than in year's past.The Twins started the off-season by trading the talented but very confused Carlos Gomez to Milwaukee for shortstop J.J. Hardy. I believe Hardy will benefit from this change of scenery. They also resigned starting pitcher, and innigs-eater Carl Pavano. Then, it was announced a few weeks back that the Twins signed DH Jim Thome, a future Hall of Famer. Thome, one of the all-time "Twins Killers," is 39 years old, but still has some pop left in his bat and should fit in perfectly in the clubhouse. In addition, the word was leaked by WCCO's Mark Rosen that the Twins and Joe Mauer are very close to signing a long-term contract that would keep the 2009 MVP in Minnesota for the next decade. Personally, I thought this was going to be the end of the Twins off-season moves. It looked like they were going to be a very good team going into 2010, with holes at 2nd and 3rd base.
The biggest surprise, however, came yesterday when it was announced that the Twins have signed 2nd baseman Orlando Hudson, a former LA Dodger, to a 1-year, $5 million dollar contract. This, folks, is the icing on the cake in many ways. Hudson, a 3-time All-star and 4-time Gold Glove winner, will fill a huge gap at second base. This also means Nick Punto can shift to 3rd base and platoon with Brendan Harris. Both Punto and Harris are more effective on a part-time basis rather than as full-time starters.
Check out the anticipated Twins batting order in 2010:
CF - Denard Span
2B - Orlando Hudson
C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
RF - Michael Cuddyer
DH - Jason Kubel
SS - J.J. Hardy
LF - Delmon Young
3B - Brendan Harris or Nick Punto
PH - Jim Thome
Not too shabby. The signing of Thome also means that Jason Kubel can play left field if Delmon Young falters, which Thome at DH. That brings up one of the most amazing tidbits of off-season news, by the way. The word is that Delmon Young has lost 30 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly. This could make a huge difference in his batting and play in the outfield.
Lastly, Freealonzo sent me this excellent review of Target Field written by Baseball Digest. It's rather long, but the details of the ballpark are great. The review calls Target Field "the most urban and the most modern ballpark in baseball:"Yes, there are plenty of urban ballparks billed as downtown ballparks, mostly in the minors. The closest analogy in the majors is Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, as both offer stunning views of the city skyline.
But there’s not a MLB park so closely tied into a downtown area: Target Field is literally two blocks from bustling First Avenue (yes, you’ll be able to easily go to a Twins game and then hit the iconic First Avenue nightclub) and five blocks from the city’s business core. Commercial rail runs on one side of the ballpark, while two commuter train lines meet directly outside the ballpark.
The article also contained this little tidbit about the exact seats that we will be sitting in during the 2010 season:
"The best cheap seats in the house: sections 320-324. You’ll have great views of the downtown skyline and seats angled toward the playing field."
Nice. I do believe things in the sports world might be looking up.
Jeff
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A Great Winter Song
"Be still for a second while I try and try to pin your flowers on
Can you carry my drink I have everything else
I can tie my tie all by myself
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Oh we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe
is diving diving diving diving off the balcony
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
Hold ourselves together with our arms around the stereo for hours
While it sings to itself or whatever it does
when it sings to itself of its long lost loves
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
but I’ll be with you behind the couch when they come
on a different day just like this one
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume
stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume on"
Turn this one up.
Friday, January 29, 2010
OK. One Last Lament....
I must admit that I have been in a funk all week. I promised to shut up about the Vikes loss, but I found one more example of another person going through the same emotions as I, and a lot of Viking fans, are experiencing right now. This, from Scott Korzenowski of KSTP 1500 AM:
"The game had ended as so many of them had before, in yet another Vikings defeat. But this defeat, like so many of the others, was not an average, every day, basic defeat, as in, "My team scored fewer points than the opponent." No, this was a complicated, inexplicable, and undeniably far too familiar Vikings defeat, as in, "How can my team send 12 players into the huddle when the rules of football have said for nearly 100 years that you can send in only 11?"
And so there I was, my thumb on the remote control of my DVR running the final offensive play of this Vikings season over and over and over again and believing, really believing, that the next time I pushed "play" Brett Favre was going to run it up the right sideline, or flip it out to Bernard Berrian in the flat, or throw it away ... anything other than what he did, which was twist his body in an unnatural right to left motion and force an across-the-body throw into the waiting arms of a guy in black.
I didn't know how to explain my purely irrational belief that the digital recording of the image of Brett Favre's final pass would magically transform itself into a different and, this time, euphoric result, but I did. I believed Favre would make everything better, as he had against San Francisco and Baltimore and Green Bay and Dallas, that he would make the right decision and deliver the thousands of addicted and afflicted Vikings fans from what now is going on 40 years of emotional torture.
But after ranting about Chilly for his indecisiveness and then contemplating whether Favre will or should return next season and then spending a restless night that led into a fitful and nightmare filled sleep, I received an email from a friend and colleague that finally explained everything.
This Vikings loss, like so many of them before, had sent me into the first four of the five stages of coping with loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression.
Suddenly it all became clear.
I was running and rerunning and rerunning my DVR because I was in denial, much as I had been following Gary Anderson's missed kick against Atlanta in January 1999, much as I had been following Darrin Nelson's drop of a Wade Wilson pass in January 1987, and much as I had been as a 9-year-old boy in January 1970 when I wept uncontrollably as Joe Kapp slumped off the field clutching his cracked ribs and broken heart.
I was blaming Chilly because I was angry; not so much at the coaching staff's inability to count to 11, but at myself, because, for the better part of 40 years, I have allowed this team, with different owners, coaches, players and stadiums, to completely grab hold of my emotional well-being for three hours on 16, and in some cases 17 or 18, Sundays a year.
I was wondering about Favre's future and when someone will invent gloves that magically affix themselves to pigskin because I was bargaining for a way to sooth the ache that once again had found its way into the pit of my stomach.
And I was unable to sleep because I was depressed that just when it seemed that it had been worth the Vikings selling their collective souls to acquire their most feared and hated rival, this deal with the Devil had done nothing to change the fate of this franchise, just as the deal to acquire Herschel Walker, or the deal to move into the Metrodome, or the deal to sell the team's stock to Red McCombs had done nothing to change what is inevitable in these parts every half decade or so.
And suddenly it hit me. I have not been able, despite my years of schooling and advanced age, to wander into the fifth and final stage of coping with loss. The one and only stage that will truly deliver peace: Acceptance.
Acceptance that the Vikings are going to tease you; that they are going to look unbeatable. Acceptance that they are going to play hard and with skill and with flair. Acceptance that they are going to present the appearance of infallibility only to rush for 17 total yards (Super Bowl IX), fumble at the goal line (Brent McClanahan in Super Bowl XI), or watch as their savior turns into the same guy who kept throwing the ball to Jeff Brady a decade earlier.
And as I pondered this, toyed with this, and then started to accept this, I started to feel calm, at ease, perhaps even freed. Finally, after 40 years, four straight Super Bowl defeats and now five straight NFC Championship Game defeats, I started to simply accept that this is whom the Vikings are, and this is whom the Vikings always will be.
The Vikings are losers. Not in the sense that they never win, like the Cubs or the Gophers football team. No, the Vikings are exciting losers, accomplished losers, creative losers.
No franchise in all of professional sports does defeat and disappointment quite like the Vikings. Okay, so the Cleveland Browns suffered "The Fumble" and the Red Sox "Bill Buckner," but what other team has lost a game by "Taking a Knee"?
But for a handful of these wholly original losses spread out over 40 years, the Vikings are nearly every bit as successful as the Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys and Patriots. The Vikings have made the NFL playoffs 25 times; they've played in nine conference championships and four Super Bowls. But unlike the Steelers, who have won six Super Bowls, the 49ers and Cowboys, who have each won five, and the Patriots, who have won three in the last decade alone, the Vikings have won none while losing more playoff games than any other franchise in the NFL.
The Vikings are the lead character in the classic Greek tragedy. They are the ones who dominate the performance and then gulp the poison, leap from the balcony or fall on the sword. They're the ones who deliver the most lines only to end up sprawled on the stage when the curtain falls.
These are the Vikings, and despite my lifelong efforts at denying it ("They were the better team Sunday night"), fighting it ("That wasn't interference!"), rationalizing it ("If only we'd won the coin toss!") and feeling bad about it ("Why can't we win just ONE of these games?"), I finally have learned to accept it.
There is next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. And the Vikings, perhaps as soon as next year, will once again take center stage, excite the masses, and appear headed toward the winning field goal as the clock ticks toward zero, but don't believe it. The Vikings will blow it. They will miss a key block (Todd Steussie), or a key tackle (Earsell Macbee), or a sure interception (Tyrell Johnson). They simply will not win the Big One, and there isn't anything anybody (including Brett Favre) can do about it.
And so if you'll excuse me, I am going to return to my DVR, load up Sunday night's game and, just as soon as I make certain that the Saints field goal attempt actually sailed through the uprights, delete the very image that only 24 hours earlier represented my irrational attachment to the hope that this Vikings' season would end differently than all the others. I know better now. "
Amen Scott.
Jeff
"The game had ended as so many of them had before, in yet another Vikings defeat. But this defeat, like so many of the others, was not an average, every day, basic defeat, as in, "My team scored fewer points than the opponent." No, this was a complicated, inexplicable, and undeniably far too familiar Vikings defeat, as in, "How can my team send 12 players into the huddle when the rules of football have said for nearly 100 years that you can send in only 11?"
And so there I was, my thumb on the remote control of my DVR running the final offensive play of this Vikings season over and over and over again and believing, really believing, that the next time I pushed "play" Brett Favre was going to run it up the right sideline, or flip it out to Bernard Berrian in the flat, or throw it away ... anything other than what he did, which was twist his body in an unnatural right to left motion and force an across-the-body throw into the waiting arms of a guy in black.
I didn't know how to explain my purely irrational belief that the digital recording of the image of Brett Favre's final pass would magically transform itself into a different and, this time, euphoric result, but I did. I believed Favre would make everything better, as he had against San Francisco and Baltimore and Green Bay and Dallas, that he would make the right decision and deliver the thousands of addicted and afflicted Vikings fans from what now is going on 40 years of emotional torture.
But after ranting about Chilly for his indecisiveness and then contemplating whether Favre will or should return next season and then spending a restless night that led into a fitful and nightmare filled sleep, I received an email from a friend and colleague that finally explained everything.
This Vikings loss, like so many of them before, had sent me into the first four of the five stages of coping with loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression.
Suddenly it all became clear.
I was running and rerunning and rerunning my DVR because I was in denial, much as I had been following Gary Anderson's missed kick against Atlanta in January 1999, much as I had been following Darrin Nelson's drop of a Wade Wilson pass in January 1987, and much as I had been as a 9-year-old boy in January 1970 when I wept uncontrollably as Joe Kapp slumped off the field clutching his cracked ribs and broken heart.
I was blaming Chilly because I was angry; not so much at the coaching staff's inability to count to 11, but at myself, because, for the better part of 40 years, I have allowed this team, with different owners, coaches, players and stadiums, to completely grab hold of my emotional well-being for three hours on 16, and in some cases 17 or 18, Sundays a year.
I was wondering about Favre's future and when someone will invent gloves that magically affix themselves to pigskin because I was bargaining for a way to sooth the ache that once again had found its way into the pit of my stomach.
And I was unable to sleep because I was depressed that just when it seemed that it had been worth the Vikings selling their collective souls to acquire their most feared and hated rival, this deal with the Devil had done nothing to change the fate of this franchise, just as the deal to acquire Herschel Walker, or the deal to move into the Metrodome, or the deal to sell the team's stock to Red McCombs had done nothing to change what is inevitable in these parts every half decade or so.
And suddenly it hit me. I have not been able, despite my years of schooling and advanced age, to wander into the fifth and final stage of coping with loss. The one and only stage that will truly deliver peace: Acceptance.
Acceptance that the Vikings are going to tease you; that they are going to look unbeatable. Acceptance that they are going to play hard and with skill and with flair. Acceptance that they are going to present the appearance of infallibility only to rush for 17 total yards (Super Bowl IX), fumble at the goal line (Brent McClanahan in Super Bowl XI), or watch as their savior turns into the same guy who kept throwing the ball to Jeff Brady a decade earlier.
And as I pondered this, toyed with this, and then started to accept this, I started to feel calm, at ease, perhaps even freed. Finally, after 40 years, four straight Super Bowl defeats and now five straight NFC Championship Game defeats, I started to simply accept that this is whom the Vikings are, and this is whom the Vikings always will be.
The Vikings are losers. Not in the sense that they never win, like the Cubs or the Gophers football team. No, the Vikings are exciting losers, accomplished losers, creative losers.
No franchise in all of professional sports does defeat and disappointment quite like the Vikings. Okay, so the Cleveland Browns suffered "The Fumble" and the Red Sox "Bill Buckner," but what other team has lost a game by "Taking a Knee"?
But for a handful of these wholly original losses spread out over 40 years, the Vikings are nearly every bit as successful as the Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys and Patriots. The Vikings have made the NFL playoffs 25 times; they've played in nine conference championships and four Super Bowls. But unlike the Steelers, who have won six Super Bowls, the 49ers and Cowboys, who have each won five, and the Patriots, who have won three in the last decade alone, the Vikings have won none while losing more playoff games than any other franchise in the NFL.
The Vikings are the lead character in the classic Greek tragedy. They are the ones who dominate the performance and then gulp the poison, leap from the balcony or fall on the sword. They're the ones who deliver the most lines only to end up sprawled on the stage when the curtain falls.
These are the Vikings, and despite my lifelong efforts at denying it ("They were the better team Sunday night"), fighting it ("That wasn't interference!"), rationalizing it ("If only we'd won the coin toss!") and feeling bad about it ("Why can't we win just ONE of these games?"), I finally have learned to accept it.
There is next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. And the Vikings, perhaps as soon as next year, will once again take center stage, excite the masses, and appear headed toward the winning field goal as the clock ticks toward zero, but don't believe it. The Vikings will blow it. They will miss a key block (Todd Steussie), or a key tackle (Earsell Macbee), or a sure interception (Tyrell Johnson). They simply will not win the Big One, and there isn't anything anybody (including Brett Favre) can do about it.
And so if you'll excuse me, I am going to return to my DVR, load up Sunday night's game and, just as soon as I make certain that the Saints field goal attempt actually sailed through the uprights, delete the very image that only 24 hours earlier represented my irrational attachment to the hope that this Vikings' season would end differently than all the others. I know better now. "
Amen Scott.
Jeff
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The LAST Viking Lament and Some Other Stuff
I wrote that last post minutes after the Vikings choked away their chance at the Super Bowl. I was pretty angry. I got about 4 hours of sleep that night. Then, THE CHECK was a morgue on Monday morning after the game and I was bummed out. You could hear a pin drop at THE CHECK. The muzak seemed extra loud, which is depressing in itself. Folks, I have not been affected by a Viking game like that since January 17th, 1999. I kind of prided myself on not letting the Vikings get to me anymore because "I grew up." Well, this one hurt. But, I am kind of sick of talking about it, so I am going to say one more thing, and then I am done with the subject. Here is the one more thing:
I have come to grips with the fact that the Vikings would have lost even if Brett Favre didn't throw that last interception. If would have merely scrambled for 5 yards to set up a field goal, does any Viking fan out there believe in their heart that Ryan Longwell would have nailed the kick to send the Vikings to the Super Bowl? I don't think the kick would have been blocked because that is too easy. I think Longwell would have split the uprights, sending the Vikings into a frenzy until they realized that there was a yellow flag lying on the ground that signified "holding." Ten yard penalty. That is when Ryan Longwell would miss wide right from an additional 10 yards back. And the Vikings would lose in overtime. Merely one of many scenarios. Make your own up if you would like, but there is no way the Vikings win that game even if there were not "12 Men In The Huddle."
As far as Favre goes (OK I am saying two things), I appreciate all the guy did for the Vikings this year. Without him, they go 8-8 and miss the playoffs. With him, they lose the NFC Championship on an interception. You live by Farve, you die by Favre. Viking fans got a laugh seeing Favre in purple and watching him beat the Packers twice. And Packer fans got a laugh watching him end his own season on a brutal, misguided interception just like they witnessed back in 2007. They can say "I told you so." At this point, I'm not even sure I want him to come back next year. This is something I don't even want to think about at this point. End of Vikings discussion.
Here are a couple of other important things, however.
1. Sid on Seantrel Henderson. I heard something today on the way to THE CHECK that almost made me swerve off the road. I was listening to WCCO radio (A sign of aging) and Dave Lee was talking with Sid Hartman about the #1-rated high school football player in the nation - Seantrel Henderson of Cretin Durham high school. Hendersen (6'8", 301 lbs.) has been highly recruited by the likes of USC, Ohio State and Florida. He has kept the Minnesota Gophers in the running, however, because they are his home-state school. Just to be nice. And today, Sid Hartman said that Seantrel Henderson would be - and I quote - "making the biggest mistake of his life" if he did not attend Minnesota. Why? FOR JOB PROSPECTS AFTER COLLEGE. Now let me get this straight. Henderson should turn down the opportunity to play for a national powerhouse on national TV each week, and possibly compete for a championship all to play for Tim Brewster's Gophers. This so he can apply for a job at 3M or Pillsbury when he is done with college ball? Sid, this is not 1946. Seantrel, I believe, will most likely be a first round pick in the National Football League and hope to have about a 15-year career in the NFL after college and retire a millionaire. That is unless, of course, he plays for Tim Brewster's Gophers.
2. Twins sign Jim Thome. I like this move. (Do you sense the move from foreboding football cynicism to baseball optimism?). Granted, I'd be more excited if this was 2005, but I think this is a good move. The Twins didn't break the bank to sign Thome ($1.5 million), he's a great clubhouse guy, and I bet he has 15-20 home runs left in him this year if he gets enough at bats. I also think this is a signal to Delmon Young. Both Thome and Jason Kubel are big left-handed bats that the Twins need in the lineup. In order to accomplish this, Kubel will need to play more left field while Thome is the DH. This basically forces Delmon Young back to the bench. Hopefully, this will light a fire under Delmon and present a "nice problem" to the Twins. Too many bats! Baseball = optimism!
3. PETA Sad for Punxsutawney Phil. From today's Startribune.com:
"PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - An animal rights group wants organizers of Pennsylvania's Groundhog Day festival to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robotic stand-in.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it's unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model."
A robot. PETA want the guy in the tuxedo to pull a robotic groundhog out to judge whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter (which, by the way, is bogus because we all know a mere remaining 6 weeks of winter would be a blessing). How charming.
Seriously, folks, what does PETA do? Have we reached a point, now that Michael Vick is rehabilitated, that animals are being treated so well that Punxsutawney Phil is the best they can do? They are really searching for a cause.
A robot.
That's all for now.
I have come to grips with the fact that the Vikings would have lost even if Brett Favre didn't throw that last interception. If would have merely scrambled for 5 yards to set up a field goal, does any Viking fan out there believe in their heart that Ryan Longwell would have nailed the kick to send the Vikings to the Super Bowl? I don't think the kick would have been blocked because that is too easy. I think Longwell would have split the uprights, sending the Vikings into a frenzy until they realized that there was a yellow flag lying on the ground that signified "holding." Ten yard penalty. That is when Ryan Longwell would miss wide right from an additional 10 yards back. And the Vikings would lose in overtime. Merely one of many scenarios. Make your own up if you would like, but there is no way the Vikings win that game even if there were not "12 Men In The Huddle."
As far as Favre goes (OK I am saying two things), I appreciate all the guy did for the Vikings this year. Without him, they go 8-8 and miss the playoffs. With him, they lose the NFC Championship on an interception. You live by Farve, you die by Favre. Viking fans got a laugh seeing Favre in purple and watching him beat the Packers twice. And Packer fans got a laugh watching him end his own season on a brutal, misguided interception just like they witnessed back in 2007. They can say "I told you so." At this point, I'm not even sure I want him to come back next year. This is something I don't even want to think about at this point. End of Vikings discussion.
Here are a couple of other important things, however.
1. Sid on Seantrel Henderson. I heard something today on the way to THE CHECK that almost made me swerve off the road. I was listening to WCCO radio (A sign of aging) and Dave Lee was talking with Sid Hartman about the #1-rated high school football player in the nation - Seantrel Henderson of Cretin Durham high school. Hendersen (6'8", 301 lbs.) has been highly recruited by the likes of USC, Ohio State and Florida. He has kept the Minnesota Gophers in the running, however, because they are his home-state school. Just to be nice. And today, Sid Hartman said that Seantrel Henderson would be - and I quote - "making the biggest mistake of his life" if he did not attend Minnesota. Why? FOR JOB PROSPECTS AFTER COLLEGE. Now let me get this straight. Henderson should turn down the opportunity to play for a national powerhouse on national TV each week, and possibly compete for a championship all to play for Tim Brewster's Gophers. This so he can apply for a job at 3M or Pillsbury when he is done with college ball? Sid, this is not 1946. Seantrel, I believe, will most likely be a first round pick in the National Football League and hope to have about a 15-year career in the NFL after college and retire a millionaire. That is unless, of course, he plays for Tim Brewster's Gophers.
2. Twins sign Jim Thome. I like this move. (Do you sense the move from foreboding football cynicism to baseball optimism?). Granted, I'd be more excited if this was 2005, but I think this is a good move. The Twins didn't break the bank to sign Thome ($1.5 million), he's a great clubhouse guy, and I bet he has 15-20 home runs left in him this year if he gets enough at bats. I also think this is a signal to Delmon Young. Both Thome and Jason Kubel are big left-handed bats that the Twins need in the lineup. In order to accomplish this, Kubel will need to play more left field while Thome is the DH. This basically forces Delmon Young back to the bench. Hopefully, this will light a fire under Delmon and present a "nice problem" to the Twins. Too many bats! Baseball = optimism!
3. PETA Sad for Punxsutawney Phil. From today's Startribune.com:
"PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - An animal rights group wants organizers of Pennsylvania's Groundhog Day festival to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robotic stand-in.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it's unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model."
A robot. PETA want the guy in the tuxedo to pull a robotic groundhog out to judge whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter (which, by the way, is bogus because we all know a mere remaining 6 weeks of winter would be a blessing). How charming.
Seriously, folks, what does PETA do? Have we reached a point, now that Michael Vick is rehabilitated, that animals are being treated so well that Punxsutawney Phil is the best they can do? They are really searching for a cause.
A robot.
That's all for now.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Death of a Franchise
I officially give up. I can't do this anymore. Heart disease runs in my family. This is not healthy. My 4th grader is in tears, just like I used to experience before I settled into mere depression after Viking games. People who follow other teams might be thinking "these Viking fans are bad fans." Folks, we simply cannot take this anymore. This is 4 decades worth of heartache.I have heard people say the "Minnesota built a new stadium for the wrong team" when we approved a new ballpark for the Twins and turned the Vikings away. That is ludicrous. Building a stadium for the Vikings and not the Twins would be like giving your teenage meth addict a car instead of your teenage valedictorian.
Not to overstate things, but tonight's loss may mean the end of the Viking franchise in Minnesota. Winning the Super Bowl would have at least provided the team with some stadium momentum with the population of Minnesota. Now, they are back to the proverbial Square One. We may have witnessed "The Death of a Franchise" tonight. And the question remains, do they really deserve one? Now that I have pissed away all of the purple kool-aid that I drank, I have to ask if my life would actually improve if this team actually just got the hell out of here. I would never say this about the Twins or Wild. The Vikings, however? It may be best if they just left. I simply can't take this anymore. Here are some thoughts on tonight's game:
1. I can't fault Brett Favre for the game he played. The mere fact he was not hospitalized after a few of those hits was a testament to his toughness. Once again, however, his last throw was an interception. And a bad one. It cost them the game.
2. Listen to what Bob Sansevere wrote in a column earlier this month: "A psychic friend claims the Vikings will play the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl, with the Vikings winning. This friend has a very good record of getting things right." Look - if you are going to claim to be a "psychic," you had better be right about these things. I'd like to see what Bob's "psychic friend" has for an excuse now? Possibly - he's full of crap? And how about the guy from Kare 11 who claimed he was a "descendant of Druids" and predicted a Viking victory over New Orleans? Dude - which Druids are YOU talking about?
3. Adrian Peterson fumbles a lot.
4. Nice call by the refs in overtime on that "non-catch" to put the Saints in field goal position. I didn't know you could trap the ball with the ground. It's almost if the refs said "Hey, New Orleans has suffered enough with Katrina and all, and I am pretty tired. Let's end this right now!" They even blew the "Official Review" after the ruling on the field. This is why, once again, baseball should never institute replay. These guys can't get it right the second time, let alone the first.
That is all I have tonight. I am spent.
Thank God spring training is right around the corner so Minnesota can follow a sports team that won't always let them down.
Friday, January 22, 2010
NFC Championship. Again.
"The Jets, Bills, Vikings and Browns are the Mount Rushmore of effed-up NFL fan bases: 50-plus years of history, lots of losing and misery, generations of fans and some particularly soul-crushing heartbreaks (in my Levels of Losing 2.0 column, those three franchises probably nailed every level combined). You can't root for any of these teams without having them infect your DNA in some way. Being a Saints fan hasn't exactly been a barrel of laughs, but there's a spiritual optimism about them -- something tied to the festiveness of Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras and the city in general -- that was beaten out of the Jets/Bills/Vikes/Browns fans a long time ago. Saints fans roll with the punches. Jets/Bills/Vikes/Browns fans expect to get punched, contort their faces into a giant wince, wait for a punch that never comes, say to themselves, "Cool, I'm not gonna get punched, it's gonna be OK!" ... and then they get clocked." - Bill Simmons, ESPN.
I can't sum it up any better than that. Most NFL fans would be ecstatic to have their favorite team in the NFC Championship game. One victory from the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Viking fans are debating whether it would be worse to lose the NFC Championship game or lose a 5th Super Bowl. I know because I had this debate just yesterday with tony8489. I really don't know the answer to that question.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am happy the Vikes beat the Cowboys to get to this point. They have had a great year. NFC North Champs. A 12-4 record. Beat the Pack twice. Ended the Cowboys season. All cool. I am just wondering when the hammer will fall. You see, I can only really count the Vikings of the late 1970's to today as the team I have really followed. I was too young before that. I have only really lived and breathed 3 NFC Championship games and they have lost all 3. The Darrin Nelson "drop" of 1987, Gary Anderson "wide left" in 1999, and "41-doughnut" of 2000. Now, the Vikes have made it to a 4th and I am a bit paranoid.
Relevant E-mail (from Chris in Duluth, Minn.): "I've been wondering why, as a diehard Vikings fan, I'm still scared every single week that we are going to lose. And I finally have an answer. The Vikings are my brother's '93 Mitsubishi 3000GT. The regular season is like the test drive -- it ran smoothly, with only a few small kinks, and it looked damn pretty. The owner mentions a few things that might be a problem, but my brother didn't care -- this car seemed perfect. But every year, the playoffs are like the drive home, when the deal is done. We end up on the side of the road, the front right wheel rolling across the highway median into oncoming traffic, leaving us to realize one thing -- we've been duped. Duped by lots of flash, flash that blinds us from the gaping problems that really existed. Please tell me that this isn't going to happen this year. Please!" from Bill Simmons column, ESPN.
I love the Minnesota Twins because they have not let me down. When I die, I can say that I have experienced the Twins winning two World Series, God bless them. The Minnesota Vikings have provided many successful seasons to their fans, but there has been a letdown EVERY year. Every playoff season they have had has ended in a loss. Think about that. Every one.
The Minnesota Vikings owe me and every one of their fans a championship. The OWE it to us.
My good friend Jase, a die-hard Packer fan, said something to me once that made a lot of sense. He said that "all I ask is that the Packers win one Super Bowl in my lifetime, and I will be happy with them." Amen, Jase. And the Pack fulfilled his wish in 1997. The Minnesota Vikings OWE their fans a championship after all the bullshit that we have put up with over the decades. All I ask for is 1 championship, and they can have all the 4-12 seasons they want. And folks, if they cannot win it with Brett Favre at quarterback, it ain't gonna happen.
This is it.
With that said, here are my predictions for the NFL Championship week:
AFC:
COLTS over Jets: The Jets run comes to an end. Not that it matters.
NFC:
SAINTS over Vikings: Does anybody think, with my track record, that I am going to pick the Vikings? No way. I hope, in the spirit of George Costanza, that I am dead wrong.
So, let me know what you think. It's going to be interesting.
I can't sum it up any better than that. Most NFL fans would be ecstatic to have their favorite team in the NFC Championship game. One victory from the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Viking fans are debating whether it would be worse to lose the NFC Championship game or lose a 5th Super Bowl. I know because I had this debate just yesterday with tony8489. I really don't know the answer to that question.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am happy the Vikes beat the Cowboys to get to this point. They have had a great year. NFC North Champs. A 12-4 record. Beat the Pack twice. Ended the Cowboys season. All cool. I am just wondering when the hammer will fall. You see, I can only really count the Vikings of the late 1970's to today as the team I have really followed. I was too young before that. I have only really lived and breathed 3 NFC Championship games and they have lost all 3. The Darrin Nelson "drop" of 1987, Gary Anderson "wide left" in 1999, and "41-doughnut" of 2000. Now, the Vikes have made it to a 4th and I am a bit paranoid.
Relevant E-mail (from Chris in Duluth, Minn.): "I've been wondering why, as a diehard Vikings fan, I'm still scared every single week that we are going to lose. And I finally have an answer. The Vikings are my brother's '93 Mitsubishi 3000GT. The regular season is like the test drive -- it ran smoothly, with only a few small kinks, and it looked damn pretty. The owner mentions a few things that might be a problem, but my brother didn't care -- this car seemed perfect. But every year, the playoffs are like the drive home, when the deal is done. We end up on the side of the road, the front right wheel rolling across the highway median into oncoming traffic, leaving us to realize one thing -- we've been duped. Duped by lots of flash, flash that blinds us from the gaping problems that really existed. Please tell me that this isn't going to happen this year. Please!" from Bill Simmons column, ESPN.
I love the Minnesota Twins because they have not let me down. When I die, I can say that I have experienced the Twins winning two World Series, God bless them. The Minnesota Vikings have provided many successful seasons to their fans, but there has been a letdown EVERY year. Every playoff season they have had has ended in a loss. Think about that. Every one.
The Minnesota Vikings owe me and every one of their fans a championship. The OWE it to us.
My good friend Jase, a die-hard Packer fan, said something to me once that made a lot of sense. He said that "all I ask is that the Packers win one Super Bowl in my lifetime, and I will be happy with them." Amen, Jase. And the Pack fulfilled his wish in 1997. The Minnesota Vikings OWE their fans a championship after all the bullshit that we have put up with over the decades. All I ask for is 1 championship, and they can have all the 4-12 seasons they want. And folks, if they cannot win it with Brett Favre at quarterback, it ain't gonna happen.
This is it.
With that said, here are my predictions for the NFL Championship week:
AFC:
COLTS over Jets: The Jets run comes to an end. Not that it matters.
NFC:
SAINTS over Vikings: Does anybody think, with my track record, that I am going to pick the Vikings? No way. I hope, in the spirit of George Costanza, that I am dead wrong.
So, let me know what you think. It's going to be interesting.
Vikings - don't let us down.
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