...May as Well Watch Football

The Vikings won in dramatic fashion against the Saints last night. Here's a couple of things I noticed.

1. I already sort of knew this, but Tony Kornheiser is an excitable jackass. He uses hyperbole to the point where everything he says loses meaning, and still manages to sound like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's almost impossibly adverse to criticism, and manages to sniff it out where none exists. Ron Jaworski made a decent point about owners not paying attention to talk radio, and Mr. Kornheiser decided to make it into an issue for a fair while afterwards. At least he didn't threaten to wring his neck and hang him over the back of a shower rod like a duck (what in the hell does that even mean?). Just another just another example of how the spastic cockflickery of sports talk radio doesn't translate so well into play-by-play/color commentary in an actual football game.

2. Even a blind squirrel is right twice a day, and Kornheiser was absolutely right about the Vikings towards the end of the first half. The Saints were doing their best to give the game to us, and our offensive playcalling was just incredibly passive. It turned out okay in the end, but at some point, this unspoken "play for a field goal", hope for a touchdown" mentality is going to be the death of us.

3. Antoine Winfield had an unbelievable game. He got a lucky snare of the blocked field goal, then had a great play with the improvised sack/forced fumble/fumble recovery. They showed a stat later in the game that mentioned that he's only been thrown at 16 times, and the opposing receiver has only caught 5 passes. That both shows two things. Number one is that Winfield is an elite level cornerback that is vastly underrated because of relatively low interception numbers. Number two is that the remainder of our defensive backs are exceedingly easy to complete passes against.

4. Reggie Bush is a monster and an amazing athlete, but I'm not convinced he'll ever be a dominating running back. If he gets open field in front of him, he's a beast to take down (though the Vikes did make it easier for him than they should have on his 2 punt returns), but for whatever reason, he can't get around the corner on running routes that well.

5. Adrian Peterson will probably break 300 yards in a game someday, but for every superstar amazing game he has, he'll have one like he did last night. When a defense has his number, it doesn't seem as if any number of touches gets him anywhere. In his defense, though, the O-Line didn't really open many holes up for him. Part of that is because the Saints D-Line played their best game of the season, and part of that seemed to be our "for God's sake don't lose this ball game" passive mentality that I described earlier.

6. I'll admit it, Gus Frerotte may not be the QB that the Vikings need, but he's closer to being that quarterback than Tavaris Jackson is. He has the ability to throw the ball deep, and doesn't make very many mistakes. This doesn't help us win Super Bowls, and sort of delays whatever future the Vikings may have for the position, but at this point, he's the best we can put on the field.

7. I really miss Twins baseball (speaking of which, how awesome is it that the Rays beat the Sox? The answer - really awesome.)

All in all, that was a tense, enjoyable football game that turned out in our favor.

Super Bowl, Here We Come

I should have known. Things seemed too good to be true. The owner of the Minnesota Vikings opened the purse-strings and pumped some money into the team, grabbing a couple of high reward defensive players and a pretty decent wide receiver. The Vikings were the chic pick to win the division, and a lot of pundits went so far as to say that the Vikings had the pick of a dark horse Super Bowl entry. Honestly, after years of watching folks pick teams like the 49's and Cardinals in the same way - only to watch those teams spiral into oblivion - we probably should have known better.

Today, after over a year of trying to Tarvaris Jackson to an unwilling fanbase, Coach Childress announced that Gus Frerotte has been named as the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.

I've spent a fair bit of time trying to make a case for Tarvaris. He's quick, he's got a cannon for an arm, and - I thought - that he could adjust to life in the NFL and overcome his initial accuracy struggles. I'll admit it, it's just not going to happen. He still misses receivers left and right. He still has trouble looking off defenders. He still looks uncomfortable on everything except quick slants and rollouts, and opposing defenses are starting to catch on to that fact. On Sunday, when it was third and long in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, I'm sure everyone in the western hemisphere knew which play was coming (i.e. the only one the coaching staff felt confident Tarvaris could actually execute.)

That doesn't mean that the coaching staff gets off scot-free. Last week, it seemed like every single pass was either a tiny screen or a long 50-yard bomb. What happened to the hard, aggressive play-calling that we brought out during the second half of the Green Bay game in week one? Tarvaris was hitting people on hard slants and medium range post routes, and it opened up the whole field. Against Indianapolis, we were playing as if we were terrified of giving the ball back to them (ironically, they got the ball back more often because of this very fact). I still think that Childress is one of the worst coaches in football, and this game only make me more adamant in that belief. It's my hope that once the Vikings get no better with Frerotte under center, that heads will start to roll.

For now, fare thee well, Tarvaris Jackson. I believed in you, even if no one else did.

Side note #1: During Sunday's game, one of the commentaters was talking about Adrian Peterson's amazing game against the Chargers last year, where he rushed for an NFL-record 296 yards, he guaranteed that Peterson would someday rush for 300 in a game. That's right, he guaranteed that AD will accomplish something that no one in the history of the NFL has ever done. Hyperbole much?

Side note #2: Ryan T. Scott's got to feel a little ridiculous.

While You're Into Some Reading

Dayn Perry (of Fox Sports) makes an interesting point on his personal blog: why hasn't the outrage been leveled at football players who have done PEDs (performance enhancing drugs)?

Barry Bonds has been vilified to no end for his (still alleged) steroid use, but when the quarterback of one of the most revered football dynasties of all time acknowledges that he was 'roiding during the very stretch that made him legendary... what exactly happens? Near as I can tell, it's been explained away, covered up, and largely ignored. If you had slipped into a coma for a week, I'm not sure you'd ever know once you woke up. Shawne Merriman has been using, and he gets to keep his job.

It's all very bizzare to me.


Note: I've been a fan of Dayn's writing from Fox Sports (even if he did rain on Twins Fans' parade a bit on the whole Justin Morneau MVP thing, which I still don't necessarily agree with him about). He seems to be one of the few sportswriters in any major capacity who understands that wins, RBIs, and batting average aren't the dead on indicators of baseball awesome that everyone seems to think they are. His blog is a lot less stat-heavy, and delves more into the ways Sports and Politics merge (thus the name, I would assume...). It's very recommended reading.

Fire Joe Buck

Congrats, Cards

Congratulations to the Alexandria Cardinals girl's hockey team. They won the state girl's hockey championship for the first time in Alexandria's history. It was a good game to listen to on the radio. The last 5 minutes were exciting, especially when Breck scored to make it 2-1 with 3 minutes left.

Also, good on local announcers who actually get excited when these type of things happen. Makes Joe Buck look pretty stupid after his near flatline voice during "The Play" during the Super Bowl.

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Speaking Of... Joe Buck Should Really Be Fired

Check out the YouTube. you've seen the play 1,000 times before, but this time close your eyes and try to tell me that this isn't the type of playcalling that would normally occur during the 3rd quarter. It was one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, and Joe Buck - whether in an effort to remain cool and collected, or out of sheer flippancy - treated it as if it were nothing more than a decent play.

But... if Randy Moss fakes mooning the America-beloved Packers.... well, that'll get him going.

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While We're On the Subject of YouTube Football Plays...

Somebody remade the single worst play of the last 5 years of Vikings football in 'Tecmo Super Bowl'. Pretty perfectly, actually. Anyone who calls themselves a Vikings fan remembers this one. 4th and 22, and only enough time for one play. Josh McCown (of all people) throws rolls right and throws a touchdown to Nate Poole. There are plenty of YouTubes of this play, oddly enough, but this is my (least) favorite. Bonus for reminding me, once again, that a good anouncer sounds like he actually cares about what's going on.

Seriously... it's bad enough that I have to listen to Joe Buck during the baseball postseason, why should he have to bring his vanilla idiocy to the NFL, too??

Well, That Was Fun...

After going 10-1 through the regular season and generally destroying anyone I played all season, Carson Palmer and Adrian Peterson teamed up for a gargantuan total of 5 points, and once again, I exit in the first round of the playoffs(or, rather... second, as I had a bye).

Meh, how 'bout them Vikes?

296

I realize that I've possibly overgushed about 'AD', but breaking the all-time NFL single-game rushing yards record does merit at least a passing mention. Yesterday was a great game all around. Aside from the best game a running back has ever had, the Defense played great, and Bollinger played very nicely in relief of an (AGAIN) injured Tavaris Jackson. It's too bad the quarterback situation isn't better, because Sidney Rice is electrifying, and with the domination of our running game, we could be a playoff calibur team.

Without Peterson, this would be a 3-13 team, it's truely shocking how good he is for how long he's been in the NFL. Having played 8 games, he's got two 200+ yard games. Hopefully we can assemble a decent team around him (and an even mildly imposing air attack) next year.

Bliss, Madness

Changes

I've been married 3 weeks, I've been at my new job for 5 days... Things are hectic right now. Leaving Unicel was as difficult as I figured it would be; probably a little more difficult, actually. I worked with good people, and it's always hard to leave something like that behind and jump off into the unknown for such base requirements as pay, work shift, and job security.

Married life, on the other hand, has been about par for the course thus far, the only obvious difference being Linds doesn't call her parents' house 'home'. We had been going out for 5 years, and been pretty serious for at least 4, so there haven't been a large number of surprises. The only big difference is that overpriced piece of metal on my left hand... I swear i took that thing off no fewer than 30 times a day the first week.

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Let's See How This Looks

The normal sized bolded text just isn't enough to make each paragraph heading stand out. I guess I need to experiment a little.

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A Silver Lining

Vikings fans have known for a couple weeks now that Adrian Peterson is the real deal (I suspect that Oklahoma fans have known for longer than that). Sunday confirmed those truths to the rest of the world. No Viking has ever rushed for that many yards (and no Bears' defense has been gouged for so many). The best part? Rather than looking like a fleeting phenominal game, it looked like AD was simply doing what he does; running hard for positive yardage and breaking a tackle or two. Rather than looking like an aberation, it seems to imply that he could break huge gains at will.

Even so, Sunday almost turned into another sickening example of Coach Childress' ineptitude at getting, then keeping a lead. The 4th Quarter turned mean in a hurry, and some questionable clock management forced Ryan Longwell to kick a career-long field goal to win. Tarvaris looked alright, it's very encouraging that he threw no interceptions, and he made very few mistakes throughout the game.

Don't get me wrong, this still feels like a 6-10 team at best, but there's just enough silver lining here to where the clouds don't seem quite so bad.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Hoodie Weather

I know I go over this every year, but I need to say it again...

I love fall.

I love walking outside, and realizing it's just a little too cold to be wearing a T-Shirt. The time's soon coming when the first snow will be coming (my official favorite day is whichever day the first snow falls). It would actually be a real nice birthday present if the first (albeit temporary) snowfall would happen on the 18th.

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...Speaking of Birthday Presents...

Apparently the band Fono is giving me one this year. I've enjoyed Fono's music for quite a while. I was a fan of their debut, and their EP was absolutely great. From what I've heard of the new CD, the jury is still out, but I have hope. Besides, it's free.... right?

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Turbulent Times

It seems a bit strange to bury this beneath Fono and my enjoyment of the September through March months, but whatever.

Change is coming, obviously in the form of my upcoming marriage, but also in the form of me quitting at Unicel and taking a new job at the local hospital. The job will be doing pretty similar things to what I've been doing now (computer work), only now I'll be working days and few (if any) weekends. The idea of leaving my co-workers behind sucks, but I guess that time would be coming anyway (see: It's the End of the World as We Know It). The new job is a good chance to expand on everything I've been doing thus far, and (hopefully) is the same type of nice step forward that Unicel was.

A lot of change, here's hoping the stress level stays down.

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The AP Era Begins...

The Vikings looked good on Sunday. Last year, the defense were a crutch for the team to keep them going even when the offense was pathetic (which was almost always). That only carries you so far, and towards the end of last year, the Vikings were pretty much unwatchable. That looks like it could change this year. Granted, it was the Falcons - who could honestly go winless this year - that we were beating around, but we thrashed them. Tarvaris even looked okay. He scares me, but at the very least, he looked like he belongs in the NFL. He had a couple of real nice, in stride passes, and even if his touchdown pass wasn't really all that much his doing, he still got one...

...which of course brings us to the real story of last Sunday. Adrian Peterson is the real deal. It's only week 1 - which is too early to really say anything - but he looked like a seasoned pro. I'd watch him burst up the middle for what looked like a 1 yard gain, only to find he had picked up 6 yards.

It may just be fun to watch the Vikings this year....