Archive for April, 2009

The advantage to writing more than one blog is that, when nothing’s going on with the Vikings, I can just link to my other stuff.  So, allow me to indulge in a little self-promotion, by inviting you to enjoy the (I hope) amusing anti-Michael Vick rant I put up today on Pacman’ Jonesin.  Amazingly, Vick thinks he can rehab his image post-prison by appearing on a reality show.  Cause nothing glosses over a man’s wanton dog-torturing like his being paid to say he’s sorry.  What a misguided pig this man is.

It astounds me how hard it is to get some people to give up their fantasies.  Take, for instance, Mike Mayock of NFL Network.  The draft guru and Vikings preseason TV analyst is quoted on Access Vikings talking about the draft and what the Vikes should look for – namely, a big-time playmaker who can help open up their offense.  He throws out the name Percy Harvin, then admits his off-season issues could make him too much of a risk.  Then Mayock throws out the real curveball:  the Vikings, he says, should draft Pat White and use him in the [...]

Here it is kiddies – the Vikings’ 2009 schedule: Sunday Sept 13, 12 pm CT @ Cleveland Browns (FOX) Sunday Sept 20, 12 pm CT @ Detroit Lions (FOX) Sunday Sept 27, 12 pm CT vs. San Francisco 49ers (FOX) Monday Oct 5, 7:30 pm CT vs. Green Bay Packers (ESPN) Sunday Oct 11, 12 pm CT @ St. Louis Rams (FOX) Sunday Oct 18, 12 pm CT vs. Baltimore Ravens (CBS) Sunday Oct 25, 12 pm CT @ Pittsburgh Steelers (FOX) Sunday Nov 1, 12 pm CT @ Green Bay Packers (FOX) BYE Sunday Nov 15, 12 pm CT [...]

The NFL schedule isn’t set to be released officially until 6 pm CT this evening (getcha popcorn ready!!!) but, thanks to some early leaks, we already know a few things about how the opponents will line up for the Vikings in 2009.  Via the Newark Star-Ledger:  The Vikings, for the second year in a row, will host the New York Giants the last week of the season.  This Star-Ledger report has not I repeat not been entirely confirmed, so it’s possible this could be totally erroneous.  And, via the Chicago Sun-Times, a report that the Vikes and Bears will square [...]

Sidney Rice is the latest NFL player to jump on the blogging bandwagon, through his site sidneyrice18.com.  Though he’s only been at it for a short time, Sidney has already rolled out at least one stunning revelation about himself:  like Michael Jackson in the early ’90s, Sidney sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber: One thing that helps me recover after a tough game or practice is a hyperbaric chamber. I have one in my house. I love it. I got it last year when I strained my quad. I was trying not to miss any practice time. I fell asleep in [...]

The schedule for the 2009 NFL season won’t be released until Tuesday, as part of some idiotic gala presentation on NFL Network, but already we know which teams will have the hardest roads this season and which ones the easiest.  According to NFL.com’s handy chart, the Miami Dolphins have the toughest schedule:  their opponents had a .594 winning percentage in 2008, and 13 of their games will be against a club that finished 8-8 or better.  And the easiest schedule?  That distinction goes to the Chicago Bears, whose opponents put together a .414 percentage last season.  Right ahead of the [...]

SI’s Peter King, a pre-eminent sports columnist as well as an obvious bacon cheeseburger aficionado, believes troubled former Giants wide-out Plaxico Burress will not be seen or heard of at all in the NFL in 2009: Plaxico Burress is going to jail (I think for one year) and he is not going to be around to play football this fall. Even if Burress goes to jail for less than a year, commissioner Roger Goodell almost certainly is going to add to the sanction with an NFL suspension because of the discharging of an unlicensed weapon. So do you want to [...]

Tony Pauline of SI.com (his name always makes me think of the song “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline” by X) is not only not very high on second-tier receiver prospects Percy Harvin, Kenny Britt and Hakeem Nicks, but actually thinks there’s a chance all three will drop out of the first round entirely.  Pauline refers specifically to the “personality issues” afflicting Mr. Harvin, a man the Vikings have reportedly taken a long hard look at, and could still have on their draft board despite reports that he failed a drug test at the combine.  Draft wonk Pauline even went so [...]

Vikings VP of player personnel Rick Spielman, in an appearance on KFAN, talked extensively about the upcoming draft, and specifically about Percy Harvin, a player many believe the Vikings should and will take with their #22 overall selection.  Spielman began by calling Harvin a “good football player,” but also pointed out his “durability issues” while playing at Florida.  And then he moved on to those other, more menacing issues facing Harvin – namely the stories circulating about his having failed a drug test. “There are some rumors going around now about [him] potentially being dirty at the combine, so we’re going [...]

Just encountered this video on YouTube.  It’s part 2 of a little interview Westwood One did with Jared Allen backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards (part 1 is boring name-dropping – it’s here if you must see it).  The section that’s of interest to Viking fans:  the Westwood One guy asks Jared about Jay Cutler going to the Bears. Jared relates a story about how, when he was overseas with the USO, someone texted him, erroneously of course, that Jay had actually gone to the Vikings.  Jared then texted Jay – a guy he’s apparently tight with from [...]