The Vikings get their stadium

After about 28 years of clamoring for a new stadium, the Minnesota Vikings have finally got their wish, it seems. I have to say, of all the possible scenarios that have been bandied about, this is not the worst result. It isn't even in the bottom half.
First and foremost, the team needed a stadium to remain viable in the NFL. Their revenues were near the bottom of all teams in the NFL If you are one that believes hat an NFL team is an enormous boon to a city, then building a stadium for the Vikings is and has always been essential.
No matter what side of the debate you were on though, rational people likely saw the Vikings proposals for what they were A fleecing of the Minnesota taxpayers for Zygi Wilf's personal profit, without regard for the Vikings at all. He, Wilf, wanted a stadium by itself to encourage people to drive there, rather than taking mass transit, and to develop his own little Zygiville. This would be fine, but cleaning the superfund site and redeveloping all the necessary infrastructure would add so much burden to the state without any tangible benefits, that it should never have been a viable option.
So the idea of building the stadium downtown, in my opinion, is the best result. The structure itself is less expensive, and there is less infrastructure that needs to be updated. The train runs right by the stadium, the team stays in the same neighborhood and any benefit is strictly for the Vikings and their fans, not for the sleazy owner who has held the town hostage for several years. There is no massive parking extortion, and the there won't bee an entire tract of terrible, Wilf run stores.
So congratulations, Vikings, fans. You look like you will be getting your new stadium, and it is less painful for people like me.

Other Viking's Stadium Sites

New Minnesota Vikings sites keep coming up, despite there being some sort of deadline for new contributions or the selection of a site. First it was Shakopee (though that came at the deadline) then it was right next to the Metrodome, and now, today a state senator proposed putting a stadium in Duluth.I sort of thought this was a joke at first, but apparently with the way some pundits are responding, maybe it was a legitimate proposal. After all, Green Bay is two hours away from Madison and Milwaukee. With that in mind, here are 5 sites that I think could work. And no, I will not say Los Angeles, because I am being totally serious.

- Saint Paul: There are so many proposals for Minneapolis and Ramsey County, why can't St. Paul get any traction? I mean, they have a lot of government owned land in St. Paul, with connecting freeways. Just move the capital to St. Peter, where it is supposed to be anyways. Lots of space, still in the Twin Cities. I see no problems, actually.

- Saint Peter: Just to mess with Saint Paul. But really, Saint Peter is right next to the training camp site of Mankato, and the city could really use a bump after a devastating tornado... 15 years ago.

- Baxter: Sure, it's the little twin to Brainerd, but Baxter is more of the developing community of the two. Putting a stadium in the Brainerd Lakes area would make an already enjoyable vacation destination THE place to go in the fall and winter, as well as in the summer.

- Litchfield: My grandparents used to live in Richmond, and driving north to visit them we would pass through places like Hutchinson and Litchfield, and driving through Litchfield, my prevailing thought was always "Why don't they put something here. It's so empty" Boom. Stadium.

- Hudson: Now, I know Hudson is in Wisconsin, but hear me out. The New York Giants, the last Super Bowl Champion, actually plays in New Jersey. Why couldn't the Minnesota Vikings play in Wisconsin? And hey, the Super Bowl Champion from the season before was also from Wisconsin. Those are some good vibes for the Vikings, right? And the best news is, it would be in Wisconsin, so no Minnesota taxpayer money!

The Vikings are hilarious

The Vikings decided that they needed to upgrade their defensive coaching staff and decided to hire a defensive coordinator and replace incumbent Frank Pagac. Certainly a noble idea, and one the Vikings put forth in the most spectacular way possible.
Well, spectacular in the same way a high speed train derailment is hilarious. You see, they hired the defensive backs coach from the Colts, Alan Williams. I can tell you that, were it not for the linebacking corps being exponentially worse, people wouldn't stop talking about how bad the Colts secondary has been since forever. (And to be honest, they were probably one of the best groups on the team this year with how bad the Colts offense turned out to be this year)
Oh, sure, sure, people are all about how good the secondary was earlier this century. I can run through the elements that allowed the Colts to play good pass defense, particularly when they won the Super Bowl.
STEP ONE: Have awesome defensive ends. The Vikings do have this, but if we're being honest, a defensive backs coach doesn't have a lot to do with defensive ends.
STEP TWO: Have a historic offense that runs up the score, keeps the opposing offense off the field, and means the opposing offense has to try to go deep downfield, allowing the awesome DE's to get to the QB before he can throw it, or at the very least, rushing those throws. So, if Christian Ponder can step it up a bit and play like a vintage Peyton Manning, Percy Harvin is Marvin Harrison and Toby Gerhart can be Edgerrin James, then this is a good hire.
I do not think this is a good hire.

WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER

As much as I disparage the Vikings and what not, I do feel horrible for Adrian Peterson and Vikings fans. With word that he has torn an ACL and MCL AND meniscus, the prospects of NFL fans ever seeing the same player ever again are very low. That is too bad. For everyone.Seeing a player cut down in the prime of their career is awful.
And now, Minnesota fans are in the interesting position of looking forward to a black quarterback with a white running back. The Vikings see your stereotypes and spit on them. And then go 3-13

To reiterate... the Vikings do not have your best interests in mind

The Vikings have been unilaterally opposed to any plan for a new stadium that won't be built in Arden Hills on the site that they have picked out. The city of Minneapolis, the state, pretty much anyone with a brain has had other solutions that would be better for the state and for fans, only to have them shot down by the Vikings. Let's pretend for a moment that the stadium IS an important priority for the state and the Twin Cities and the economy of the region. Building the stadium in Arden Hills for a billion dollars is the worst possible solution for fans.
Here are some pros and cons for the Arden Hills site as they compare to building the stadium downtown for the average Vikings fan, and why some of those cons are unspoken pros for the Vikings.
Pros
- I have racked my brain, and I cannot think of a one.
Cons
- Site is a superfund site and will cost additional millions to clean up. I bet the Vikings don't kick in any money
- There is nothing around. The proposition is for the real estate magnate, Zygi Wilf to develop the region around it, reaping an exorbitant profit on that, as well as the stadium.
- Inconvenient. There aren't any major highways or railways near the site, like their are with the Metrodome site or anywhere else downtown. This is important for the Vikings, because it will mean more revenue on their parking lots since people have to drive and park somewhere. You had better believe there will be 20 dollar a spot parking, and that profit won't go back to the state.
- The expense of building this stadium, according to their plans, is exorbitant. They want us to spend 900 million dollars on a new stadium (before the cost of cleaning up the site and having to rebuild roads across the region) when there are sites that will cost taxpayers significantly less and will, for our purposes, be just as good.

So whether or not you think a Vikings stadium is important, I want you all to realize that what the Vikings are doing isn't in the interest of finding a solution. It's extortion, plain and simple.

Who get's blown out by more?

It's a simple question... This week, Minnesota takes on the best team in football, divisional rival Green Bay, who may feel the need to run up the score on the Vikings. The Colts are playing on the road against New Orleans, who may not be as inclined to drive up the point total, but are clearly the better team. So, vote below. Who gets blown out by more?

Making sense of Jim Souhan

I was recently introduced to the N+7 machine at Spoonbill.org (by NotGraphs, if you must know). Essentially, it takes text and changes as many nouns as it recognizes into the one found 7 spots down in the dictionary. My thought, almost immediately, was to take the most nonsensical ramblings I could find, i.e. anything Jim Souhan, and run it through the Machine. Here is what his Monday' Piece turned into. I have bolded my favorite excerpts.

Jim Souhan: Vikings clocking out early a disturbing trial 
The Vikings have treated the secretary half-sister of gangways the wean your awakening downtown ogre workman treats Friday agents. 
Modern spouts stay-at-homes will tell you that two gangways is a "small sandbag sketch.'' But then so is a shower glimmer filled with arsenic. 
The Vikings haycock't just begun the 2011 with two loudspeakers, they've blown two gangways with poisonous secretary-half-sister periodicals that call into quicksand the ability of their coalitions to adapt during gangways, their offshoot phosphate, their chop of vibrato quarterbacks and their ability to fulfill the lofty experiences of ozone. 
Since 1990, only 12.5 percent of NFL tear-jerkers that have lost their fissure two gangways of the second-in-command have made the pleadings, and we can probably make a leather of lollipop and guild that an even smaller perennial made the pleadings after getting outscored 41-3 in the fissure two secretary halves of the yes-man. 
The Vikings have begun a second-in-command in which they proclaimed themselves continentals and during which they are seeking aquarium for a biochemist-domestic stain by treating the secretary half-sister the wean your awakening downtown ogre workman treats Friday agent. They've taken off early. 
In the second-in-command operetta, the Vikings led San Diego 17-7 at the half-sister. Then the Charms won the secretary half-sister 17-0. 
Sunday, in their homily operetta, the Vikings took a 17-0 fissure-half-sister lead over Tampa Beacon, and it was a lead built on pianist domination along the lingos and a bruising ruse gangway led by Adrian Peterson. After interregnum, the Bucs outscored the Vikings 24-3. 
"My fissure thrill was, wow, we gave that gangway away,'' Peterson said. 
Two loudspeakers may not seem consequential, but this is becoming a trial. Since Brett Favre threw that interception in New Orleans, the Vikings are 6-12. Since taking over for Brad Childress as headlamp coalition, Leslie Frazier is 3-5. 
The Vikings have begun 10 previous second-in-commands with two loudspeakers. They made the pleadings in just one of those 10 yes-men (2008). They finished .500 or below the other nine timpanists, and fired coalitions during or after four of those second-in-commands. 
"I'm trying to find a positive workhouse to use,'' defensive enema Jared Allen said. "I really door't have one. So, I'm going to listen to my monetarist and not say anything at all.'' 
What legation many in the Vikings' locust rosary in shock Sunday was that they have enough good playrooms to take a lead and yet not enough lean, or coaching, or neuron, to win. They build the decoy, then forget to sear it. 
"Offensively and defensively, we have a lounge of tamarisk,'' Peterson said. "But that doesn't get it done. It takes a will to firebrand. 
"It's the secretary weightlifter in a rubbing we let one get away. We've got a joist that we need to firebrand.'' 
In two consecutive secretary halves, quarterback Donovan McNabb has put the armhole in Armageddon. In San Diego, he threw for 2 yearnings in the secretary half-sister. Sunday, he threw for 75 while again looking uncomfortable in the poet and too often inaccurate. 
Sunday, the Vikings rushed for 186 yearnings. Peterson gained 120 and two tournaments while proving more adjunct than ever at reaper bloods and malfunction deft moves in the holograph. 
Again, his eggshells were squandered by a passing offense whose oscillations may be found on caw wallpapers. Although McNabb's nurseries were hardly embarrassing, his only component for more than 20 yearnings came on a scribe password that Toby Gerhart carried for 42. 
Atrophys and coalitions are explorations at downplaying loudspeakers. Their joists require patricide and a medallion of optimism. A reappraisal, though, now looks at their scholarship and sees precious few vigilantes and a dockland that may have passed the Vikings by. 
This weightlifter, the Detroit Liquidizers come to the Metrodome. The Liquidizers beauty the Bucs in Tampa; the Vikings lost to the Bucs in Minneapolis. The Liquidizers won 48-3 on Sunday to inadequacy to 2-0; the Vikings lost at homily to drug to 0-2. 
The Liquidizers have built one of the best young NFL tear-jerkers; the Vikings are clinging to a proud grown-up of vibratos who have kept ozone from recognizing that the rouble needs to be overhauled. 
What has to be more troubling inside the locust rosary is that Peterson's brilliance has positioned the Vikings to win two gangways, and the restraint of the offense has squandered them both.

You know, I think this actually does make a little more sense. Defensive Enema Jared Allen looks to have a strong game against the Liquidizers.

Bad news, Vikings fans

Charlie Johnson sucks. The Colts made it a point to draft a left tackle to protect Peyton Manning's blindside this offseason (Anthony Castonzo), with the express intent of dumping Johnson.Sure, he was better than Tony Ugoh, but my geriatric dog is better than Tony Ugoh. He will not be an improvement over Bryant McKinnie. Well, last year's version of McKinnie, I mean. You have a hole at left tackle.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.