Category Archives: vikings suck

The Season is Over Today, and I Am Sad

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Today is a sad day for me, not because the Saints won the super bowl, but because the last game of the year is done. Now it’s a few months until baseball and the draft, and I am stuck with a barren wasteland of sports that I follow, at least until things start ramping up for the next go around. I love baseball in the beginning, and I follow it usually all the way through, but my first love has always been football, and I will miss it dearly.

As for the game, it was entertaining, and it was cool to see the underdog win. Although the CBS broadcast reached its usual low, and the halftime show was mediocre, the game itself lived up to the billing. Two 4th and goal stops, a ridiculous pick six, and a wonderful day for a city ravaged by one of the worst domestic natural disasters in recent memory, all contributed to a fun night.

First, I believe that Tracy Porter needs his own day in New Orleans. He saved the Vikings game for them, and won the Super Bowl, and its time to give him city wide recognition. The guy is the New Orleans season in a nutshell, and though he isnt the most well known guy, he did everything he was supposed to do, and then some.

Second, regardless of the way Manning played last night, he still deserves to be called one of the best ever, and that’s if he never wins another super bowl again. The guy is the best in the game right now, even though he was bested by Brees and his band of merry men. Unlike Derek Jeter who is widely regarded as a guy who just “wins every time” despite his team doing most of the work, Manning is a guy who actually drives his team to a higher level. His production on offense is the Colts’ entire winning scheme, and without him, they wouldn’t even be a playoff team. Football may be different in terms of a player’s contribution, but the analogy still stands. Manning TRULY the guy who wins – except for last night.

Lastly, Brees should be heralded for his skills as well, because he is definitely the best free agent pickup in NFL history. Back in 2006, when he was coming off a shoulder injury, to think that he could turn around a franchise like the Saints with these kind of results is ludicrous. Brees is right up there with Manning in many ways, and last night solidified a lot of those thoughts.

Quick Hits From The Evening
1. Whoever sewed the patches on the Colts jersey had it right, the Saints and Refs had problems. The whole night, I kept thinking the refs looked like they had gotten shanked because the patch looked like blood on their shirt.
2. Abe Vigoda is awesome, and Snickers had the best commercial of the night because of his appearance.
3. I get that Youtube stars were a big thing, but to have two commercials use the dramatic gopher in relative back to back spots is embarassing.
4. Lesson from Tim Tebow: Dont abort your baby because then you might not have anyone to tackle you in a Super Bowl ad. Oh, and if your kid is gay, he needs to go to conversion therapy. Yes, the site he promoted thinks that’s a good idea. Nice.
5. Who cares if you cause huge amounts of grief to your family and friends, as long as you have doritos, its cool to fake your own death.
6. Barney Stinson deserves to be in the hall of game. Thats all I have to say about that. (Watch HIMYM, its a great fucking show)
7. Reggie Bush proved AGAIN that he isnt worth his option, as Pierre Thomas is clearly the better back. 15 mil goes right down the drain when you cant play for shit.

I guess this is the final goodbye for 2009, one of the most entertaining seasons in a long, long time. Now its time to switch gears and figure out who is going to be drafted by who come march, and start looking forward to another Twins central division title. Yes, that just happened.

The Vikings Are Officially The Red Sox Of Football

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It was a great season, but again the Vikings are home watching the Super Bowl after a missed opportunity late in the fourth quarter. In 1998 it was Gary Anderson that missed a chip shot to seal the deal, this year it was Brett Favre trying to make a play on a down that should have been a run. Much like the Boston Red Sox’s epic drought of World Series titles, the Vikings have epic fail written squarely across their foreheads.

Listen, dont get me wrong, the Vikings did not deserve to win this game with all the mistakes that were made during the game. Fumbles were as plenty as bare breasts on bourbon street during Mardi Gras, and a penalty on the last drive for 12 men knocked them out of field goal range. How could you, in all seriousness, figure out how to blow a shot like that with a penalty as stupid as 12 men in the huddle. I could understand if this was 2nd grade fucking pop warner football, but not in the NFL. For that, someone needs to lose their job.
Secondly, the fumbles were ridiculous. The Berrian fumble in the red zone during an amazing drive was completely unacceptable, and the Peterson fumble on the goal line at the end of the first half should be on blooper reals for the next fucking century. To think that a team with so much to play for would come in and blow it in that fashion is heart-wrenching.
Then, on the Favre interception, I have no idea why that was not a run play. This has continually been an issue all season, and Childress is responsible. This includes problems during the Bears loss in Chicago, and a few calls from this game as well. Longwell is as sure footed of a kicker as any in the league, and there was no reason to call a pass. When you factor in that the Vikings still had one time out, and Favre still decided to throw across the field, rather than throwing to Berrian or keeping it, the reason they lost becomes more apparent.
Im disappointed, Im angry, I dont even know what to say anymore. It feels like 1998 all over again, although the salt in the wound is absent with the Saints being favored and at home. Regardless, the Vikings now need to move forward as a franchise, with or without Favre, and figure out a way to exercise the demons.
The season wasnt a complete loss, but it sure feels like it now. I can only imagine what is going on in that locker room, but it doesnt really matter now. All that matters to me is that it happens some time in my life. From here on out, after this loss, its looking more and more grim every day.

The Vikings Continue To Disappoint

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The Vikings had one goal going into Monday night, and that was to beat a struggling Bears team that they had destroyed once already that season. Of course, as every Vikings fan expected, they fucked it up, and now the two seed is out of their hands. Thankfully, they are going to be playing a bruised and beaten Giants team in the dome next week, a place where they have yet to lose this season, simultaneously watching the scoreboard to see if Dallas can beat Philadelphia. In a perfect world for us, the Eagles lose to the Cowboys, the Giants go down a la this past weekend, and Wild Card Weekend becomes R and R weekend.

Personally, I think that after the dismal first half, the Vikings did not deserve to win Monday’s game. The Bears played them like a fiddle from the beginning, running up and down the field and preventing anything from materializing on defense. Peterson was no where to be seen, Favre was floundering, and the scoreboard had a nice goose egg for the Vikings at the half. In true Favrian fashion, Minnesota storms back, scores 17 unanswered points and tied it up late in the fourth. At 23-23 with less than five minutes to go, Danieal Manning returns the ensuing kickoff into Vikings territory, and Cutler engineers a score two plays later. This is where it gets interesting, because in the next couple of drives, the Vikings should have ended up “game over” on a few separate occasions instead of forcing OT.

First, after the kickoff, a holding penalty and a sack puts them at 2nd and 20 from deep in their own end. Sure enough, they get a first down on a long pass play and short run. Second, Favre overthrows Percy Harvin while on their way to a touchdown, and Zachary Bowman drops a tipped pass that was in his hands. Instead of a game ending interception with less than a minute on the clock, the Vikings score on a sweet touch pass to Sidney Rice in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. Third, on the first drive of overtime, the Bears’ MVP of the game, Devin Aromashodu, sets them up with a field goal from inside the 30, but Robbie Gould could not seal the deal. Luckily for the Bears, the fourth time is a charm, and after a crippling Adrian Peterson fumble, Aromashodu catches the game winner with Favre watching helplessly from the sidelines.

Regardless of Peterson’s fumble, or Antoine Winfield’s poor decision to underestimate the player of the game, the loss was eerily reminiscent of the Saints overtime loss to 2-12 Tampa Bay. Both losses came to bad teams that should have been killed, and both losses could have very large playoff implications. The Vikings no longer control their own destiny to lock up the two seed in the NFC, and it has become probable that 40 year old Brett Favre will have two extra games to play in the 2009 season. Instead of sitting out for week 17 and resting up for the playoffs, he will have to play full speed ahead for the game against a team that has nothing to play for. It could also add in a new hurdle for the week after, where the Vikings now have to play instead of having the bye. For an aging body that has been beaten mercilessly over the past month, it could spell disaster for a team that once looked infallible.

As a lifelong Vikings fan, I have trained my mind to expect the worst in every situation. However, this time, having Favre is definitely better than not having him. I guarantee you that the 2007 and the 2008 Vikings never would have even made it to overtime last night, or have been in a position where the game actually mattered as much as it did. That is where Favre makes his magic happen, and I am eager to see what he has up his sleeve come next week and beyond. Although I doubt the Vikings have a Super Bowl run in them without linebacker EJ Henderson, I do think they have enough gas to make it to the second or third round of the playoffs. I think the Eagles have a great shot at beating the Cowboys to win the number two seed, and at this point its almost better that they do. That way the Vikings don’t have the time to think about what could have been, and they wont go soft watching others bang it out on Wild Card Weekend.

As we saw this week, anything can happen any given Sunday in the NFL, and maybe that “anything” spells a few more victories for the Vikings. Maybe that anything also means that Devin Aromashodu gets a flat tire on his way to the stadium, and gets stuck on the side of the road in 10 degree weather for week 17 as “payback” for his ridiculous game.

Who knows?

It could happen, right?