Twins Preview

Yes I realize we are already 3 games into the season, I was busy the last few days, perhaps you didn't realize it was WRESTLEMANIA WEEK. Seriously though, it was.

Twins Twins Twins. I love the Twins, let's get that straight first of all. I feel like I may make some comments that may make that appear untrue, but I assure you, I love the Twins.

Infield...... SKETCHY.

Alexi Casilla

Justin Morneau

Danny Valencia

Matt Tolbert

T-Nish

I like one player in our infield. That player is Danny Valencia. Alexi Casilla shouldn't be a starting shortstop, Tolbert I'm just not a huge fan of, and Morneau cannot stay healthy. I love Morneau when he is healthy, but it isn't helping out depth knowing that he will miss significant time. T-Nish is TBD. I personally am not a huge fan. More often than not players come over to the MLB from overseas and are not very good. Maybe he will make me look bad, I hope he does, but my guess is that he isn't starting at second or anywhere come August/September.

Catcher - Solid - Not much to say here. I think Mauer will be rock solid again this year.

Outfield - Like -

Delmon Young

Cuddy

Kubel

Span

Repko

I like our outfield. I think Delmon will have another great year. .300 25+ and 110+ You heard it here first. Cuddy should be fine if he can stay healthy, Kubel will slide, and Span will have a much better year than last years disaster. I loved Repko last year and I hope we get to see him more this year.

Defensively I'm not really sure how I feel. I feel like we are an average defensive team I guess. I think they are capable of playing above average but that doesn't mean they will.

Offensively I think they are above average and capable or being elite. If Span and T-Nish can get on base for the 3-6 hitters I really like our lineup. Not to mention you have Valencia hiding a little further down. The Twins are capable of scoring 4-5 runs a night, hopefully they start doing that.

Pitching - This would be the main problem with this team. There are questions EVERYWHERE in terms of pitching. Starters - questionably. Relievers - questionable. Closers - questionable. Somehow they need to figure it out. Have an Ace emerge, someone like Liriano. Someone who can bring the nasty. Probably not Baker because he just gave up a moonshot to A-rod. Relievers, well lets just say I'm ready for the roller coaster ride. Closers, I'm not a fan of either, but I'd prefer Capps.

In order to win I think they need the pitching to come together, some leaders to step up offensively, and Joe Mauer to show some emotions. He is the poster boy of this team and he needs to start acting like it. I'm sick of the hometown boy gig, lets get mad, hell, yell at someone. Just do something to show me you care about winning and aren't just content with 184 million dollars.

Overall I think the Twins will sneak out the Central. I think it will be by a game. Don't expect too much too early in the season though. If they can manage to play .500 baseball through April and May you should be happy. The schedule then gets easier and the Twins should start rolling.

I'm not making any postseason predictions. This team looks like it could build itself into a contender, but we'll see what they make of themselves.

If I had to guess, I'll say we lose to the Yankees in the first round. IALTO.

Superbowl Prediction

Well, Superbowl Sunday is fast approaching. This year, there will be no Purple and Gold players running around the stadium. Instead, the rival Packers of Green Bay will play the Pittsburgh Steelers. While I don't really care that much about who wins or loses, I'll post some quick thoughts on the game in general.

I've been saying since about week 5 that I thought Pittsburgh was the best team in the NFL. I maintained that thought the entire way through, even into the playoffs. I'm not going to go back on that now. I really think they are overall the best team. It is very hard to pick against the Packers right now as well. They have won 3 straight road playoff games, against some very good football teams. They went into Philadelphia, which was probably their toughest game, and scraped out a win, then they dominated the NFC leading Atlanta Falcons, and finished off their run with a solid win against their arch rival Chicago Bears last weekend. Pittsburgh doesn't have as impressive of a resume. They narrowly escaped Baltimore at home, then beat the Jets at home, but not before letting the Jets climb out of a 24 point deficit to make it very interesting.

The Superbowl will be played in Dallas, a site that I think benefits the Packers. Why you might ask? Simply put, the weather will be perfect. It this game somehow got played in a rain, snow, or cold weather situation, I think it would favor the Packers. And yes, I understand the Packers play at "the frozen tundra". Pittsburgh is a mean, fine tuned football team, that probably prefers to play in terrible weather than ideal conditions. If the game turns into pound the run, stop the run, the Steelers welcome it. The Packers have an exceptional offense, but it goes through Rodgers, and it is hard to pass in bad or cold weather. Look at what Green Bay did in the dome at Atlanta.....

So lets get to the actual pick. I'm taking the Steelers. I think it will be a very close game, most likely won on a field goal in the closing seconds. I'll say 31 to 28 Pittsburgh. Again, it is basically because of experience, and the perfect football machine that is the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are run exceptionally from the ground up. I think they have one of the best coaches in the league in Tomlin, and they have a lot of players who have been there before. They will be ready to roll, and they will come to play. If the Packers can overcome the shock factor of playing in a Superbowl right out the gate, which I think they will, they will keep it close. Rodgers is a hell of a quarterback, as much as I don't like him. He will get a ring someday, but I don't think this is his year.

It has been a while.......

So I have been computerless for roughly 6 weeks, which has been terrible for my posting. Although to be fair, nothing good has really happened in this state in that time frame.

The Vikings are officially dead. We did finally fire Childress, and it looks like it was a great move. The Vikings are 2-0 under Coach Leslie Frazier. This really isn't surprising at all. Some of us, thought we should have made this move before the season was lost, but Wilf didn't go that route. I for one hope Frazier sticks around, I'd like to see him get a chance at a full season with his own system. It is also nice to see AP in on 3rd down.

The Gophers just hired their new football coach. Jerry Kill. After being promised a big name hire like Tubby Smith, I must say I'm disappointed. I guess he can't do much worse. We'll see, but I'm not sold yet. He has a solid history, but this program is BAD. Can he work miracles? We'll see.

Gopher Hockey was impressing me this season, but now they just got swept on the road at Mankato. Heartbreak. They played well enough to get a point at the minimum, but no. Now the best team in the country rolls into town in UMD. I happen to be going to the game tomorrow night, which will be a blast. It's my first game this year, should be fun! UMD is always a great game to go to.

Twins haven't done too much. Today we traded away Hardy and Harris. Not really sure what that means yet. We got back two minor league pitchers. More on that to come.

Wolves are showing some promise, and K Love is making a case for being called a legitimate Superstar in this league.

It is also fantasy football playoff season! I successfully made the playoffs in all 4 of my fantasy leagues. Three of my teams are in shambles, suffering injuries down the stretch, but at least I have a prayer.

I'll try to make some posts more frequently here. My computer is being looked at, but I'll still have to go home to pick it up, which won't be for about two weeks. Keep checking back! Good Luck to all fantasy footballers, unless you are playing me.

My Plan AKA Reality

Did anyone else feel absolutely disgusted with the performance last Sunday? I don't mean you were upset with how they played, but I mean actually disgusted. Think about it. We had the chance to jump right back into this thing, against what everyone says is a bad bears team, a team ahead of you in your division. You were coming off a huge emotional high from one of the best comebacks in team history. Everyone thought we were back, and ready to make a stand.

That didn't happen.

I'm not going into statistics, as much as I want to, because they are too embarrassing. Third downs anyone? Dropped passes? Slipping on the field?

Thanks to our performance, we sit at 3-6, while we look up at two 6-3 teams, whom have each already defeated us once. This team has a pulse, but not much of one. They have to win their remaining 7 games, and then pray. If we did that, we would beat Chicago and Green Bay, essentially moving us a game closer to each. Those teams also play each other again, which would in turn move us a game closer to one of them. Why I am talking about this I have no idea. Let me get to the real points.

This team is dead. There will be a funeral at the dome on Sunday.

RIP 2010 Vikings

A Team that perished before reaching its true potential

I honestly believe Green Bay will come into Minnesota and defeat the Vikings, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a close game, but I'm taking them easily. I then think Childress will be fired, and Favre will retire. Why you ask? Think about the storyline. Green Bay ends Favre's career on the road AT MINNESOTA. Could it get any better for the Packers? I don't think so. Favre will have no interest in playing out a season that is already lost. There really isn't any point, he has all the records, and he is risking body parts.

The unfortunate news in all of this is that I think it could have been prevented had we made a coaching change last week. We come off an emotional win, the players are still expressing their dislike of the coach, you have two HUGE divisional games coming up, if you are going to make the change, make it then. The team needed some sort of unity, and now it is in shambles. When players are playing for themselves, it never works out. You need unity in football, and the Vikings lost that a long time ago.

What a wreck this season was. You have the same Superbowl caliber team from last year, and it all falls apart. Sure, we could have won most of the games we lost, but a lot of teams can say that. If we had simply won one of those games, it is an entirely different situation, but we couldn't find it in ourselves.

The defensive line doesn't exist. The offensive line isn't stable. The running game has been hit or miss. The receivers have been terrible with the exception of Percy. Our secondary.... well they have been our secondary. The team is in shambles. Lets move on.

If we have a next season, the Vikes will need to address the QB situation. I personally think there will not be a season next year, but we can hope. I'll get more into next seasons details when we are officially dead about 2:30 this Sunday.

Asking any NFL team to win 7 straight games is extremely difficult. Especially considering the crazy year that is this year in the NFL. For this team to do it? Impossible. I'm sorry Vikings fans, I live and die for the Vikes, but if I'm saying it's over, it's over.

Brett, thank you for the run you gave us, it was fun. I hope the Packers fans aren't dicks like usual and accept you into the ring of fame or wherever you'll go there. Stay out of trouble.

The Paul Allen Plan AKA Plan A

Well Vikings fans, we find ourselves in a little bit of a situation. We lost to the Chicago Bears last weekend, in fact, we got rolled by the Bears. We didn't perform in any aspect of the game. The offense was lackluster accept for the first 2 possessions. The defense didn't really show up at all, with the exception of a nice performance by Husain Abdullah, who had two interceptions! Special teams were terrible as well, yielding 140 some yards in returns to Deven Hester, arguably the best return man in NFL history. Let me set the record straight in saying it WAS NOT THE PUNTER! Chris Kluwe had another dominant day, pinning Hester deep and to the sidelines multiple times, but the special teams could not tackle him, he broke ankles, he juked, he jived, he was unstoppable, and we paid the price. On top of this, Ryan Longwell missed his first field goal of the year, and the Vikes just couldn't put it together to find the endzone. Result = 27 - 13 Bears.

NFC Standings

Green Bay = 6-3

Chicago = 6-3

Minnesota = 3-6

Detroit = 2-7

So....... now what?

Well, the backs are against the wall, there are no more options. We are looking at a veteran team, the same team we had last year. Yes, you heard me right, we are missing two starters from last year, and starting this week we might only be missing one starter from last year. Those being Sidney Rice and Cedric Griffin. They know what they are capable of, we were one play away last year, this team should have been in the Superbowl. So how can essentially the same team go from 12-4 to 3-6 in a matter of months??? That is the question everyone has been trying to answer.

Maybe this is what we need. There isn't anything else to think about, we can't look ahead, we can't look behind, we can only look at what is directly in front of us. This team can only focus on the game in front of them. If they are looking past that, we are headed to a 5 - 11 season.

Why not right? What a story it would be. Brett Favre, backs against the wall, team in turmoil, season already lost, one foot in the grave, no one giving you a shot. Why the hell not. For all practical purposes, no one gives this team a shot at the playoffs. Everyone is gone, there is no one left, no supporters, no believers. Can I blame you? No. I myself am one of these people. However, the players may still believe. They might decide, you know what? I'm sick of all this S$%T. Let's how everyone what we can really do, and make a run at this thing. Favre knows this is his last shot, why not rally the troops! Why would you not do everything in your power to get everyone jacked up for these last games. GIVE IT A ROLL BABY! Everyone has counted you out, but you know what, the last time I checked, this team still has a pulse. If the whole world gives up on you, you still have yourself to believe in. And that's something. It may be the only thing you have to go with, but it's better than nothing.

There is no reason this team should win another 3 games this year, they have played like garbage. However, as crazy as it sounds, if any team is going to do it, why not this years Vikings. They have experience, they have talent, but can they pull it together, can they play as one?

What a perfect setup this week is. The division leading, Green Bay Packers, head into town, fresh of a bye. Why would the Vikings not want this matchup. It is simple, Lose and the season is over, Win and things get a little more interesting. It's black and white. All or nothing. There won't be any hanging around, it's now or never. We lose, Favre and Childress are gone, we win, the beat goes on.

With everything this crazy insane team has faced, I will take the stand, I'll say they go on the roll. The NFL is so crazy this year, why the hell not. Lets roll 7 straight off, lets make the playoffs, lets make some damn noise. Everyone has given up on you, shut them up, make a stand. Play like you did in college, play like you did in pee wee league, play like you mean it. LETS GO BOYS YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Straight Gone Homie

It is times such as these that make it so difficult to be a sports fan, especially in this state. The Twins rolled over to the Yankees, something they do every year, then the Vikings, a team that even the national media thought had a solid shot at making another deep run, are on life support. That leaves us with the Wolves and Wild, and while both teams have looked decent early on, they don't exactly provide this state with any promise of postseason activity, much less success. So here we go again, lets look at the Vikes.

The Vikings lost this week 28-18 at New England. They out-gained the Patriots in total yards, they had less penalties, they had more first downs, and they basically dominated the time of possession. Typically these things result in wins, but not on the road with terrible coaching decisions against good football teams.

While the Vikings showed glimpses of pressure on Sunday, they were never able to get to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. They also were not able to stop Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who torched the Vikings for 112 yards, 62 of which came on the Patriots backbreaking drive that gave them a 10 point lead with 2 minutes to play. Thats correct, a running back that many of you probably haven't heard of, ran for 112 yards against the vaunted Vikings run defense. Over half of the yards came when the defense should have known they were going to run the ball. Missed tackles all over the place.

The Patriots converted three huge third downs on the last drive, something that is not acceptable for the football team we are claiming to be. The Vikings had all the momentum after we pulled within 3 points with nearly 8 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The defense needed to make one stop, to get our offense the ball, and let them win the game. The defense decided not to rally. In fact we let the Patriots run all over us for an 80 yard touchdown drive in 5:30 minutes. Nice. Way to step up.

If it isn't one thing, it's the other. The Vikings aren't playing as a team, they aren't meshing, and they aren't going to play any more than 16 games this season. It's embarrassing that a team with this much talent, is playing the way it is. In my opinion, a huge part of that, is coaching. Brad Childress has more talent than he knows what to do with. Offensively he can't think, at all. We should be scoring more points than we are, we should be running screens, sweeps, slants, deep balls, anything, for the love of god. It might be time to bring someone else in, and I mean now, maybe it will provide a spark.

Randy Moss, nice to wave at you as you passed by. I don't blame you one bit. You had 13 receptions in 4 games, that is embarrassing. We didn't throw the ball to you, at all. Don't give me BS statements that safeties were always rolled over to him and he was double and triple covered. Do you not think he has faced that his entire career????? You game-plan for that, and honestly, you still throw the ball to him, he can make it happen. Why bring him in if you aren't going to use him? A decoy? Please, teams that have 2 wins in 7 games don't need decoys, they need players who make plays, and they had that with Moss, and didn't use it.

Adrian, you are ridiculous. I wish we used you more, at times it seems like you can't be stopped. Typically that's when we throw passes to Bernard Berrian or bring in Toby Gerhart to pound out a yard. Nice calls Childress, you idiot. I've never really liked Childress, but I've been accepting enough to not demand another coach. I'm getting to the breaking point.

For those of you wondering what we do now, we hope. There isn't much more you can do. It's a long shot, but if we figure it out soon, and by that I mean this week, we could still win our division. We are 2 games back of the Packers in the loss column and still have a game against them this year. We need to win the next 5 games in my opinion. No questions asked. Win 5 in a row, against teams we can beat, and then see where we are at. I firmly believe if we lose another game in the next 5, we are done. RIP 2010 Vikings if they don't start it up now. The backs are against the wall, lets see how they react.

Arizona comes to town this weekend, thats a team we should beat by at least 14 points, game in hand the whole second half. I'm sure we will scheme to their level, and end biting our nails until the very end. I'll take the Vikings 20 to 17 this week, and I don't even feel good about it.

Vikings Banter

Where do you even begin? I have been delaying this post for two weeks thinking I could get an identity of the Minnesota Vikings. Here I am two weeks later and I still feel the same way I did then. First off, lets go over some thoughts from last nights game:

1. How does Childress not challenge the Quarless Touchdown??? Doesn't every NFL team have someone that watches every play to see if there is something that needs to be reviewed? Especially touchdowns and close plays? There is no excuse for what happened on that play.
2. The entire Visanthe Shiancoe play was unbelievable. I saw the replay and said, "there is no way they can reverse the TOUCHDOWN CALL ON THE FIELD." Then he comes out and says that, "the ground helped him catch the ball..." it was at this point that I lost it. If the ground helped him catch the ball that should in turn mean HE CAUGHT THE BALL! I have never, ever, in my short lifetime of watching football, heard the phrase that the ground helped a player catch the ball. It makes absolutely no sense. The ground can cause a fumble, it can cause a player to drop the ball, but helping him catch it?!?! Absolutely terrible officiating. On top of it all, what a terrible pass by Brett Favre. He is wide open running down the middle of the field, hit a receiver in stride, MY GOD.
3. The Vikings killed themselves with penalties, especially at the end of the game. AP gets a huge 25 yard pass and gets the Vikings down to the 15 ish yardline with under a minute left and we go false start followed by facemask to move us back to 1st and 30. Unlike Childress I'm not bitching about the facemask call, you would have to have been blind to not call it, but in that situation you have to try and push him by Favre, you CANNOT take the penalty.
4. I didn't think the officials cost us the game, unlike the rest of the state of MN. I saw no problems with the non-interference calls at the end of the game. It is tough to make that call in that situation. I don't believe it was offensive interference on Moss on his huge gain, but the live look made it look like it was. It looked like interference, so they are going to call it, not much you can do, that didn't lose us the game. Play smart at the end of the game! The way we were moving the ball, I think we would have gotten in had we not set ourselves back to 1st and 30.
5. I'm not worried about the Packers, they are injured and honestly didn't play that good last night. We lost 7 points on the Shiancoe call, we lost 7 more on the non-challenge, and Favre gift wrapped 14 points of two interceptions in the 3rd quarter. We play them again, and I think we will be ready, not to mention upset.
6. Do we have defensive line?

So now we sit here at 2-4 with the New England Patriots staring us in the face. Good Luck. I don't think that is a winnable game for our current team. Brady is arguably the best Quarterback in the league, especially with time. Our line can't get pressure, and our D-backs can't cover receivers all day long, I think that will equal a very very very long day for the Vikes.

The worst part is that we have basically beat ourselves in every single game. This is not a 2-4 team, this should be at worst a 4-2 team and honestly it should probably be better than that. The nice thing is that the NFC is a battle right now and no one is out of it. We are only one game back in the loss column to our division leaders, and we play them each later this year. The season is by no means over, but a few things need to change.

1. The D-Line needs to show up, the defense has played fine this year, but if the D-Line actually got some pressure, the defense could be elite.
2. AP needs to be used more in the offense. He is the best player in the NFL and we use him like an everyday running back. Throw him the ball, screen him the ball, sweep him the ball, get him the ball!
3. Stop turning the ball over - it is hard to win when you are turning it over time and time again.
4. Play smart - ESPECIALLY IN CRUCIAL POINTS OF THE GAME - stop killing ourselves with penalties...... PLEASE - YOU CAN ACTUALLY CONTROL THIS ONE!
5. It is time for a change of scenery at the QB position. Yeah, you read that correctly, in my mind the time has come. Favre has a broken ankle, and probably a lot more in his body that is broken. He is holding onto the ball too long, and he can't run for first downs. This is huge because with our system, there are many times when a scrambler can take 5-10 yards no problem. It makes the defense respect the run more. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out, but we are 2-4, and it is time to go! Give Jackson a shot, he is fresh, maybe he will surprise us. Brett isn't exactly winning us games with his arm right now anyway. One could argue he is losing us games.

So that's where I'm at right now. Again, I think this team is destined for 2-5, an then hopefully we can go on a huge 8-1 run to end the year, I know it sounds crazy, but it's our only shot! This team has the talent to beat anyone, and they are starting to slowly bring it together, but it has to happen, and it has to happen soon.