RIP Sean Taylor
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Since this is a crazy busy week for me (work-wise) I wasn't planning on making any posts until the weekend. Yesterday it came as a shock to hear that Sean Taylor had been shot in the middle of the night while at home with his fiancée and daughter. Throughout the day as I read updates I kept hoping the next one wouldn't start "Redskins safety Sean Taylor pronounced..." By the time I went to bed last the latest reports said that he was conscious and able to move, so I thought that he was through the worst of it and was going to make it. It was a shock to read this morning those words that I had nervously half-expected to read all day yesterday.

Sean Taylor was instantly one of my favorite players after being drafted in 2004. His combination of size, speed and aggression made him very unique. He also had to be one of the most feared defenders in the league because no one could hit like Meast. For the second time in less then a year the NFL has had a talented young player murdered... Goodbye Sean, I can say, only as a fan of the game your were so good at, that you will be missed.


Posted bySL__72 at 10:41 AM 0 comments  

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Baseball offseason/Week 12.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

First, wow did England blow it. After Israel beat Russia last weekend, all England had to do to qualify for the Euro 2008 was tie Croatia today, in England. After Croatia burst out to an early 2-0 lead, England managed to fight back, eventually tying the game at 2 in the 65th minute. At that point England had all the momentum and with Croatia having nothing to play for, a tie or win seemed almost certain. Then, in the 78th minute, Croatian Striker Mladen Petric scored from 25 yards and Croatia was able to hang on for the victory. I love how frank the coverage of soccer is in Europe. The following is what the BBC's recap of the match says about Petric's game-winning goal:

“It was what Croatia deserved for a display full of enterprise and heart - and what England deserved for one of their most inept displays in living memory.”


Anyways, back to American sports:

The rumor is that there are currently 5 clubs pursuing Torii Hunter. The White Sox, Rangers, Royals, Dodgers and Nationals. Supposedly all of those teams have offered him 5-year contracts and the Rangers have even offered him a 6-year deal. If that is true, I think all the speculation mid-season speculation that he would be in Texas next year will become true. Another interesting note is that Hunter would save around $750,000 per year in taxes by signing with the Rangers as Texas doesn't have an income tax...

ESPN’s Jason Stark wrote today that there are starting to be rumblings about the Twins shopping Santana. If it is true that the Yankees would be willing to discuss a trade that includes Philip Hughes, I think the Twins really need to listen.

Jimmy Rollins won the NL MVP this week. Lots of baseball nerds complain. Really, it isn’t that bad of a choice. He wouldn’t be first on my list, but the differences really come down to fielding and baserunning, which at this point still aren’t measured too well. I’ve reconsidered a bit since voting for the IBAs a month ago, so here is how I see it:
1. Pujols
2. Wright
3. Holliday
4. Utley
5. Rollins

Note: I’m one of those jerks who won’t vote for pitchers for MVP.

Speaking of which, here are the (now 3 week old) results of the Internet Baseball Awards.


Here is how the Vikings can beat the Giants:

Get some long runs.
The Giants have a good defensive front but have trouble when RBs get into their defensive backfield. They are 28th in the league at preventing runs of 10+ yards, allowing them on almost a quarter of runs. Not surprisingly, the Vikings are the best team in the league at getting long runs, going for 10+ yards an amazing 34% of the time (Jacksonville is #2 at 25%).

Shut down the Giants run game.
The Giants have run the ball well this year but will be without their top two rushers, Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward, this week. That means their #3 back Reuben Droughns will have to shoulder the load against what is still the best run defense in the NFL. Two weeks ago the guy who started the season as the Giants’ #4 RB went for over a hundred yards against the Vikings. Don’t expect that to happen again this week though.

Stop the Giants’ pass rush.
This one isn’t going to be easy. The Giants rate out as an average pass defense to this point in the season, but that isn’t because their secondary is good, or even average. It is because they probably have the best pass rush of any 4-3 team in the NFL. The Vikings, for a number of reasons, have taken a lot of sacks this year. If the Vikings can find a way to neutralize the Giants’ pass rush, TJ should be able to be somewhat effective against their weak secondary. Look for Shiancoe to possibly have a big day as the Giants have struggled to cover TEs all year.

Get pressure on Eli.
Two weeks ago the Vikings were able to shut down the Chargers passing attack by double covering Gates and blitzing extensively, making Rivers uncomfortable in the pocket. Look for them to employ a similar strategy against the Giants. Make Eli uncomfortable, take away Shockey and hope that you can prevent the hobbled Burress and old Toomer from beating you over the top.

Outplay the Giants on special teams.
They don’t need 2 TDs like last time around, but they could definitely use a big game. Mewelde Moore could provide a spark returning punts and hopefully either Moore, Allison or Ferguson will finally replace TWill on the kick return team.

This is a good matchup for the Vikings (it also might be the toughest game they have left), especially with Jacobs and Ward out. Still, the talent difference will probably be a little too much. Look for the Giants front 4 to reek havoc on Vikings OL and Eli to have a decent day. I think Vikings are better then the 7.5-8 point dogs Vegas has them at, but they will probably still lose.

Posted bySL__72 at 4:09 PM 2 comments  

Bonds Indicted
Friday, November 16, 2007

As everyone knows by now, yesterday Barry Bonds, tGOAT, was indicted by the so called "BALCO Grand Jury." (#3) Obviously the media is having a field day. Talks of asterisks, banishment and 30 year sentences lead every sports page in the country. What does this indictment really mean? Here is how I see it:

1. The chances of Bonds playing next year (or ever again) just dropped significantly. This thing will almost certainly last through the beginning of the next season.

I think this is kind of sad, because whatever else he may have been, he was certainly the best hitter in baseball history and I would have liked to have a chance to see him play, live, at least once... even if it was at age 43.

2. Barry might spend spend some time in jail. This case is almost certainly going to trial, unless the charges are dropped. I haven't double checked these numbers, but I read that about 1/3 of perjury cases that go to trial end with a conviction and of those convictions, about 3/4 of the time the sentence includes jail time. If sentenced, it is likely that Bonds will spend less then 6 months in jail. The 30 year number news agencies are throwing out is absolutely ridiculous.

3. Bonds and his lawyers finally get to fight back. For the last 4 years while this investigation has been going on they have had to sit quietly by and watch. While the media and court of public opinion call Bonds a liar and a cheater, they have had to sit quietly by and watch. Now, any evidence they have that his 2003 testimony was true, or that he didn't take steroids, is now going to come out.

Here is what Bonds' lawyers have had to say so far:

"All you need to know about the governments case is that it leaked an official indictment to every media outlet in the nation and withheld it from Barry and his lawyer and from everyone else who could read it and defend him."

"Now that their biased allegations must finally be presented in open court, they won't be able to hide from their unethical misconduct any longer."

"You won't read about those facts in this indictment. But now, the public is going to get the whole truth, not just selectively leaked fabrications from anonymous sources."

"Will the media and government will spend as much time repairing Barry's reputation as it has spent destroying him AFTER he is proven innocent by a fair and impartial jury?"

4. Greg Anderson should be (and probably is) really really angry. He has been in jail for over a year because the prosecutors in this case testified that his testimony was necessary for their case. Now, without it, without him, they have indicted Bonds. At least he finally gets to go home.

Things this indictment doesn't mean:

Bonds took steroids.
Bonds lied about taking steroids.
Bonds IS going to jail.
etc.

The fact that it took 3 grand juries and 4 years to come up with an indictment says more then the fact that they did.

For some good perspective, from some much less sensationalist news sources, check out Joe Sheehan's article on Baseball Prospectus:

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6935

And Will Leitch's take:

http://deadspin.com/sports/bonds-indicted/it-was-never-about-barry-and-of-course-it-always-was-323603.php

And finally, some good points from a forum poster who is probably the biggest and most knowledgeable Bonds defender (outside of his lawyers) on the planet:


Keep in mind, before yesterday:

1. The prosecution believed Barry lied under oath.
2. Allegations were in the public.
3. Greg was in prison.
4. Bonds was prevented by law from defending himself.

And today:

1. The prosecution believes Barry lied under oath.
2. Allegations are in the public.
3. Greg is free.
4. Barry finally gets a chance to defend himself.

"It's the US vs Bonds, and it's only the top of the 1st. Bonds hasn't batted yet....not to mention that he gets last bat. And the constitution says the feds have to pitch to him."




I'm not saying Bonds didn't take steroids. I'm not saying he didn't lie. I'm also not going to get in to defending the countless, mostly baseless, accusations and mountains of, mostly false, "evidence" amassed against Bonds because I've seen how much of a waste of time that can be (but thanks for the good work RedBean). I'm just saying wait until this trial gets going and some actual facts start coming out before you make any judgment. The only facts we have right now:

Barry Bonds has hit more home runs then any player in MLB history.
Barry Bonds hit more home runs in one season then any player in MLB history.
Barry Bonds has been indicted for perjury.

And I think this is a fact, but I'll list it just as an opinion:
Barry Bonds is the best baseball player in the game's history.

Posted bySL__72 at 1:33 PM 0 comments  

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Week 11 Preview
Thursday, November 15, 2007

Culpepper vs. the Vikings.
Antoine is back.
Chester should have a big day.
The Vikings defense should look better then last week.
Playoff odds at <10%. (Hey, they still like our chances better then the 4-5 Bears)
WCCO had to buy 1000 tickets again to avoid the game being blacked out. That must kind of suck for them. Kare11 reported that showing the game means about $250,000 in advertising revenue for a station and buying up 1000 tickets has to be at least $70,000...

Has any team ever won the super bowl and had the #1 overall pick the next season? I think the 49ers now qualify as the worst team in the NFL... If Miami can get hot, the Patriots might pull it off. If they go 19-0 + 1st overall pick in the draft = not fair. They probably won't get the first pick, but top 5 seems almost certain and top 3 is pretty likely. This week, the 49ers are 3 point dogs at home to a team that was winless up until last week.

On Sunday I went to First Ave. to see Brother Ali, Rakim and Ghostface Killah. Since the order actually went Ali, Ghostface, Rakim and I had to get up early on Monday, we didn't stay for Rakim :( Ali was awesome and Ghostface was fun too.

Last night I went to see Band of Horses at First Ave. The opening acts were The Drones and Tyler Ramsey. I thought Tyler Ramsey was actually pretty good. He just stood by himself on stage playing his guitar and occasionally singing. He is also basically the perfect opening act for Band of Horses because he sounds good, is chill and isn't so overpowering that you can't chat while listing to him. You can listen to some of his music on his MySpace page.

The Drones weren't very good imo. Their name pretty much describes their music.

I really enjoyed Band of Horses but it probably wasn't their best show ever. Considering they play a more laid back brand of indie rock, I thought they still had good stage presence. The problems with the show mostly stemmed from a slew of technical problems. Specifically, the lead singer, Ben Bridwell, seemed to be having a lot of trouble with his moniters. At one point he actually asked someone off stage to turn his monitors off (he accidentally said it while standing too close to the mic). I can't imagine it is very easy to sing when you can't hear yourself... He also apologized a number of times about how much trouble they were having. Honestly, it wasn't a very big deal. Even if it sounded like shit in his monitor, the show still sounded pretty good from the audience.

Anyway, it was still a lot of fun and I'd definitely see them again.

Here is a video if you want to check them out:



Posted bySL__72 at 11:59 AM 2 comments  

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Childress on his way out?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

At this point it isn't much more then an unsubstantiated rumor, but the only Vikings blog I read reported today that Wilf could buy out Childress' contract as early as this week. You can read about it here:

http://vikesgeek.blogspot.com/

Some other football news this morning is that there is a good chance that Dwight Freeney's season is over. Read more here. If this ends up being the case, it widens the Pats' already historically large gap in talent over every other team in the league...

UPDATE: He has now been officially placed on the IR. Story here.

Yesterday the Twins started the offseason out by making a very... interesting move, trading for Craig Monroe. Monroe is a mediocre to poor fielding corner outfielder with a career .300 OBP. He will also be 31 years old by the time next season starts. What makes this trade even more curious is that the Twins could have signed him for a lot less then the ~$5 million he will make after arbitration if they had simply waited until the Cubs non-tendered him next month, making him a free agent. Essentially, by making this move, they are (conditionally) giving up some minor league player for the chance to exclusively negotiate a contract with Monroe. It seems this trade the chance for a small upside and not too much downside, as long as the Twins are willing to non-tender him themselves if they can't get a much smaller deal done.

This trade does make me wonder, if this is the type of player the Twins think they need, why didn't they trade for Wily Mo Pena back in August? They are about equal in the field, Pena is 5 years younger, cheaper, already a better hitter, much more likely to improve at the plate, not coming off the worst season of his career, and was also acquired (by the Nationals) in a "player to be named later" type of trade.

This is going to be a big offseason for the Twins and this isn't exactly how I envisioned it beginning...

Posted bySL__72 at 9:52 AM 0 comments  

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Week 10 Review
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

This quote from FO's weekly "Audibles at the Line" pretty much sums up the game:

"Minnesota’s offense didn’t convert a third down in this game — and proved again that if your passing attack is a joke, all you can do when you’re down by a couple of scores is hope that your starters don’t get hurt. Unfortunately, even that didn’t go too well"

Obviously the scariest moment of the day was watching AP writhing in pain after taking a shot to the knee. It bothers me that a lot of people are going to point to his injury history and running style and say that it should have been expected. What needs to realized is that playing running back in the NFL is just a terribly dangerous job. Because of that, they are ALL injury prone. Running backs who have long, relatively healthy careers are as much lucky as anything else. Peterson's running style, penchant for hitting people instead of going out of bounds and his injury history all had nothing to do with him getting hurt. Like most serious injuries RBs incur, this was an unfortunate, unavoidable event. The only way it could have been avoided would have been to not put the ball in his hands... and since it was 27-0 at that point, a case could be made for that... but not a serious one.

Childress says that he has a partially torn LCL and will miss at least one week. It would have been fun to see him go up against what has become a terrible Oakland run defense, but even with him out I'd expect the Vikings to run for 150-200 yards next week. As for the rest of the season, I'd definitely prefer for them to err strongly on the side of caution. I've already heard speculation that Childress could rush Peterson back into the lineup in an attempt to save himself. If I am the owner of the team and I get even an inkling that my coach is putting my prized rookie in danger for selfish reasons, he is definitely gone. That said, if I were actually the owner of the team he'd be gone anyway.

It does suck that we now won't get to see Purple Jesus attacking the rookie rushing record... and run away with rookie of the year... But I'd definitely prefer to have him 100% healthy going into next year then have him do both those things and not be.

Other notes:
KGB was too fast for McKinnie a number of times. Any time the Vikings face a team with a pure speed rusher (which KGB isn't) they are going to need to give him a bump pretty much every down... or somehow teach McKinnie to move his feet a lot quicker.

Troy Williamson might be the worst kick returner I've ever seen. Allison looks pretty good and if they need another option, it should be Mewelde Moore or Robert Ferguson.

WTF @ throwing a 1 yard pass on 4th and 10 and then a 3 yard pass on 4th and 7???

This game showed why Mike McCarthy is currently the most popular coach in the NFL and Childress is the least. The Packers' offensive playcalling was as creative as I have seen in a long time and their defensive gameplan was exactly what it needed to be.

On offense they ran screens, delays, tons of different formations and lots of misdirection, but most of all, they avoided Williams, Williams and Henderson... This was as creative an offensive gameplan as I have seen for a while and it worked all day as the Vikings defense failed to find a way to adjust. I also thought it looked like the Vikings were really missing Antoine Winfield as he usually plays a big role in shutting down the run game on his side of the field.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings' playcalling looked completely uninspired. The Packers defense was in attack mode all day and the Vikings just ran the same inside runs and stretch plays they have run all year. You'd think they could have found some success throwing the ball downfield, but Bollinger looked more confused the Tarvaris has all year. I don't think he attempted to throw to a WR or TE until just before half and he didn't complete pass to one of them until near the end of the third quarter.

After a great game against San Diego two weeks ago everyone was excited about the prospect of AP breaking all kinds of records and the Vikings looked poised to make an unlikely run at a playoff spot. One week later all that is gone. Ticket sales are going to continue to dwindle this year and unless there are some drastic changes made in the offseason, things could get ugly for this franchise next year.

Posted bySL__72 at 10:10 AM 0 comments  

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Week 10 Preview
Saturday, November 10, 2007

When the Vikings played the Packers in week 4, they had yet to establish their identity as a dominant running team. In that game, Kelly Holcomb threw the ball 39 times and Taylor/Peterson combined for 20 rushes. Holcomb averaged a not terrible but not good 6.6 yards per attempt while the Vikings averaged around 7 yards per attempt running the ball. On the season, the Vikings are averaging 6.1 yards per pass attempt and 5.8 per rushing attempt. They have rushed for 30 more yards/game then the second place steelers and .8y/a more then the Dolphins, who are second in that category and 1.2y/a more then the next teams.

In the games since playing the Packers, the Vikings are 2-2 and have rushed for 311, 131, 105 and 378 yards in those games. In those same games, they passed for, 133, 65, 151, 150. If you are the Packers coaching staff, this week you are probably spending a lot of time on plays where 8 or even 9 men are in the box. You are gameplanning for the Vikings offense the way the Cowboys and Eagles did. You are going to completely sell out to stop the run and force the Vikings to pass to win.

What that means, is that the Vikings are probably going to have to have some success passing the ball to have a chance. It looks like Brooks Bollinger is going to be the starting QB, which, from what I've seen so far this year, is probably a good thing (well, "good" in this case is a very relative term). Also aiding the chances of a competant Vikings passing game is the fact that rookie Aaron Rouse will be making his first NFL start, filling in for the injured Nick Collins at FS. What I'd hope to see the Vikings do is come out and attack the Packers secondary early with 3 WR and Shiancoe. The Packers 1st and 2nd CBs are competent in coverage, but after that they have trouble.

In order to do this, the Vikings offensive line is going to have to have a good day in pass protection against a very good Packers front 4. Kampman is following up his breakout 2006 season with an equally impressive 2007, posting 9 sacks through the first 8 games. KGB hasn't been any slouch either, with 6.5 sacks already and Corey Williams has 4 sacks as a DT.

Of coarse, on the other side of the ball the passing attack is again going to be the story. The Packers’ running game has been terrible this year and appears to be getting worse as the season goes on. That isn’t to say that it matters that much how good they are at running the ball… since no one can run on the Vikings anyway.

Last week they were able to completely throw Rivers off of his game by blitzing the shit out of him, doubling Gates and leaving the corners in man on the WRs. One thing that helped this work is that Cedric Griffin actually looked really good. If they try to do that again this week Favre is probably going to throw for 500 yards. What they really need to do is find a way to get pressure without blitzing multiple players all the time. The Packers offensive line, especially Daryn Colledge, have been struggling a little bit lately. All year the Vikings front line has been sub-par at rushing the QB and they are really going to have to come up with a big performance this week. With Ray Edwards possibly out, the rest of the Vikings rushers, Udeze, Robison, James and KWIll will all need to play well.

Vegas has the Packers as 6 point favorites but DVOA has these teams being within half a point of each other on a neutral field, so the line should be a lot closer then that, even after considering the home field advantage.

Rotohog roster this week:
Brees
Roethlisberger
AP
Addai
Evans
Wayne
Holt
Gonzo
Bironas
Titans

Posted bySL__72 at 10:43 AM 0 comments  

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Baseball offseason notes
Thursday, November 8, 2007

During my daily skimming of various MLB rumor sites I keep seeing Carlos Silva's name come up. It seems like he is on pretty much every team's wish list. Its starting to make me think he really could ink something like a 4/$40mil type of deal... WAY more then the 3/$21 the Twins offered, and a year ago, who would have imagined they would offer him something that big?

Another interesting note from today (published in the Star Tribune) is that the Twins are looking to make a trade to bring in a top-tier hitting prospect. Some of the names that were mentioned were Delmon Young, BJ Upton and Chase Headley (switch hitting 3b who tore up AA this year) any of whom would likely have a large, positive impact on the Twins' offense (Well, Headley might not be MLB ready). The key player on the Twins side of these rumors appears to be Matt Garza.

Here is the original article from the Star Tribune.

Posted bySL__72 at 5:45 PM 0 comments  

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Purple Jesus
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

I think I finally found the origin of this nickname:

Kissing Suzy Kolber

I'd post a video of his performance this week, but the NFL is cracking down on highlight reels being posted on Youtube...

For some good analysis of the game, check out this article over at FO.

Here is what I have to add:

Kleinsasser is awesome.
Herrera is a good run blocker. He also appears to be an angry, mean type of player, which is exactly what an NFL guard should be.
Shiancoe is surprisingly good at blocking.
The Vikings WRs continue to impress me in run blocking. I also now am hopeful that one of them will turn into a good receiver too!
Ryan Cook seems to be quickly improving.
I have come up with a term to describe Bryant McKinnie's play. Well, not really, I'm just reapplying a term used (usually incorrectly) to describe RBs, "boom or bust." Sometimes he looks looks like an idiot as opposing ends sprint around him or quickly cut inside him to blow up a play, but when he can get on his guy, he usually completely dominates him.
Bollinger looked good again. He definitely isn't the answer to the Vikings QB problems but he might be the best option at this point (which isn't saying a lot).
Mewelde Moore!!!! I gave my TV a standing ovation when he lined up to return the first punt of the game and sure enough, later in the game he took one 30+ yards. Why the Vikings have never found a way to get this guy a few touches a game is beyond me... it seems like good things always happen when they do.
EJ Henderson is a beast.
Koy Detmer... seriously??

I just noticed Tarvaris Jackson is leading Vince Young in DPAR (defensive points above replacement), even when you combine rushing and passing, about -5 to -9! And no, that isn't meant to be a compliment for TJ, just a general statement about how a little luck and a good defense can change the public's perception of a QB.

After the Vikings dominating performance against a playoff caliber team (an AFC playoff caliber team at that) their DVOA ranking moved from 16th to 8th! Although I'm sure its happened, I can't remember another case of a team making that big a jump.

Part of the reason they jumped up so many spots is that the middle teams this year are all rated usually close together. IE, there are a couple great teams, a few terrible ones and then a ton of average ones. It is nice to see that kind of disparity in a professional sports league. It also makes what the Patriots and Colts are doing that much more impressive. You know what really isn't fair?

This year the Patriots traded the #28 overall pick for the 49ers 4th round pick in the 2007 draft and 1st rounder in 2008. The next day they dealt that 4th round pick to the Raiders for Randy Moss. Now the 49ers are on pace to "earn" a top-5 pick in the 2008 draft. So, 28th overall for Randy Moss and ~#5 overall next year... sick.


After last weeks loss to the Eagles I pretty much wrote the season off as over... but now there is a glimmer of hope again.

The Vikings total DVOA today is 13.7%. Here is how the rest of their schedule looks:

@ Packers 16.1%
vs. Raiders -35.1%
@ Giants 6.3%
vs. Lions -7%
@ 49ers -50.4%
vs. Bears -22.3%
vs. Redskins 0.6%
@ Broncos -14.1%

With that schedule, they should probably finish out 5-3. The only game where they are really a dog is this week in Green Bay, so if they can go in there and steal one, they actually might have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.

Posted bySL__72 at 12:03 PM 0 comments  

Week 9 Preview
Saturday, November 3, 2007

I think the Vikings will cover.

NE vs. Ind.

This week NE plays the second best team in the NFL, the undefeated Super Bowl champions... on the road... and they are 6 point favorites. These two teams are so good that FO's projection system, only half way through the season, has the odds that one of the two of them will win the Super Bowl at about 55%.

The two best players in the league, the two best offense in the league, two of the best defenses in the league, this game has everything.

I think the overlooked factor in this game is Indy's running game. They have been, by far, the most successful team in the NFL at running the ball so far this year.

NE wins but Indy covers.


Last night was Sunset Rubdown. It was awesome. Spencer Krug is really good and being able to watch him perform from a few feet away almost seemed like a privilege. Since 1 and 1/2 they of their opening bands weren't there, they, almost apologetically, played an extra long set, featuring almost all of Random Spirit Lover and most of Shut Up I Am Dreaming. I think the highlight of the night was Stadiums and Shrines II, but everything sounded great.

One of the two people I attended the concert with had a little too much to drink and was swaying a little before SR even took the stage. That prompted my other companion, who may have also been intoxicated, to suggest "we should probably take off after this beer," forgetting that the main show had yet to even start. Luckily I talked them into staying.

Posted bySL__72 at 10:59 AM 0 comments  

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Week 8 Review
Friday, November 2, 2007

The Vikings didn't do a good job of stopping McNabb and the Eagles did do a good job of containing the Jesus. Does it seem to anyone else that every in-game strategic decision Childress makes is wrong? He is definitely the worst coach in the NFL at using challenges. I'm officially stating my advocacy for Josh McDaniels to be the Vikings head coach next year. I've mentioned him in the past (specifically when we were hiring Childress) but I just wanted it written somewhere :)

Last night I went to The Hold Steady concert at the State Theatre. Art Brut opened for them and put on a surprising entertaining show. The Hold Steady put on a great show playing mostly music from their newest CD, Boys and Girls in America but also mixing in some of their older stuff as well as a few brand new songs. Craig Finn has crazy energy and both he and the rest of the band sounded awesome live. For anyone who doesn't know who they are:



Tonight, hopefully, I am going to see Sunset Rubdown who are playing at the Triple Rock.



If so, there might be a quick review of that show included in the week 9 preview I'm posting tomorrow... for the Colts vs. Pats game which is a far more interesting matchup then the Vikings vs. the Chargers...

Posted bySL__72 at 10:11 AM 0 comments  

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