The 2001 championship game (or 2000 if you’re going by the season instead of the actual date it was played). 41-Donut, as Randy Moss affectionately called it, was the loss to the Giants.

I believe that a big part of the Minnesota culture is shared misery. Winter. Road construction. Vikings in the Super Bowl.

Might as well let your kids be fully immersed in their heritage.

I actively hate the NFL. But, good God, Brett Favre with the Vikings? What could possibly go wrong? This is like Herschel Walker coming to town, throwing a shoe while running all over the Packers in his first game and everyone saying, “Just imagine when he learns the playbook!” The Vikings are going to win the Super Bowl, just as sure as they did when they stole Walker from those dupes down South. I know exactly where this season is headed and I’m going to be watching.

Super Bowl, Home Boy

Heh. (Honestly, I will be watching.)

The only people who will share in this “collective misery” will be the ones who think Favre is a guarantee to get to the NFC championship and then, if it doesn’t happen (if the Cardinals can make it to the Super Bowl so can this Vikes team), use it as another piece in the Grand Vikings Narrative. “We get him, and he’s not good anymore.” People who waited for his Escalade or buy a bunch or merchandise are conveniently forgetting his playoff record since losing the ‘98 Super Bowl (3-6) and his almost even-steven TD/INT numbers since Mike Holmgren left. I’m planning to post about Favre after the game tonight (hopefully my gratuitous plug of my new blog isn’t as bad as the FireDavidKahn guy), but my general take is that this is Brad Childress’ $25 million insurance policy to stay above .500 the next 2 seasons and keep his job.

absolutely love the impending drama? The Favre-Vikings season is lining up just like a high school party where you are just waiting to see someone’s ex girlfriend get into a spat with her ex best friend who cheated with her ex man (if that all made sense, if not…Springer…Springer). This has been the biggest MN sports offseason that I can remember. Favre to the Vikings. New coach and GM for both Wild and Wolves. Massive Wolves trades, Gaborik leaves…Havlat signs…I don’t know how much more I can take. Every time I surf the web, I expect some more ground breaking news.

u missin out homie, nuttin come close

FAVRE MAYN!! WWE GON BE TOOO THOOWEDD

Come join us SnP.

I’m of the belief that sports aren’t really interesting until you understand their nuances.

- Baseball is boring if you don’t understand the sub-plot in each at-bat. A guy is a fastball hitter, and the pitcher has been struggling with his breaking stuff, but it’s a 3-2 count with the bases loaded. What does he do?
- Basketball is boring if you don’t understand matchups and substitution patterns. Corey Brewer’s shot isn’t falling (as usual), but Kobe Bryant is going off and you need someone to make him work. You’re down 10. Go for points with Gomes or D with Brew?

I truly feel this is why soccer hasn’t taken off in the US. A vast majority just don’t see the battles and tactics within the game that take place.

If you haven’t been following the NFL, my guess is that you just need to reach that level of understanding. 3rd and five. Why aren’t we in press coverage? Should we blitz a safety off the edge or play back? Are we in field goal range? Football, more than any other sport is all about “strategery” (IMO). Once you’re there…you’re hooked.

Will watch more than my share this fall with the Favre drama, a Peterson smash, and a Harvin slant. The game becomes more enjoyable if I look at it as a live game of Risk.

is it’s too hard to be an expert in football. Darn near impossible. Each team has 53 players, 22 starters plus special teams, players’ careers are much shorter, and there’s so much moving around. In basketball, I can give you an opinionated description of pretty much every player in the league. In football, I’m struggling to remember the players on my own team. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter that much. Individual stars have less of an impact, and there’s really only one position where you need a talented player to be successful.

Football is the nation’s top sport for good reason, however. It’s the only sport that combines highly meaningful scoring (i.e. it’s a big deal any time anyone scores) with the possibility that it could happen at any time, while having being exciting to watch on a play by play basis. What’s more, every game is relevant. No other sport can say all that.

Both will absolutely break your heart. Combine the two and what do you get?

I’ll say I know the rudiments of NFL, but not growing up with it I don’t know the game in the way so many of you all do.

But even here I know Brett Favre. And the annual “will I, won’t I” shenanigans. He’s 40 or 41?

So my question is this. 2yrs, $25mil. Is Favre the guy to put you over the top or is this a team taking a wild stab in the dark?

Also, throwball. New game? ;)

Serves me right for coming to the party four hours late.

I love football. So much so I stopped watching it in the ‘80s after seeing a clip of Gus Otto entering the hall of fame in a wheelchair. Football must change the rules to penalize 300 lb linemen. Use Mike Leach’s example at Texas Tech and spread the line out so the behemoths lose their edge.

Current rules encourage players to destroy their health bulking up. This isn’t sport, it’s a Roman circus without the lions. The NFL has buried the stats on player mortality but if you do some serious searching with Google you’ll find it remarkably hard to find any obits for NFL players in their 70s or 80s, not the players who stayed in the game until they were 30 or older.

The NFL is 80 years old. Where are the old players? Every other sport trots its fossils out on a regular basis. The NFL can’t because their old players have serious health issues, at least the ones who are still alive.

NFL >>>>>>>>>> NBA

So I don’t know if I am repeating what has been said previously, but here is my rant. I am unfortunately a Vikings fan, not passionate, mind you, but a fan none the less. I dispise this move. Farve, as far as I am concerened, is OTH and should have retired three years ago. I can NOT believe that the great purple people eaters signed this has been FOR TWO YEARS AND $25 MILLION. Will he flame out? Oh yeah, just a matter of when. Will the Vikes make the SB this year? Heck no, they’ll find some way to lose it in the conference finals and then Farve will do the same BS as he’s done the past five years and Chili will have a heart attack. I will more than likely be a witness to it all.

I will rejoice if they actually win a super bowl in my lifetime and may invite ya’ll down to the ranch for a party afterwards. I don’t like the Vikes as much as I do the Twins which isn’t as much as I love the Wolves. Now you know how hung up I am on “great” teams.
GO VIKES!! Boo – Farve