A Monday night beating

Favre miraculously starts, and then goes out with a concussion. Webb finishes the ice bowl. Team crushed by Bears 40-14 in the snow. This is the last vikes post for the season. Poor vikes. I hope that wasn't the last homegame ever.

Favre out - Webb to start ice-bowl

Game time temps in the single digits with a predicted 10 below windchill and 4-6" of snow accumulation over the course of the afternoon. hahahahahahahaha suckers. Bulletproof field. Rookie starting quarterback.

Should be a great game, right?

Rare sighting of elusive Cuddle Wolf!

BEHOLD! A rare photograph of the elusive but gentle Rocky Mountain Cuddle Wolf in his native environs.

The territory he prowls.

Is the "Home Field Advantage" worth it?

From NFL.com today:

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who suffered a concussion in a game earlier this season, said the condition of the field was "the main concern with the guys in the locker room."

"We don't want to go out there and play on a concrete-type surface," Cutler said.

University officials said they planned to use a tarp over heating coils to soften the field before the game.

Considering the temps should be in the single digits, the generous warmth from the heating coils (yet to be deployed) will likely penetrate what, maybe 1 inch? They ought to just plow the dome parking lot, make it standing room only / BYOB, and play the sucker street-fighter style.

This from the Vikes marketing shill, Steve LaCroix:

"We think it's going to be great," LaCroix said. "It's nighttime football, it's going to be freezing cold temperatures, it's going to be very memorable."

That guy is *full* of horseshit. I guess that's his job, isn't it?

Oh wait, there's more! Sounds like The Rookie Joe Webb will be the starting QB for the Vikes.

go vikes?

And the hits just keep on commin'

Seriously? Check out the loaders that are waist deep in snow. According to NFL.com "The two biggest concerns (over playing at TCF Stadium), according to Minnesota assistant athletic director Scott Ellison, were if all the snow can be removed in time and whether or not the frozen field could be softened to a level that won't hurt the players".

Thaw the field. Like with steam and tarps... yeah - it'll be just dandy when the wraps come off, and the sucker tightens up like a drum in the sub-freezing temps. maybe a nice slick of glaze ice to slow down the receivers?

As for injuries, NFL.com reports that Favre is still broken, TJ has a serious case of Turf-Toe, and the rookie Webb has a pulled hamstring (in addition to BEING A ROOKIE!) So the vikes have pulled in CFL grade vet Ramsey to help finish out the season.

Just end it now....

Get ready for a shit show

After 29 years without an outdoors home game, the stage *may* be set for Monday night when the Bears come to twon for the Vikes 50th anniversary show. I say *may* as no source can yet predict wither or not the flipping seasonal stadium a the U of MN can be prepped in time. Even assuming they can pull this together in time, there are some practical issues, like parking, beer (none is normally served at college games - wha?), security, and all of the other practical considerations of inviting 50,000 people over to your place for a party. On top of all that, this is the current NOAA weather predicition for Minneapolis:

Monday: A slight chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 17.

Sounds F'ing lovely. By game time, the field will be a sheet of ice, and that's without the wind chill.

To all my Pack buddies out there, you win. Compared to all of the humiliations that the vikes have heaped upon your hapless team, there is no comparison with the complete meltdown of a season, the physical failure of a great player, the firing of a coach, and the implosion of your stadium. Truly, god hates the vikes.

Dome is Hosed, Vikes to play outdoors on Monday Night

With the metrodome in apparent ruin,

The Vikes and league will spend an estimated $700k to get the U of M stadium thawed out and ready for the NFL on Monday night.

It's like a freaking circus. The vikes ought to enter the field packed in to little clown cars with favre popping out of a big cake that they wheel in. Poor vikes. This may be the last homegame ever for this team. just lovely.

Vikes take a beating, Favre sits at 297

In signs that the Dome collapse will portent an ill fate to the 2010 season, the vikes got crushed handily by the flatulent Giants in DETROIT last night after the game was moved due to a roof failure at the metrodome. Calamity number two was the ending of Brett Favre's starting streak at 297, due to a serious injury to his shoulder last week. Add to this a brief moment of sheer panic when T.J banged his knee and had to sit a down, coupled with the odd metric of zero fan noise due to the fact the freaking GAME WAS IN DETROIT, and it is hard to conclude anything other than disaster for the remains of the season.

Issue number one is where the scheduled Monday night game against the stinking Bears will take place next week. With some talk of an outdoors game at the U of M stadium, I can't wait to see a below zero snow bowl in MN for the first time since the early 80's. That's exactly what is needed to end the crap about building an open stadium for the vikes. You people are crazy, and enjoy freezing your butts off next week, suckers.

Issue number two is the question of a new stadium and if the team will move. With money together in LA, the stadium is a must to keep the team. The owner would be mad to refuse a decent offer after his stadium collapsed. It's really up to the MN taxpayer now. I don't envy the cost, but I also remember the North Stars moving to Dallas the year after wining the Stanley Cup due to the inability to get a new stadium built. The new stadium was then built some time later at a greater cost, and a new team created, sans 30 years of history. Real clever, MN sportsfan. If the Vikes leave, there's only the face in the mirror to look at.

Turing test possibly to be passed Feb 14-16, 2011

IBM announced plan, reported here in the New York Times, to place a computer and program called "Watson" into head-to-head gameplay against that sucker, Ken, and another past winner on Jeopardy. There is some room for debate, but I feel that if the machine wins, or even performs to a high level, then IBM will have made a huge step forward in answering the famed "Turing Test" for machine intelligence. In a nutshell, the test would have an interviewer hold a conversation with two clients, one machine, one human. If, from the replies, the difference between man and machine was nebulous, or impossible to discern, the machine has passed the test. In many ways, simply competing believably in this exercise on Jeopardy goes a long way to meeting the goal, if not fulfilling it. I may have to tune in...

Metrodome collapse - an ill omen for the Vikes

I hope this is not an ill omen for the Vikes, the season, and the possibility of a move to LA.