Could the Vikes have a new "Sheriff?"

First, let me just state that if you were to have asked me two months ago: "Do you think it could be possible that if the Vikes were to lose Moss, that there would be any fathomable senario that would make me optimistic, much less jubilant, about the coming season's success..." Answer:no"

I wouldn't have even be able to speak, as would have been mixing up a batch of grape kool aid (for those Hermantown readers, see the Jim Jones mass suicide) for immediate consumtion.

I can not tell you how excited I am about this season, and I'm calling it right now, 11-5, with a visit to the NFC championship game.

This is exactly the kind of team I would build if I ran things.

It all starts with defense, 2 top corners and 2 studs at DT. Pressure up the middle is far more disruptive than from the outside, where a QB can just step forward to evade it.

And with this rebuilt secondary, they'll only help the D-line get more sacks with tight coverage.

There is just one more imperative, they have to take a WR with their first draft pick!

If I hear any more of this moronic talk about "we will take the best player on the board," I'm gonna start mixing up the kool aid again!

You have to draft for need, and there should be a blue chip receiver available.

Now, could Coach Tice be evolving into the new "Sheriff?"

Check this out...

Tice explaing his philosophy: "when a guy steps up and emerges as the guy, he is the guy. When he wants to play, he'll play...The second guy will spell the guy. The third guy? He won't be happy."

HUH?

This is right up there with the Denny Green classic: "Nobody plays, like we play, when we're playing."

I've been a Tice supporter all along, even in the face of criticism from those who claim he looks like an 8th grade math teacher with that dopey little pencil behind his ear.

I mean, come on Mike, with all that ticket scalping money you're pulling down, can't you at least afford a nice Cross pen?

So Mike, step out of Denny's (albeit immense) shadow, be a man, and pick a WR #1.

Could Sid Hartman be wrong?

What?

It sounds impossible, I know, but it may actually be true.

Now, Sid gets accused of being a "homer" all the time, but I have no problem with that.

After all, if MN sportwriters can't support MN teams & MN atheletes who will?

Does anyone think Green Bay beat writers are going to start lavishing praise on the Vikes? Put down the crack pipe, please.

So I agree with Sid most of the time, but one thing I've disagreed with him for years has been his stance on team chemistry.

He always says that team chemistry don't mean much, and that superior talent will always prevail.

Well, where does he derive that opinion? He always seems to have a close, personal relationship with the most talented, yet troubled atheletes. Take Randy Moss for instance.

It's the supremely talented reprobates who tell him chemistry doesn't count, it's a Moss, not a David Dixon, where he gets that idea.

I've played lots of different sports in my life, and I've always been of the opinion that good chemistry trumps superior talent nearly every time.

Let's check out the NFL, Dan Synder spends the big money on Redskin free agents, and they're terrible; while the lunch bucket Patriots dominate.

That's my segue to the Gopher Men's Basketball team, and their fantastic NCAA season.

Wow!

I admit, I sure didn't see this breakout season coming, but how deserving it is for this team.

We've gone through the superstar phase, with Rick Rickert & Kris Humpheries and little team success.

Now we're going through the TEAM phase, and an amazing season culminating with an NCAA tournament bid.

Brent Lawson even stated: "Chemistry was the biggest factor" in their success.

I couldn't be prouder of these kids, maybe they can even teach Sid a little bit about team chemistry.

Viking's "D" receives massive upgrade!

All I can say is wow!

The Vike's have catapulted their defense from bottom 5, to top 10- maybe even top 5.

Wow!

They've signed Pat Williams DT, Fred Smoot, and Darren Sharper in the past week, wow!

Do you realize that with Antoine Winfield, Cory Chavous, Sharper, and now Smoot, we have 4 All-Pros on the field in our secondary?

This may be the best off-season the Vikes have ever had, and they may not be done yet.

They now have 2 #1 draft picks, which they may make a trade for.

We need a linebacker and a wide receiver, but they may yet sign Plaxico Burress because he and his greedy agent turned down a huge contract, the likes of which he will not see again, from the Giants. He fired that agent today.

He's got talent, but it appears his ego is twice as large as his brain, so maybe we don't really need him after all.

We did get Napoleon Harris (LB) from the Moss Trade, so basically he replaces the erstwhile Chris Claiborne.

My thinking is this, if they don't sign a receiver, draft the kid from USC at receicer, then trade the 2nd #1 for another linebacker so you avoid the huge bonus a #1 pick demands.

If they do sign a receiver, then draft a linebacker.

So, on paper anyway, the Vikes have put together a very formidable squad.

The question now is, who's gonna coach it?

We've upgraded from a Yugo to a Caddy, but do we trust the state's biggest ticket scalper with the keys?

I've been defending Mike Tice for years, I don't know that I can do it anymore. I have no respect for a guy making over $500k per year who risks it all to make a couple grand on a ticket scapling scheme.

It shows terrible judgement.

If he needed cash to make ends meet, he should have borrowed the money from Latrine Sprewell.

The Twins, "The Dunce" has been located

There's been a lot of things going right with the Twins recently (now granted, we have 3 divisions now,not 2), but there's also some things going wrong, and not being "inside" the organization, I've had to use my powers of observation to determine who "The Dunce" is.

At first, I thought it had to be G.M. Terry Ryan, particularly when he threw that massive contract at Joe Mays after only 1 good season, and he wasn't even asking for it. It must feel god-like to throw manna from heaven un the undeserving.

But he's been doing some good things with a limited payroll lately, especially this past off-season by signing Santana & Radke.

So, Hmmm...well, Terry seems to be in the clear.

So let's think about this for a minute...

Let's just say u have a can't miss catching prospect who is the future
of the franchise, and let's even say he's a hometown guy; and let's say
he is coming off a serious knee injury, what do you do with him?

You have three choices:

1. Ease him back slowly as a d.h.

2. Play him every 2 or 3 days behind the plate, as his knee continues to
gain strength.

3. Play him every day until his knee breaks down and his season ends
with another surgery, so he will now have life-long trouble with his
knee.


If you're manager Ron Gardendunce, you pick 3, and then you get rewarded with a
multi-year contract extension.

Mystery solved.

It's been a big year...

Hopefully mnsportsfan will become your home for cogent analysis of the Minnesota sports scene.

The Twin Cities is an unusual place regarding sports opinion.

For some unknown reason, when you look around, there are only 10, or maybe 12 voices in the media (radio, tv, newprint) commenting on sports.

And there is so much duplication of opinion: for example, Pat Reusse has a Star Tribune column, is on a tv show, and is the main sports guest on multiple radio shows.

In a metro area of maybe 2.5 million people, can't we have a few more divergent opinions?

Join me back here soon, the posts are going to increase at a furious pace.