5 W's from the Weekend.

I'm starting a new feature here on the blog. I'm going to post a column every Monday titled the 5 W's from the Weekend. I'm going to lightly cover the Who, What, Where, When, and Why from the weekend.

WHO - Who are the people in charge that think the BCS is right? I mean what's the point of playing college football if you win every game and aren't considered a champion? What's that all about? I mean as far as far as I can figure out, there is a chance for 4 teams to be undefeated at the end of the season, with only one be able to say that they're National Champions. So who are the guys that don't want a system in place that has them play each other?

WHAT - What the hell happened at Tiger Woods house The latest I've heard is that his wife was attacking him, after hearing rumors of an alleged affair he had been having. Tiger has managed to avoid speaking with the police now for 3 days about this incident. I mean he's acting like a child here. Saying it's he's taking all the blame, and no one needs to worry about it. Obviously there is much much more to the story than he's letting on. It looks as though his perfect public image is about to take a huge hit.


WHEN - When will the Colt's lose, or the Nets win. The Net's haven't won a game yet this year in the NBA. Also as far as the Colt's go, these so called experts keep saying that the Vikings better hope that Favre doesn't get hurt. Well let's see here, he holds the record for most consecutive games played, so what you make these guys think that, that is likely. Along those same lines, what would the Colt's record be with out their ironhorse, Peyton Manning?

WHY - Why is there this feeling of sadness that Charlie Weiss is getting fired from Notre Dame? I mean it's almost as if it's a debate as to whether that fat slob should get fired? He went 16-21 with very highly rated recruiting classes. He finished the year with 4 game losing streak. Not many of the Belicheck disciples have fared to well without, Belicheck and Brady. Not to mention I think he had an 18 million dollar buyout. So think how much food that fat slob can buy now.

Thanksgiving and Fantasy Football

I am a huge fantasy sports guy. But I got to talking the other day, and begin to think about the players in the actual leagues who play fantasy football, and how do they approach it? For instance let's say Matt Forte plays fantasy football, and he of course drafted himself. But he also has Ray Rice and Ryan Grant on his team. So who does he start this week? Ray Rice is a must start, and Ryan Grant is playing the Lions while Forte and the Bears take on the Viki9ngs. Does Forte sit himself? I mean he definitely should. But how do the players do it?

Also since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I wanted to express my gratitude and say thanks for a few things. I'd love for you to also share what you're thankful for.
I am thankful that the Twins took Joe Mauer instead of Mark Prior in the 2001 MLB draft.
I am thankful that Brett Favre decided to unretire and play for the Minnesota Vikings.
I am thankful that the Minnesota Wild are terrible and made the decision to not renew the season tickets so easy.
I am thankful that a team like the Browns and a few others passed on Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin.

Stadium Debate??

In the last couple of days the Vikings stadium debate has really heated up. The Minneapolis Stadium Commission which owns the Metrodome has offered the Vikings an additional two years on their lease, rent free, along with all the revenue from postseason games. The Vikings answered by breaking off talks with the group, they saw this as a slap in the face. So it got me thinking. Why don't we come up with a solution to build a stadium?
I understand the economic climate, and I am fully aware that 500 million dollars of taxpayer money could go to schools, and hospitals, etc. I understand there isn't much logic to paying for a stadium for a billionaire. I fully understand the people who aren't sports fans and could care less if the Vikings ever get a stadium of even if they move out of town. So if you don't want a stadium, I fully understand your side. I don't want to pay anything for the stadium either.
But I do want a Vikings stadium. For those of you who are Vikings fans like myself. I'm guessing that your falls are consumed by the Vikings. When was the last time you went more than a day without talking about them. When was the last Sunday in the fall you didn't try to watch them. What I'm trying to say is the Vikings are a major part of our lives in Minnesota. In the grand scheme of life the Vikings aren't as important as education or things of that nature. But for some of us they are very important. If they left my life wouldn't change a whole lot. In today's NFL, you can follow any team from any where. So I could still watch the LA Vikings play every Sunday if I wanted to. But I don't to. I want the Vikings in Minnesota.
We built a stadium for the Twins. We built a stadium for the Gophers. Why not the Vikings. If you look at ratings the Vikings dominate. The worst rated Vikings telecast this year will be higher than any Twins game all year, including the one game playoff. And don't even get me started on the Gophers. So they're our favorite team, and they've been competitive for 40+ years. So why are our leaders making this so difficult. I know that no one wants to add any fees or taxes in this economy, but the Vikings we're talking about a stadium back when the Twins and Gophers were too. One of the ideas I've heard is to put slot machines at Cantebury. But some are opposed to that because they don't want to offend the Native Americans. They don't want to offend the Native Americans? According to Wikipedia the Native Americans make up 1% or our population. So that means that 99% of the population is not Native American. And ratings for Vikings games are usually around 40% of the televisions in the market. So that means roughly 39-40% of the state watches the Vikings. So we don't want to offend the 1% Native Americans but have no problem offending the other 39-40% of Minnesotans that are Vikings fans by potentially letting them leave?
I know that there is a lot more to this story than I've even come close to. I think that these politicians need to pull their heads out of there asses, and find a solution. I don't care what you do. I don't want to pay for it, but I don't want them leaving. So if it's a hospitality tax increase, slot machines, user fees, etc. I don't care just get it done.
For some of us the Vikings are what connects us to friends, family members, dads, and neighbors. Lastly without the Vikings we'd really have no reason to hate Wisconsin, and who wants to like them?

Over Saturated

I don't how many of you watched the Thursday game yesterday, but an interesting thing happened in the first quarter, the announcers sound or mics weren't working. So I was watching the game without the talking heads. I thought it was odd at first, but as it went on I started to really enjoy it.
As I'm watching the game with no sound I realize everything I need to know is already on the screen. I know the score, the down and distance, I've even got the yellow line telling me how far they need to go for the first down. And remember as Joe Buck will tell you, that yellow line is not official. But the referees mics worked so I knew what the penalties were. So I wasn't missing any vital information that I needed to enjoy watching the game.
What was I missing. Well in that particular game, I was missing Matt Millen's opinion on everything. Why the hell do I want his opinion on everything. He took over a team and the end result was year after year of being terrible, and then ending it without winning a game. That means that in 2009 Matt Millen and I each built produced 0 victories in the NFL. The difference between us, was that he was the GM for the lions, and I sat at home. What about all these other guys that sit in the booth's and talk. Why the hell do I care what their opinions are. Sure some of them like Troy Aikmen and a handful of others played the game, and can offer insights into the actual game. But most of it is useless, and pointless banter.
What I would like to see is a little less talk in the booth. I realize we're never going to go silent, but less of the pointless comments. Whenever a team is down by 7 with 1:47 left in a game, and it's 4th and 8 from the opponents 47, you do not need to add in the typical, "This is the biggest play of the game" comment. Everyone watching football knows that, and those that don't know, don't care. So please refrain from treating everyone like we're idiots. What we want to know Troy, and Matt is what the players are thinking. Leave the obvious and simple comments to us.

Gophers Football

What's the deal with the Minnesota Gopher football program? The University of Minnesota is the fourth largest college in the country, in a major metropolitan area, and we can't build a decent program. We play in a big time conference, against big time opponents. The problem is they are always better than us. What makes these other schools different than the Gophers?

We used to have tradition. From 1934 - 1960 we won 6 National Championships. That's one every four years. So what's changed since then. We haven't experienced a whole lot of success since 1960. So how did we go from a power house program to where we are now? In winning the big ten you earn a spot in the coveted Rose Bowl. We haven't been there since 1962. That is the longest streak of any big ten team.

I just don't understand why we can't compete at the same level as Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue. I'm not even talking about Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State. The team has lost entire generations of fans. I mean they're one of the oldest teams in the country. They played their first game in 1882. That means they've had 127 years to build this program. I was born in 1981 and they haven't played in an actual meaningful game since. Sure they've won a big game here and there, , upset a team or two, and played in bowl games. But I'm talking about actual National prominence. We play for Paul Bunyan's axe, Floyd of Rosdale, the Governors cup, and the little Brown Jug. Sure those are interesting and fun. But do you know what other teams play for? They play for Big Ten titles and National Championships.

People say that it's because no one cares. Well that's because they're never any good. Nobody likes a loser. We built a brand new stadium for them, and they can't even sell that out. I watch college football on Saturday's and wish the Gophers played in meaningful games. College Football's slogan is every game counts. Not if you're the gophers. If you're the gophers, no ever count.

Glen Mason came in here and put the Gophers back on the big ten map. They never won the Big Ten, but they got close a couple of times. They had a collapse against Michigan, and a couple of tough losses. So he got us close. And we fired him. We fired him because we demand more and expect more. So we hire Tim Brewster, who had never been a head coach before. If you want to show that you care, put a pile of money out there that no coach can turn down. Hey Urban Meyer, I know coaching the Florida Gators is fun especially when you're making 4 million a year, but how about packing up and moving north for 6 million a year. Let's see if you can coach then.

I am just done with the Gophers until they show me that winning matters.