The Minnesota Vikings have just announced the dates for their 2012 Training Camp, and the team is going to be hanging around Mankato for a bit longer than they might have normally been accustomed to.

According to various sources, largely coming via the Twitter, the team will report to Training Camp on July 26. They will then stay at camp all the way through August 16. That means camp will end just prior to the Vikings' second pre-season game rather than before the pre-season opener. The Vikings have not done that since 2008.

Apparently the length of training camp last year was an issue with some folks:

There was frustration from some in organization that stay was so short last year. Clearly, they want to maximize time this time around.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 16, 2012

Guess it won't be an issue this year.

With a number of young players expected to play significant roles for the team this season, an extra week of Training Camp certainly won't hurt anybody. Considering the real lack of an off-season/pre-season in 2011, I would expect the Vikings to look much better coming out of the gate in 2012 than they did last season. You know. . .maybe not blowing so many huge leads in the second halves of games and such.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we've done it again.

Thanks to all of you that make this the best damn Minnesota Vikings community on the internet, we've clicked past another milestone on the ol' odometer as, sometime late last night, we had our eight millionth visit to our corner of the interwebs here.

March and April were, by far, the two biggest months in the history of the site in terms of hits. As far as comments go, I'm pretty sure that we're doing alright in that category this month, too. (Amazing what a bunch of people sitting around and making fun of the political process will do.)

We know that Minnesota Vikings fans are the best fans in the National Football League, and no community exemplifies that more than this one. Now, as we enter the long, dark tea time of the off-season, we will effort to keep things entertaining until there's actual football to talk about.

Speaking of which. . .we're only about two and a half months from the start of Training Camp. Time sure does fly when you're not sure whether or not your team is going to exist in its current state after the 2012 season, doesn't it?

But, since we do have some time to fill between now and the start of Training Camp, what are some of the thins that you would like to see on the site before then? Let us know, and we'll effort to do our best to accommodate.

Thanks, as always, to each and every one of you for your patronage, as none of this would exist without you folks. Keep spreading the word, and we will continue to strive to be the very best source of news and opinions on the Minnesota Vikings.

10 July 2006 - Daily Norseman goes live
1 July 2009 - Daily Norseman reaches 1 million hits
26 January 2010 - Daily Norseman reaches 2 million hits
26 September 2010 (approximately) - Daily Norseman reaches 3 million hits
24 January 2011 (approximately) - Daily Norseman reaches 4 million hits
1 August 2011 - Daily Norseman reaches 5 million hits
9 November 2011 - Daily Norseman reaches 6 million hits
27 February 2012 - Daily Norseman reaches 7 million hits
15 May 2012 - Daily Norseman reaches 8 million hits

Tommy Kramer, erstwhile hero and villain for thousands of Minnesotans in the late 1970's and early 1980's, was elected to the college football hall of fame earlier today.

Kramer was a standout at Rice University, where he was a consensus All American on a losing team. He was the Vikes first round draft pick in 1977, and became a cult hero in his rookie season.

It was December 4, 1977. A home game against the then lowly San Francisco 49ers. The Vikes went down 24-7, Bud Grant brought Kramer in the fourth quarter, and he engineered the greatest comeback in Vikes history to that point, throwing three fourth quarter TD's to give the Vikes a 28-27 win. I still remember that game. When Sammy White hauled in a late bomb for the go ahead TD, I jumped so high on the couch I missed said couch coming down and splattered on the floor. My dad, after he made sure I hadn't killed myself, started whooping and hollering with me.

Yeah, the legend of Tommy Kramer was born.

Kramer was a guy you either loved or hated, and I loved him. He had a Honey Badger don't care attitude on the field, and would throw it into double or triple coverage. He could be terrible for 58 minutes, and then he was a first ballot hall of famer for the last two. He had a dip of Copenhagen or Skoal bigger than a football helmet in his mouth during post game interviews, and every week he just 'took what the defense gave us'.

Yeah, Kramer was maddeningly inconsistent, but man, if the game was on the line, and you needed a touchdown to win it, Kramer got it for you, more often than not. Does it matter that it was his three picks earlier in the game that got the Vikes down by 4 or 6 points with only two minutes to play?

No, no it does not.

Congratulations, Tommy.

Edit: Here is highlights of Kramer's coming out party, courtesy of the YouTubes. Kramer had a cannon for an arm, as you can see on his throw to Sammy White for the clincher:

Outside, freezing cold, awesome uniforms, and Tommy Kramer.

With the wide receiver position being such a sore spot for the Minnesota Vikings in 2011, they decided it was necessary to address it twice. Early in the fourth round, the Vikings grabbed Jarius Wright out of the University of Arkansas, and late in the fourth round they tabbed his Razorbacks teammate, Greg Childs.

Of course, as we've read numerous times since the draft concluded, this won't be the first time that Childs and Wright will be teammates. They've been teammates going all the way back to the third grade, having played together at Warren High School as well as with the Razorbacks.

Childs began contributing to the team immediately with the Razorbacks, catching 18 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman at Arkansas. His 15.2 yard/reception average was third on the team that year for players that had multiple receptions.

As a sophomore, Childs started making even more of an impact, starting in eight of Arkansas' 13 games that season. He led the squad with 48 catches for 894 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging over 18 yards per reception in the process. He generated a lot of buzz that season, so much so that he was added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list prior to his junior season. The Biletnikoff Award is given every year to college football's most outstanding wide receiver.

However, things did not go quite as planned for Childs during that junior season. He got off to a huge start, catching 46 passes for 659 yards and six scores in the Razorbacks' first eight contests. However, during the Razorbacks' 49-14 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores, Childs tore a patella tendon making a reception in the fourth quarter of play, causing him to miss the rest of the season. Prior to his senior year, he was on the watch list for the Maxwell Award and was a pre-season All-Southeastern Conference selection, but he clearly was not completely recovered from his knee injury. He caught just 21 passes as a senior for 240 yards and no scores.

Childs admitted during a conference call just after he was drafted by the Vikings that he came back from his injury too quickly. At his Pro Day in Fayetteville, however, he showed that he just might be getting back to speed 18 months after he got injured. The 6'3", 220-pound Childs ran an outstanding 4.41-second 40-yard dash, and displayed a vertical leap of more than 40" during his pro day workout, a significant improvement over what he had shown at the NFL Combine just two weeks prior.

This could end up being one of the biggest steals the Vikings got out of the 2012 NFL Draft. . .and, just between you and me, it wouldn't surprise me if Childs was starting at wide receiver for this team in Week 1. Ignore the fact that he wound up getting taken in the fourth round. . .a healthy Greg Childs is not a fourth-round talent. If he's regaining his athletic ability after the knee injury he suffered as a junior, he has all the physical gifts necessary to have a big-time impact for this football team.

(Warning: Video does have a few naughty words in it. Apologies in advance.)

One of the parts of the new Minnesota Vikings' stadium that has not been completely settled yet is the state of the roof. The $975 million deal that was signed into law on Monday calls for a fixed roof stadium, but it was said that if Zygi Wilf wanted to put a retractable roof on the stadium, it would have to come out of the team's pockets. It appears that the team is strongly considering doing just that.

Q. So you'll have a retractable roof?

ZW: "Well, I don't know."

MW: "We're going to try to get the maximum number of features within the budgets. ... We're going to want to make it something special. And to the extent retractability can get there, we're going to try to do it."

One of the rumors that has been circulating lately is that the Wilf family wants to try to attract Major League Soccer to Minneapolis. . .and, indeed, MLS has said that with this new stadium, the Twin Cities moves to the top of the list of cities to potentially gain an MLS franchise.

So how would a retractable roof affect the Vikings? It appears that decision will be up to a combination of the owners and/or the National Football League. There doesn't appear to be a set of hard-and-fast rules for when retractable roof stadiums can open the roof up and when it needs to be closed.

For example, Lucas Oil Stadium has a rule saying that the roof will be closed when the temperature is below 40 degrees, while Reliant Stadium in Houston has one saying that the roof will be closed if the temperature is below 50 or above 80. As far as actual, official NFL rules, the Arizona Cardinals have the following info on their website concerning University of Phoenix Stadium:

The Cardinals are required to follow all NFL policies in effect for retractable roof stadiums. In accordance with NFL policy, the following guidelines must be followed:

The roof can only be closed during the game if rain or other hazardous weather conditions develop or are anticipated. The only exception is that the roof will not be closed for rain in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, or prior to or during any overtime period.

If the roof is closed at the start of the game or during the game, it cannot be opened for the remainder of the game.

If the decision is made to open the roof, the roof must be open no later than the time that the teams take the field for pre-game warm-ups.

So it appears that what the NFL's rules govern is basically that if the roof is open when the game starts, it has to stay open, and if it's closed it has to stay closed, as well as provisions for inclement weather. Those are the general guidelines, but it appears that each individual stadium can establish their own set of rules for when the roof will be open and when it will be closed.

It will be interesting to see how, exactly, the team will handle the roof situation if they do have the ability to open and close the roof of the new stadium.

Before we got fully engulfed in Stadiumania, we were going through and taking a look at the players that the Vikings selected in the 2012 NFL Draft. Today, we will feature a player that came off as a bit of a surprise pick to most Vikings fans, that being USC tight end/fullback Rhett Ellison.

Much like the Vikings' other draftee from Southern California, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, Ellison has some pretty solid bloodlines in professional football. His father was Riki Ellison, who also attended Southern Cal, playing linebacker for the Trojans. A native New Zealander, the first in NFL history, Riki Ellison got two Super Bowl rings as a member of the San Francisco 49ers before finishing his career with the Los Angeles Raiders. The Niners drafted him in the fifth round of the 1983 NFL Draft (#117 overall). Interestingly, Riki Ellison is the founder and chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a non-profit organization with the mission to advocate for the deployment and development of a missile defense system.

(By the by, former Viking David Dixon was the second New Zealander in NFL history if you're scoring at home. Or even if you're not.)

Getting back to the younger Ellison, he came to USC as a tight end, and red-shirted the 2007 season. In his first two seasons with the Trojans in 2008 and 2009, he spent a lot of time as a backup tight end, catching a total of just 10 passes in those two seasons for 99 yards and one touchdown.

As a junior in 2010, he started becoming a real contributor to the USC offense, starting all 13 games for the Trojans. Over the course of the season, he caught 21 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns, which was enough to garner an Honorable Mention on the All-Pac Ten team that season.

After spending his entire USC career at tight end, Ellison moved to fullback for his senior year in 2011. He actually caught more passes as a fullback (22) than he did in his best year as a tight end, but only averaged six yards per reception. He had an impact on special teams as well, being named All-Pac 12 first-team as a special teams player this past season. He was also a team captain for the Trojans, and was named the recipient of their Team Leadership Award for the 2011 season.

With the ability to line up at either the tight end or the fullback spot, Ellison appears to have been drafted with at least the thought that one day he could replace that most favorite of many Minnesota Vikings fans, retired tight end/fullback Jim Kleinsasser. Ellison was even given Kleinsasser's #40, the same number he wore in college for USC. Now, nobody is expecting him to step in and be Jim Kleinsasser right away, but there's reason to think that Ellison could eventually develop into such a role. He's got pretty decent size at 6'5" and 250 pounds, and could probably add even more weight without sacrificing anything in the way of athleticism.

If nothing else, Ellison will likely make an immediate impact on Minnesota's special teams, and work in as a third tight end behind Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson on offense. . .or, he could end up as the team's starting fullback, depending on what happens during training camp. After all, if there's one thing this team could use, it's MOAR FULLBACK, am I right?

So let it be written, so let it be done:

(St. Paul Pioneer Press) Vikings stadium bill: Dayton signs, spotlight moves to Minneapolis City Hall: bit.ly/JbSiOm

— Vikings News (@Vikings_Live) May 14, 2012

It's official. Well, not quite. The Minneapolis City Council now has 30 days to vote on the stadium bill that Dayton just signed. They already gave their support earlier in the process, so this should be nothing more than a formality, but I'm not going to be 100% relieved until that vote is taken.

But I AM going to go drink some of the bitter tears of the anti-stadium crowd, who showed up to protest the signing of the bill, along with scores of fans that are stadium supporters.

Now the Vikings will begin planning in earnest, and Vikings VP of Stadium Affairs has said it will be about a year before the Vikings can break ground on the new digs adjacent from the Metrodome, as several things need to happen, like, you know, get a final design and all. But there will time for that later.

For now, we celebrate!