The benefits of Shiancoe's side story

by Robert Rence on Dec 11, 2008 11:58 AM CST

Last week, the only Vikings news story was of Pat and Kevin Williams. Detroit got a story in a smaller column to the side, and when Sunday's game started, the defense led off with 4 off-sides penalties. Their minds were out of the game, focused on legal issues affecting their team.

After the Vikes won the game, Shiancoe got caught naked on camera much to the chagrin of the BOX network and Shiancoe.

However, it's the news story that's been focused on all week, and that can't be better. With the Williams Wall vs the NFL, players were on the defensive in interviews. Now...

Asked if he could recall a text suitable for a family newspaper, Shiancoe paused and said: "Everyone said, 'I didn't know, ah ... that's how, ah ... you are ...'"

There you go, folks. That's the message Visanthe considered classy enough for the mainstream media.

It also was an answer that caused Benny Sapp, an eavesdropping teammate, to shout "Wow!'' and go howling with laughter across the locker room. Sapp gave a synopsis of Shiancoe's response to several other Vikings, and they joined in the howling.

A laughing locker room is a loose locker room. A defensive locker room is a tense locker room. When things are tense, energy is wasted in that tension. When things are loose, that energy is saved for when it is needed.

So sure, Shiancoe's been publically exposed. He's rolling with the punches, and in doing so, he's broken the tension in the locker room. Aside from his hands becoming like Velcro after week two, this is the best thing he's done all season. Way to take one for the team.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.

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Comments

Yup

I absolutely agree. Good insight into part of the psychology of a team.

Now hopefully that carries over into results…. Not that the team shouldn’t be fired up on Sunday…..For….The Vikes will probably be playing for the very first Minnesota Vikings NFC North title! Yay!

by footballninja on Dec 11, 2008 1:09 PM CST reply actions

I also

concur. Another point, people are so negative on Benny Sapp but it is so valuable to have a guy like that in the locker room as well. I’ve liked him thus far, minus the stupid penalty in the Bears game. :Fingers crossed on the Williams wall this friday:

by skiumah06 on Dec 11, 2008 2:36 PM CST reply actions

Shiancoe's question to the reporter

“How did it look?” You got to love him for that. The good sense of humor about it is great. I was not a fan of him originally. A lot of money and a lot of dropped passes, but he has really come around.

by keomr on Dec 11, 2008 7:12 PM CST reply actions