I occasionally open my e-mail box and find inspiration for an idea for a post, or for the site in general, inside. . .particularly during this long, dark tea time of the off-season when news is relatively scarce.  Today was one of those days.  I received an e-mail from a man by the name of Jory Dyvig inquiring about my interest in this print that he had created:

As you can see, it's a print of the Vikings' 40th Anniversary team.  Very nicely done.  I, personally, can't wait to receive mine, get it framed, and put it up on the wall of my Vikings room here in my house.  (If any of you are interested in acquiring a print of your own, you can check out Jory's site for more information.)

After looking at the print for a bit, an idea finally dawned on me for something that you, the readers of this site, can use to help us get through the off-season and get us geared up for an outstanding 2008 NFL season for our Beloved Purple.

Starting this Monday, we're going to be determining our own all-time Vikings' team.  Through voting on polls on the sidebar, we'll be determining which players would make the best team in Minnesota Vikings history.  We'll see how much it differs from the 40th Anniversary team (if at all), and just have some good, spirited debate to support our views on the subject.

What's the roster going to consist of, you might ask?  Well, obviously, there's going to be a few no-brainers.  For some positions, we might only be voting for one spot as opposed to two.  For others, we might be voting for backups.  The roster will have the following make-up, with the names of the players that are mortal locks for the team already included.

QB - Fran Tarkenton, Backup QB
HB - 1 Starting RB
FB - 1 Starting FB
WR - Cris Carter, Randy Moss, #3 WR
TE - 1 Starting TE
C - 1 Starting C
G - Randall McDaniel, Starting G
T - 2 Starting Ts

DE - Jim Marshall, Starting DE
DT - Alan Page, Starting DT
MLB - 1 Starting MLB
OLB - 2 Starting OLBs
CB - 2 Starting CBs
S - 2 Starting Ss

K - 1 Starting K
P - 1 Starting P

And we can throw in backups based on the voting to fill out the roster.

For positions that we're looking for one guy for, the voting will likely last for an entire week.  For positions that we're looking for two guys for, Monday - Wednesday will be devoted to finding the #1 guy at that position, and the remaining players will be re-racked and voted on from Thursday - Saturday, with the winner being announced on Sunday.

Sometime before Monday, I'll announce the dates that we'll be voting on each position.  There should be enough spots up for grabs to take us nearly right up to the season opener.

So that's the big news for today, folks. . .I hope that you all are going to enjoy voting on these things as much as I'm going to enjoy putting it together.  Continue enjoying your evening, ladies and gentlemen, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!