So the draft is over. Each team has all of their picks in, each analyst has given their arbitrary grades, and each fan has given their early opinion on how their team did.

Now what?

Minicamps aren't even that close yet. The preseason is over three months away. The NFL doesn't play a meaningful game for another 135 days--not that I'm counting or anything. How do we Minnesota football fans survive until then?
If you live in the Twin Cities area, I might have just the thing for your football fix.

The Minnesota Machine professional women's football team has their home opener this Saturday night at 7:00 PM at Woodbury High School. And believe me, this ain't no Powder Puff football. This is full-pads, full-contact, wow-I-didn't-know-girls-could-play-like-that football. The Machine are part of the Women's Football Alliance, a 38-team league that covers the entire country.

Now before you start ridiculing me for daring to bring up women's football on a Vikings site, just know that I do have a personal interest in the team. My sister plays for the Machine (she's the one on the left when you go to the main page) and I figured I'd give them a bit of free promotion. And I'm serious--you'll be surprised at the quality of play. These gals are athletes.

Plus, like I said, it's not like we have a ton of options football-wise these days. So check out the Machine's schedule on their site. Yours truly will be at their home games this season. Sure, it isn't the Vikes, but it's not too often that you get to spend a nice Spring or Summer evening watching some pretty darn good football.