Sir Francis of Bloomington
Hey gang, sorry this is a little late. The weekend just sort of snuck up on me, and yesterday there was a huge sale at Cabela's. So of course, me and a buddy of mine headed out there and got some fishing stuff for the ever approaching Canada fishing trip. And then I had to come home and admire, sort, and organize said fishing stuff. Then Mrs. Ted and I went out to a kind of a funky Brazilian Steakhouse place for dinner. Which may seem out of character for me, but I have one word for you: Groupon, baby!! 80 bucks worth of food and sangria for $25? Winner winner chicken dinner, people. Or in this case steak, but you get the idea.
Anyway, With the third pick in the All time Minnesota Vikings draft, the readers of the Daily Norseman select:
Fran Tarkenton, QB 87%
I think everyone saw this landslide coming, but this shouldn't be taken as a slight to Henry Thomas or Jake Reed. Both were very good players in their own right, it's just that Tarkenton was, well, Fran Tarkenton. And there weren't nearly as many turds taken in the third round that we could mock, so this is about as cut and dried a round as we'll have. Although I must mention the name Whip Walton, who was drafted in 1980 and didn't make the team. I don't remember him, he had a wholly unremarkable career, but Whip Walton is a cool name; thought it was worth mentioning.
Even after retiring after the 1978 season, Fran The Man is still the Vikings all time leader in just about every major passing record that we keep track of. Outside of maybe a four year run with Daunte Culpepper and/or Tommy Kramer, and an occasional good year here and there by individual guys like Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon and Brett Favre, the Vikings quarterback play has been dumpster fire since before the Cold War ended. Hopefully with Christian Ponder, those days might be coming to an end.
Oh, and who was the guy that voted for Alfred Anderson? I mean really, you could at least make a case for Henry Thomas or Jake Reed, as they were really good players who just happened to be up against the best QB in franchise history. But Alfred Anderson? As our own Cris Carter would say...C'MON, man.
I'll have round four up either later today or tomorrow.