Wow, for once I have actually gauged a mood correctly. Apparently, there really is a first time for anything. People seemed tightly wound as they pretended to be general managers faced with the task of rebuilding the Minnesota Vikings' roster or hearing about the latest developments in the Vikings' stadium saga. I got the feeling it was time to lighten the mood around DN with a little silliness in the form of another song contest, a choice that was as much for me as any of the rest of you.
Our contest challenge was to submit up to two songs per person to describe how you feel about the Vikings moves in free agency. The repressed DJs out there came through and submitted 49 songs for contest consideration. I'll have to look back on our previous song contests, but I think 49 songs could be a new record. Surprisingly, there weren't any duplicate submissions either. Fortunately, I didn't have find a winner in that bunch all by myself.
It probably isn't a surprise that some people were really gloomy and disappointed about the team's free agency roster moves, but, more surprisingly, other folks felt remarkably optimistic. It seemed wrong to lump it all together, so I decided we'd have a winner for best negative song and a winner for the best positive song.
And the winners are...after the jump. C'mon, you knew I wouldn't tell you before the jump.
If you don't like the personnel moves the Vikings have made this off season, you don't like them. And that's okay. Especially for my purposes because people cranky about free agency submitted lots of great songs."Negative Nancys"
When it came to the more negative songs, the DN writers all had a different favorite so I'll just list our different picks and then assume that my favorite should be the winner. What? Oh, you thought this contest had rules? You're so cute.
Ted, in keeping with our hallowed tradition, voted for his own song submission "Countin' on a Miracle" by Bruce Springsteen.
Chris had three solid reasons for choosing DCPurple's song "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones,
a) It's a great song, b) Norah Jones is gorgeous and c) she sounds like an angel.
Isn't he sweet? I have no idea why people are scared of Chris.
Eric chose DCPurple's other song submission, "Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage.
Kyle decided to opt for classic rock, choosing Landonio's song submission "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones.
As for me, well, the Vikings' hesitation/inability to back up a Brinks truck and make a whopping offer to one of the flashy free agents that was on the market made me decide to go with Ryan Boser's song submission, Cee Lo Green's infamous hit "F@*% You". Can't help it, I love that Motown-esque quality this song has. And, since I decided that my choice would be the tie-breaker, congratulations Ryan, you won.
Here's your obligatory warning, this song has explicit lyrics. If you object to the use of the f-bomb, this song isn't for you and you won't want to watch the video. You have been warned.
Optimists (well, comparitively speaking)
This group was more surprising than the Negative Nancys because, well, up 'til now they have been a little quieter. I've heard lots of the general wailing and gnashing of teeth from the folks who are unhappy and underwhelmed by the Vikings' moves in free agency, but precious little support. So it was really interesting to hear from the contingent that is not sold on the team's personnel moves spelling absolute doom and gloom. They might not think things are perfect, but they haven't quite started stockpiling for the apocalypse either. Unlike the negative song submission, there was a clear winner in this category so I didn't get to flex my tie-breaking authority *sigh*.
Once again, Ted chose his own song submission "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen. Ted will always, always choose Springsteen.
I chose CCNorseman's song choice "Steady As She Goes" by the Raconteurs. Love this song.
Chris, Eric, and Kyle all chose SDviking's song "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Despite the occasionally mind-boggling things that the team does, the Vikings are always going to be our team so, here's some musical solidarity. I swear, Rick Astley looks like Anthony Michael Hall did in The Breakfast Club...
And there you have it, the winners of our first song contest for the 2012 season. Congratulations to Ryan Boser and SDviking for winning top honors today and the joy of our imaginary Burger King crown. My thanks to everyone who participated and submitted such great songs. Also, my thanks to my fellow DN writers for helping me choose the winners.
I still have no idea what the working title for our 2012 soundtrack should be so if you have a good idea what the working title should be, please share it with me in the comments. Looking forward to hearing from you!