This evening, while engaging in some work-related nerdery. . .and I'm not sure that's even a real word, but work with me here. . .I came across one of the first signs that 2012 will be a much better year for the Vikings than this past season was. Granted, that's not a high hurdle to clear, but still.

No, it turns out that a couple from Pennsylvania went out to empty some of the traps they have in their yard to keep rodents away from their numerous bird feeders, and found a purple squirrel. Yes, the squirrel was purple. That's the squirrel up there in the corner.

Nobody knows how it was that the squirrel came to be purple, although numerous theories have been advanced. The couple in the story, Percy and Connie Emert, make their home in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, so it's probably just a matter of time before the squirrel starts fist-pumping, walking around with a fauxhawk, and getting involved in a relationship with Snooki.

And, if you're interested, the purple squirrel has its own FaceBook page and its own Twitter account. . .because really, why wouldn't it?

But, if you believe in omens. . .well, this has to have some meaning for our favorite football team, doesn't it? Unless you think the squirrel is connected to the Baltimore Ravens somehow, which is clearly not the case.

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." - Mark Twain

Once again, on this day, countries throughout the world celebrate those that have served their country. Not just here in America, but in countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, along with a host of others. Today marks the day that armistice that ended World War I was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest in France, marking the end of major hostilities in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Being someone that has served, is serving, and will continue to serve for the foreseeable future, this day has a great deal of significance to me. . .not due to my own actions and my own service, mind you, but because of the service of those that have come before me. I know that we have a lot of currently serving folks within our midst here at DN, and we also have those that have done their time and moved on to the next chapter of their lives (such as our own Ted Glover, among others). Today, there will be parades and other ceremonies to recognize those individuals that have worn the uniform, and to remember the ones that never came home.

Recognizing and remembering those individuals isn't something that should stop when the calendar flips over to 12 November, to be certain. But, on this day in particular, if you happen to see someone that you can recognize as a veteran, I urge you to take a moment to shake their hand. . .or pick up the tab for their lunch. . .or just listen to some of the stories of what they went through and that made them who they are today. There are a lot of veterans that are getting up there in years. . .those from World War II, Korea, and even Vietnam. . .and their numbers become fewer every year. Soon, just as we did recently with the passing of World War I's final combat veteran, we will lose those links to our history. That's something we can not, and should not, allow to happen.

After the jump, you will find the text of the infamous "Blood and Guts" speech given by General George Patton to the Third Army prior to the invasion of France in June of 1944. It's after the jump because it's unedited. . .keeping in mind that a) there was no such thing as "political correctness" back in 1944, and b) General Patton liked his swear words. A lot.

Have a peaceful Veterans Day, ladies and gentlemen.

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Gone far, far too soon...

Ten years ago today, the darkest moment in Vikings history occurred when RT Korey Stringer collapsed and died during practice at training camp in Mankato.  Stringer was rushed to the hospital, and fought like the champion he was for several hours, but in the end, his organs shut down and he succumbed. 

Drafted out of Ohio State in 1995, he was emerging as one of the better tackles in the game, having made the Pro Bowl in 2000, and by all accounts was a great teammate.  Cris Carter, Dennis Green, and Randy Moss were almost inconsolable when they met the press, and The Big Man's memory is still with Vikings fans 10 years later.

The Vikings, along with the rest of the NFL, made sweeping changes to how practices are conducted in hot weather, and hopefully, his death has not been in vain.

Then offensive line coach Mike Tice summed it up best at Stringer's funeral when he said 'God needed a right tackle'.

Rest in peace, Korey, and Godspeed.

We'll return you to the best, most professional, most well-written Minnesota Vikings' discussion on the internet momentarily, but I wanted to quickly touch on this since it was a pretty big deal.

I'm sure that at least some of you, and hopefully most of you, treated yourself to the final match of the Women's World Cup this afternoon. While the United States did not come out on top, it was a hell of a game all around, and as someone that really doesn't know a whole lot about soccer, I was locked in from start to finish.

While I was pulling for the U.S.A. just like many others were, I'm not terribly angered or depressed by the loss, largely because of who the loss came to, as was expressed by Bruce Raffel at Baltimore Beatdown (SB Nation's Baltimore Ravens site) before the match started today.

Japan, as a country, has spent the better part of the last few months getting kicked in the face. There was the huge tsunami and that was followed up by more earthquakes and aftershocks, all of which caused a great deal of damage to the island nation (somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 billion). They're just getting going in what's going to be a huge rebuilding process, and their women's national soccer team gave them something to rally around. The way they rallied after being down a goal on two separate occasions, scoring the equalizer with about three minutes left to go in the contest to force penalty kicks, is to be commended.

Yes, it would have been awesome for us as Americans to be able to yell "AMERICA! F*** YEAH!" for a few days, as is our wont when big things happen. But really. . .and I know this is going to offend some of our more die-hard soccer fans, so I'll apologize in advance. . .how long would it have been a big deal to us? Sure, Hope Solo could have gone on Jimmy Kimmel and Abby Wambach could have gone on Letterman to head various cuts of meat into the audience (or whatever it is that Dave does now, exactly), but after that, it probably wouldn't have been all that big a deal.

The ladies from Japan, on the other hand? They're going to be legends in their country for a very long time to come. They've provided comfort to a people that needed it when they needed it the most. They were the underdog in today's match, and they gave their country one for the ages.

And hey. . .that banner in the picture at the top? They carried that across the field before every match. How can you not love that? (And no, I don't advise that the Vikings try to make that sort of thing work. I have a weird feeling the reception might be a little different.)

So, congratulations to both sides that competed today, and here's hoping that we as Americans can fend off our disappointment, however temporary or intense it might be.

This past weekend, one of the two big stories (along with the U.S.A.'s win in the Women's World Cup) was that of New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter collecting career hit number 3,000. He's the 28th member of the 3,000 hit club, and only the second person to hit a home run for his 3,000th career hit.

As the ball went into the seats at Yankee Stadium, that means it inevitably wound up in the hands of a fan. . .in this case, a 23-year old cell phone salesman that was quoted as saying that he had some debts he could pay off. Now, some estimates placed the ball in question as being worth right around a quarter of a million dollars, which would certainly go a long way towards paying off a great deal of debt for a person.

But, rather than cashing it in and putting the ball on the open market, Lopez took a different tack. . .he simply returned the ball to Jeter. Don't get me wrong, the Yankees rewarded Lopez quite nicely. . .and the IRS is probably going to come knocking as a result. . .but what he's getting from the team is still a pretty far cry from a quarter of a million dollars.

As we know, football doesn't lend itself very well to this kind of thing. After all, when Adrian Peterson set the single-game rushing record, everybody knew where the football was. When Brett Favre threw his 500th touchdown pass, everybody knew where the ball was. Baseball, however, is subject to this kind of thing.

So, if you managed to find yourself holding a piece of history such as this, what would you do? Would you be able to do the "right thing" and just give it up, or would you cash it in to help yourself and your family in pretty tough economic times? Be as honest as you can, ladies and gentlemen.

Once again, it's that time of year where we all celebrate this amazing experiment that we're a part of.

The greatest country on the planet came into being 235 years ago with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Today is a day of reflection and celebration of that event. Hopefully you will be spending this holiday with friends and family doing just that.

There probably isn't going to be a whole lot of action here today, but we'll pick back up with things tomorrow.

After the jump, the full text of that which we celebrate today. Enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: I am not receiving anything from the folks at Buffalo Wild Wings for posting the following story, and neither is anybody else connected to the site. Because I am truly a man of the people, I am doing this for all of you.

If the NFL Lockout moves into the regular season, places like Buffalo Wild Wings will be very negatively impacted by it. Buffalo Wild Wings is a pretty enjoyable place to watch football on Sundays if you're not willing to pay for the Sunday Ticket package or if you're outside of the domain of your favorite team.

So, the folks at Buffalo Wild Wings have come up with something. . .I don't know how much incentive it's going to provide anyone to get anything done, but it's interesting anyway.

What it amounts to is this. . .if the NFL Lockout comes to an end before July 20, the original date for teams to be able to report to Training Camp, Buffalo Wild Wings will give six free chicken wings to everybody that signs their "Save Our Season" petition on the restaurant's FaceBook page.

So, hey, if you're interested in that kind of thing. . .you know, free food and things of that nature. . .feel free to check it out!

For many of us, our fathers played a huge role in numerous aspects of our lives. In particular, for the purposes of our little community here, many of them helped to steer us in the direction of being fans of the Minnesota Vikings, something for which we all owe them a great deal of gratitude.

While there's a very good chance that many of you will be out and about doing various different activities on this Father's Day, please feel free to use this thread to share any Viking-related memories that you have of your dad. I'm sure that there are a lot of you out there that have great stories to share about that sort of thing.

From The Daily Norseman to all of the fathers out there, we hope that you have an outstanding Father's Day. Big shout out to my dad as well, who you may have seen posting around here occasionally as "GonzoDad," for the role he played in helping to make me who I am. . .after all, without him, this site probably wouldn't be here, and that would kind of suck, wouldn't it?

Again, Happy Father's Day, dads of Viking Nation!