There were many different ways to recognize Brett Favre's arrival in Minnesota.  I bought a Favre jersey.  I'm sure Brett Favre shot glasses have been flying off the shelves -- and, for the ladies, Favre jersey earrings.  Some people were unhappy with the deal and voiced their displeasure on places like talk radio or this fine blog.

But a truly original way to commemorate the moment Favre became a Viking?  As the Winona Daily News reports, a woman came into a Winona Tires Plus after her car broke down.  She told this to the repairman:

"Oh, by the way," the woman said. "I have a goat in my trunk."

If you thought that was weird, it gets even weirder:

The goat had been painted purple and gold - the colors for the Minnesota Vikings. Shaved into its side was the No. 4 - the number of Brett Favre, who made his Vikings debut Friday night in a preseason game in the Twin Cities.

I think the Vikings need to open a few more souvenir shops in greater Minnesota.  Just get a jersey!

Or, Bruce Ciskie suggests this person could have been a Packers fan who was having a difficult time handling the Favre news.  Hmm....

Hat tip: The Big Lead

Yes, I used that same video last 4th of July. . .and, yes, it's every bit as awesome this year as it was last year.

Today the greatest experiment in the history of the world turns 233 years old.  I'm proud as hell to be a part of it, and even more proud to be able to serve it on a daily basis.  I have the ability to say what I want, when I want, wherever I want without fear of being dragged into jail or executed for my words.  Not just about Vikings football, obviously, but about any subject at all.

I realize that not everybody is in love with this concept.  Not everybody is in love with the American military.  Frankly, there are some people that hate both of those things, whether they're right here at home or overseas.  That's an opinion that they're entitled to, and a feeling that they're entitled to express.

Just as I have the freedom, on this or any other day, to tell those people to go screw themselves.

Thanks to what happened 233 years ago today, I currently hold the two greatest jobs in the world. . .waking up every morning and putting my Air Force uniform on, and coming home to talk about Vikings football with all of you folks.  Life doesn't get any better than this, and there isn't another place where I could be given that opportunity.

I've got a Colors detail to do for Honor Guard at noon today over at the Edgewater Mall in Biloxi (if any of you are in the area. . .it's part of the Bike Week festivities), and at some point later today I'll be back with some random Vikings thoughts and (possibly) some more info about the Podcast.  Until then, enjoy your 4th of July, and practice good fireworks safety. . .remember, it's harder to comment here at DN if you're missing fingers, after all.

Hey, remember a while back when I talked about how I was testing for promotion and that I was waiting to hear back about the results?

Well, today was the big day. . .the results are in, and yours truly is going from E-5 to E-6.  Woo-hoo!

I'm not sure of the exact date I'll be sewing on or anything yet.  Once I get home from work, I'll expand this post further to give an explanation of how the promotion system works.  But I thought I'd just get this up here now.

Now I suppose I can stop worrying about whether or not I'm getting promoted and get back to concentrating on Vikings' football, eh?  Yeah, that would probably be for the best.  (-:

Thanks to everyone out there that wished me well and supported me during the past few months when it came to this.  This is pretty huge for me, and I couldn't possibly be happier.

As anyone that's followed this website for any length of time knows, I'm a proud citizen of the state of North Dakota.  My residency of North Dakota is a big part of the reason that I'm currently a Vikings fan, because they were guaranteed to be broadcast every Fall Sunday in our humble little town of Forman (population 700).  And unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of days, you've no doubt heard about the floods that are going to be rocking the state here in short order.

Depending on what source you're getting your information from, a mandatory evacuation of the city of Fargo, North Dakota's largest city, is either pending or has already been ordered.  As far as I can tell, the order has not been given yet. . .but in situations like these, there's nothing wrong with hoping for the best and planning for the worst.  Bismarck, North Dakota's capital, doesn't look like it's safe, either, as they've began to experience some flooding as well.

The city of Fargo is calling for 2,000 volunteers to fill sandbags in an attempt to build the dikes around the Red River higher and, hopefully, stave off the better portion of these flood waters.  I'm sure that the people in Bismarck could use some help as well.  Personally, I wish I could jump in the car, drive up there myself, and grab a shovel like a lot of us did for the Grand Forks floods of 1997. . .unfortunately, I can not, as I have duties to attend to here in Mississippi.  But I urge you, if you're physically able, to please give some serious consideration to assisting in any way possible.  This flooding isn't going to be somebody else's problem. . .it's going to be everybody's problem.  Even if the flood can't be stopped completely, its effect can (hopefully) be lessened by a group effort to keep things from getting worse.

And if you're not willing to volunteer, for whatever reason, let me pass some advice that we get given whenever there's a hurricane that looks like it's headed for the Gulf Coast here.

Start packing.

Get the important stuff. . .insurance paperwork and other important documents, family pictures, stuff that can't generally be replaced.  Put your things into something waterproof, if you haven't done so already, and have it sitting by the door.  That way, when the evacuation order IS given, if it comes to that, you can grab your container, get the kids and the pets into the car, and get the heck out of Dodge.

If you're too far away, which is the unfortunate situation I find myself in, do your best to try to keep in contact with any relatives that might be affected by this.  Keep the residents of Fargo and Bismarck and everywhere else in North Dakota that could potentially be affected by this in your thoughts and prayers.

Hopefully, this won't be as bad as the projections are saying.  If anyone out there wants to use this thread to update the situation, feel free. . .hopefully the updates will be coming from people that are far away from ND that are sitting at home hearing the news on the radio or on TV and not people that are still sitting there waiting for the worst to happen.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen. . .the test is over and done with, and now I get the joy of waiting until June to find out if all my hard work and studying paid off, or if I get to go through the same thing this time next year.  I appreciate the thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes that all of you folks out there sent my way over the course of the past week or so. . .hopefully some good will come of it!

Unfortunately, with the test being finished, not all is sunshine and lollipops over at this end.  While I was studying last night, my computer decided to. . .if I may use technical jargon. . .crap the bed.  I had a full-on master hard disk failure, and I'm awaiting a Dell technician to come out and replace the hard drive.  This has helped me to learn the lesson of getting some sort of backup apparatus when my computer is up and running again, whether it's an external hard drive or one of those online backup services, because everything that's on my current hard drive is going to be gone.  Hopefully that problem will be solved no later than Wednesday.

And, once again, it's been an uncharacteristically quiet off-season in Viking land thus far.  Our players aren't running anyone over with cars or whining about being disrespected or being shielded from the media two weeks after being made the highest-paid defensive player in league history or anything crazy like that.  And while that makes for a lot of stability. . .it makes for a really dull off-season.

However, we're officially less than six weeks away from the 2009 NFL Draft, and things will finally start heating up here with speculation about who the Beloved Purple might select. . .or who they might trade their draft picks for.  Regardless of what happens, we'll be right here for every second of it.

Thanks again to all of you for making this site what it is, and thanks again for the well-wishes on my test.  We'll see you back here tomorrow, hopefully with something that's actually related to our favorite team.  Enjoy the rest of your Monday, ladies and gentlemen. . .the Jack Bauer Happy Fun Time Killing and Death Hour kicks off in a little less than three hours.

As Gonzo pointed out below, All is Quiet on the Northern Front. I havn't been nearly as active as I would like to be, partly due to the fact that absolutely nothing is happening. It could just be a matter of perspective, but many of us are getting very fed up with this lack of activity.

To keep our minds away from the current status of Cutler's house on the market (seven bathrooms and a dog run? Seriously?), or the current age of Torry Holt here is a brief look at the current state of the other Minnesota sports.

Continue reading this post »

Good evening, all.  Just wanting to let everybody know that yours truly is probably going to remain fairly silent this week.  The reason behind that is because I'm studying my tail off for my Air Force promotion test.  The actual test will take place on Monday morning, but I'm spending this week with my nose buried in the books preparing for it.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the WAPS (Weighted Airman Promotion System) works, you can read about it thanks to Wikipedia.  Basically, next Monday morning I'll be taking the PFE and SKT tests. . .and then I get to wait until June to find out whether or not I actually scored well enough to get promoted to E-6.  That aspect of it sucks, but hopefully it will end up being worth the wait.  I only missed getting promoted last year by a little more than 5 points, so hopefully this year I can make up that gap.  The extra responsibility and career advancement would be nice.

After my test is done, things should be picking up around here.  Not only will my promotion stuff be out of the way, but I'm also done with Honor Guard until mid-June, so I shouldn't have any outside distractions and should be able to devote much more time and effort to the site here.  I apologize to anyone that feels that I've been derelict in my duty here thus far, but as you can see, I've had a lot going on.

That's all for this evening, folks. . .continue enjoying your Tuesday, ladies and gentlemen!

Yes, Viking fans, I'm sure you noticed that there was really no activity here yesterday, and there pretty much won't be any today, either.  Between Mrs. Gonzo having to work today and totally immersing myself in the Christmas present that she was kind enough to give me (Fallout 3 for the XBox 360), I've decided to take a day or two off from football and wondering whether or not Tom Coughlin is going to play this guy or that guy or some other guy this Sunday at the Metrodome.

So, I hope that all of you out there are enjoying your holiday season, and that we'll be back here to have everything you'll need to know about this weekend's make-or-break regular season finale between the Giants and the Vikings.

Merry Christmas, everybody!