Thirty years ago today, the 'Miracle on Ice' happened.  A group of kids, mostly from Minnesota, took on the best hockey team in the world, and beat them.  Where were you?  I remember living in northern Minnesota (East Grand Forks, home of the Green Wave) at the time, and for us, it was more than a game.  If you'll remember, a majority of these kids were from Minnesota and Wisconsin, and a majority of those kids were from places like Evelyth, Warroad, and Roseau, MN.  Spots on the map for most, but mythical high school hockey programs from High School Section 8, of which East Grand Forks was a part of.  For those of you who are just Vikings fans and have no connection to Minnesota other than the Vikings, please indulge me a few minutes.  For those of you older guys who are from Minnesota, especially northern Minnesota, follow me back home to early 1980, for just a few minutes, right after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Hey Saints fans--you might have your Voodoo and "gris-gris", but try beating THIS act of good karma on NFC Championship weekend! Bet none of the CSC writers did this! :)

View full size photo »

Warning: this story has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Vikings or the game against the Saints tomorrow. But indulge me if you will.

I'm sure you've all heard the rumor that Reggie Bush might propose to professional...um, something...Kim Kardashian if the Saints won the Super Bowl this year. (She's said it isn't true, but you can't trust anything celebrities say. Ever.) So in effort to counteract this development, I decided to go for a preemptive strike of good karma. Or something.

Yes, yours truly popped the question to his girlfriend of over two years this morning after sending her on a "scavenger hunt" of significant places to us throughout downtown Minneapolis. And believe it or not, despite all the eye-rolling sophomoric jokes I make every week on this site along with my unhealthy obsession with the Minnesota Vikings, she still said yes!

So now it's up to the Vikings. What do you say guys? How about making this the best weekend of my life tomorrow?

SKOL!! ONLY 29 HOURS TO KICKOFF!!

NOTE: If the Vikings happen to lose tomorrow, please don't blame my new fiancée OK? This was all my idea :)

SECOND NOTE: No, we will not be playing Prince's new song at our wedding, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's game. Sorry, but that song sucks. :)

We here at the Daily Norseman would like to join the football community at large in giving our condolences to the Spielman family, as it was learned tonight that Stephanie Spielman has lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 42.

Stephanie Spielman is the wife of Chris Spielman, who we all remember as a linebacker for the Detroit Lions from 1988 to 1995 after an outstanding career at Ohio State.  Chris Spielman is also the younger brother of Rick Spielman, who is currently the Vikings' Vice President of Player Personnel.

Stephanie is survived by Chris and their four children, Madison, Noah, Mason, and Audrey, as well as her mother and three sisters.

Again, our deepest condolences go out to the Spielman family in their time of need.

I'll make with the football stuff later on today.  However, today is about something much bigger than football.

I put this video on the site every 11 November, and the song develops a greater meaning for me with every year that passes by.  So some of you have seen and heard this one before.

After the jump, you'll find the text of General George S. Patton's "Blood and Guts" speech.  I'm putting it after the jump because, for starters, it's lengthy.  And also because. . .well, General Patton was known in his time for using some, shall we say, "colorful" language.  So there's your warning.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll be back with some Vikings stuff later on.

Continue reading this post »

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.