OK, so I'm not quite as good looking as Erin Andrews or Rachel Nichols, but I'm really starting to get the hang of interviewing professional athletes.

After getting the opportunity to interview Anthony Herrera two weeks ago, I was able to dupe another PR firm get some time to sit down with Toby Gerhart while he signed autographs in Burnsville this afternoon. Before I get to the Q&A, here are some of the things I learned about Gerhart today:

• He's a good multi-tasker. There was a pretty long line for autographs while I sat at the table with him, so he signed in between questions to make sure everyone got one before the event ended.
• He's accountable. I was planning on bringing up the fumbling, but he beat me to it and took full responsibility.
  
• He heard about Childress' firing just like we did.
• He thinks his former teammate Andrew Luck should go pro next year.
• I learned that if I ever sit next to him again, I better do some more curls beforehand. Dude's got some huge arms.

Here's what Gerhart had to say:

Daily Norseman: You've had a pretty eventful rookie season here in Minnesota to say the least. Of course that all came to a head yesterday with the firing of Brad Childress. It sounds like a lot of players heard about it on Twitter or ESPN before anything else--how did you hear about it, and how surprised were you to hear the news?
Toby Gerhart: Yeah, it was news to us. I found out how everyone else found out. We were sitting there eating breakfast in the kitchen, and it crossed the bottom of the screen on the ticker that he had been fired. We came into our team meeting about an hour later and Zygi [Wilf] came in and talked to the team. Then Coach Frazier came in and talked to the team and basically said we need to come back on Wednesday ready to go.

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I've always enjoyed being a writer for Daily Norseman, but days like today make me truly appreciate how lucky I am to write here. Every once in a while, they let me pretend to be an actual member of the media!

Yours truly was able to procure an interview with Vikings Guard Anthony Herrera to talk a little bit about the season and the upcoming game against the Bears on Sunday. The interview was made possible by the good folks at Prilosec, who you'll recognize from their weekly "Victory Of The Week" sponsored posts here. (And after Sunday's game, I think we all need a little heartburn relief!) Be sure to check out Anthony's page over on the Prilosec OTC site. Here's a transcript of our interview:

Daily Norseman: Thanks for taking some time out of your day. Let's talk about the week this team had last week. We had stories about Brett Favre, Randy Moss, Childress with his job security and his blowup with Percy Harvin--this past week and this season as a whole have to be unlike any other you've experienced during your time in the NFL, right?

Anthony Herrera: Um, not really. You know I've been in the league since 2004 and I was around when Randy was here before. I was here when he was traded under Coach [Mike] Tice, so I've been through a couple things, a little bit up here. So at the end of the day I think that's more the media being what the media is, doing what they do, and fans speaking out, but at the end of the day we gotta go out and play a football game on Sunday. Nobody's coming between those lines during those 60 minutes to help us or help beat us or anything like that. We have to focus, go out there, do the best job we can, and get a W.

DN: So how do you personally and the rest of the offensive line deal with all the distractions? Is it just nothing but business on the field and you just focus on the task at hand?

AH: Yeah that's it man, it's just business for us. You always hear what's going on but we try to stay away from that. You go out there, you go to work, you get your job done, you study your film, get to know your opponent, get to know your defense, know what your coaches are asking you to do. At the end of the week that's all you focus on--it's the NFL, you get paid to be a professional.

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So yesterday, we looked at the unrestricted free agents the Vikings have entering the 2010 season.  Today, let’s look at the restricted free agents.  For me, I try to answer two questions that come to mind when looking at restricted free agents.  Is there a demand for that individual based on production at his position?  Is it worth losing possible draft picks to acquire this person?  Once you answer those questions, I think you have a pretty good understanding on whether or not a particular player might be moving on.  So with that, let’s see what the Vikings are going to be dealing with.  One thing to keep in mind, some of these guys are considered restricted free agents because of the looming uncapped year.  If a new CBA is agreed upon, I know Tarvaris Jackson becomes an unrestricted free agent, as might Cook and Edwards.  Well, that's based on the language of the current CBA, which could change.  But the CBA is about to expire.  And no one likes it.  But they agreed to it...whatever. 

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