Some stuff that I've found while waiting for the new South Park to kick off. . .

-The pre-season schedule has been finalized, according to Access Vikings.  The game against the Seahawks will be on 8 August (Friday), the game at Baltimore will be on 16 August (Saturday), the nationally-featured game against the Steelers will be on 23 August (Saturday), and the finale at Dallas will take place on 28 August (Thursday).

-Football Outsiders has done Version 1.0 of their mock draft.  It's pretty obvious that the Vikings' greatest need is at defensive end, so the folks at FO.com alleviate that problem by. . .drafting a quarterback and a wide receiver in the first two rounds.  Can't argue that logic!  Of course, that would imply that there was logic to be argued.

-The folks over at Grant's Tomb hopes that Tarvaris Jackson will be allowed to turn it loose during the pre-season this year.  I whole-heartedly agree with that sentiment.  We KNOW that the Vikings are going to run the ball. . .but the passing offense needs to establish itself as a threat this season to truly get the job done.

-PV's Sports Toothache, as always, has lots of interesting info. . .including the fairly nauseating revelation that some other team in the division has gotten to open the season at home in 20 of the last 23 seasons.  Which one?  You can probably guess. . .but head over to PV's place anyhow.

-TBird over at The Ragnarok has some very well-done previews of some potential Vikings first-round selections.

-There's another source for Minnesota sports news on the Internet. . .so go and check out the Minnesota Sports Report.  The Daily Norseman will be a part of their feeds here in the relatively near future.

-Vikings War Cry explores the possibility of the Vikings trading up in the 2008 Draft.  Not a move that I'd be crazy about, but I can see the logic there.

That's all for tonight, folks. . .have a good one, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!