A lovely, heartwarming story from Judd Zulgad over at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
The brief fight involved defensive end Erasmus James and running back Chester Taylor, according to people with knowledge of the situation. It's unclear what precipitated the scuffle, but according to accounts, James threw a punch that landed around Taylor's right eye. Taylor retaliated by attempting to throw a chair, but it accidentally hit left tackle Bryant McKinnie. Taylor and McKinnie, who have lockers close to each other, are good friends, and that apparently brought an end to the incident.
Taylor made a brief appearance in the Winter Park locker room during the media access period Thursday and had a shiner underneath the eye. James, meanwhile, was added to the Vikings injury report Thursday because of a shoulder problem that limited him in practice.
It was not known if James hurt his shoulder in the fight or during Wednesday's practice.
The most amazing part of this story? The fact that Bryant McKinnie actually blocked something. It's the first thing he's blocked since the Atlanta game.
Seriously, maybe Erasmus James should worry more about getting his ass on the field (particularly with the injury to Darrion Scott) than doing stupid crap like this. And maybe Chester Taylor should try to figure out how to at least carry 2007 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson's jock strap before he does something like this. Throwing a chair? When the hell did we enter ECW?
Is it just me, or do the Vikings always seem to do something like this at exactly the worst possible time? This team is going into the game that's going to pretty much determine which way their season is going to go. They're playing an offense that is, quite frankly, not very good and is banged-up, while the Vikings are coming off of a bye and are relatively healthy. They haven't won at Chicago since 2000, and they sure as hell aren't going to if they keep acting like this.
Between Sharper running his mouth and now this happening on the Thursday before a game, this season is running the risk of getting out of control in a hurry. Somebody needs to step up and lead so this crap stops happening. I personally don't care if it's a player or a coach, but it's gotta be somebody.