-First off, if you missed the story on any of the 27 other SBN blogs that reported it, Madden 2008 came out yesterday for every video game system on the planet. I have my copy, and I've gotten to play around with it a little bit. I'm not going to be able to give my full impressions until this weekend when I finally get to dive totally headfirst into it, but a review will be coming here at some point.
-A big THANK YOU to everyone out there in Interweb land for tuning into the podcast yesterday for the NFC North preview. I'll do a more in-depth NFC North preview before we get to the regular season. For right now, I'll just repeat the basic conclusion I came to last night. . .the division is Chicago's to lose, but they're plenty capable of losing it.
-Vikings LB Jason Glenn has announced his retirement from the NFL. Glenn blew out his ACL last year, and just never really got all the way back. The meeting that he made his announcement to his teammates was said to be quite emotional, and understandably so.
We here at the Daily Norseman wish Mr. Glenn the best in his future endeavors.
-Speaking of careers continuing, Erasmus James was activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list, according to Access Vikings. It hasn't officially been determined whether or not #99 will see any action against the Jets on Friday, but Brad Childress said he'd be more inclined to wait another week.
In other roster moves, the Vikings signed two linebackers: George Hall (Purdue) and Cameron Siskowic (Illinois State).
-What we DO know about the Jets' game is the quarterback rotation. Tarvaris Jackson WILL start and play the first quarter, and Brooks Bollinger will enter in the second quarter. The first-string offense is expected to play the entire first half, so both quarterbacks are expected to get time with the #1 unit.
Meanwhile, the third quarter will be spent wasting pre-season snaps on Drew Henson, while Tyler Thigpen will play the last quarter.
-We're less than 48 hours away from the start of the Vikings' second pre-season game, which means we're less than 48 hours away from the draft for the first ever Daily Norseman Fantasy Football League! As much as I would love to take a stab at "live blogging" the draft, I don't think it would be possible for me to do that and concentrate on my own drafting of players at the same time. I'm no Bill Simmons, after all.
(I believe that sound I hear is approximately half of the the audience saying "no kidding" and the other half saying "thank God.")
-On a personal note, I've started a website to detail something that probably proves that "Gonzo" isn't just a nickname, it's also a state of mind. FOCUS on the Finish is part training blog, part memoir. I'm using it to detail the travails of my training partner, Heidi, and myself as we prepare ourselves to run a full-on marathon sometime next year.
Yes, Gonzo is going to run a marathon. 26.2 miles. WITHOUT being chased by a bear or anything. Right now, I'm worn out just thinking about it. So yeah, feel free to check it out. It might even serve as a motivator. . .because, hey, if MY tubby ass can do it, ANYONE'S tubby ass can do it.
And that's all for tonight, ladies and gentlemen! More fun and excitement about the beloved Purple tomorrow.