So, did I miss anything major?
Oh, there was a thing where Brett Favre allegedly said something and the whole world freaked out, was there? Gee. . .I, for one, am shocked. Completely and totally surprised by this development. Unfortunately, I was in the car driving for most of the day Tuesday and (shockingly) not listening to sports radio or anything like that, so I missed the majority of the coverage, but Ted and Eric did a fine job over here and had me caught up on everything in no time.
I'm quite happy for the whole thing playing out the way it did. . .the proverbial needle moved on the site to a higher number than it had in quite some time, which is always good. Of course, at least some of that came from fans of other teams feeling the need to come over here and, for lack of a better term, show their ass to the world about the entire situation. (I mean, if my team had a lifetime loser like Jay Cutler at quarterback, I'd be excited about something like Favre hanging it up, too, but I could conduct myself with more intelligence than your average five-year-old in doing so.) Ted and Eric and I have been fairly consistent in our stance on Favre the entire time. . .that we firmly believe that he's coming back, and will continue to believe so until 9 September comes around and Tarvaris Jackson takes that first snap from John Sullivan instead of Brett Favre. Nothing that happened on Tuesday did anything to change that.
But, if I may channel my inner Bill Simmons for a moment, Tuesday's situation proved one thing, above all else. It proved that Brett Favre is Warden Norton, and the American sports media. . .ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and everybody in-between. . .is his personal Andy Dufresne.
I wish I could tell you that the media fought the good fight, and that Brett Favre let them be. I wish I could tell you that - but the National Football League is no fairy-tale world. They never said who did it, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile - football life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, the media would show up with fresh bruises. Brett kept at them - sometimes they were able to fight him off, sometimes not. And that's how it went for the media - that was their routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for them, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of them.
Once again, we have the media whining to anyone that will listen that Favre is nothing but an attention seeker one day. . .and then halting basically all of their coverage of every other sport in order to cover him non-stop the next. Last night on SportsCenter, either John Anderson or Scott Van Pelt. . .I'll be darned if I can remember which one it was. . .basically said that we were supposed to forget that Tuesday ever happened. It's a nice sentiment, but we all know what went on. The collective sports media got pimp-slapped by Brett Favre. . .again. . .and it was great.
Fans of opposing teams got collectively pimp-slapped by Brett Favre. . .again. . .and that was just as great. Particularly for the five-year-olds that trundled over here yesterday to celebrate. If those people had any decency, they'd feel really, really stupid right now. . .but, they don't, so I'm guessing nothing has changed.
And for us Viking fans. . .well, it was a nice distraction, but ultimately nothing changed. I saw no panic, no worry, nothing like that. Why? Well, probably because. . .at the risk of sounding incredibly arrogant here. . .we're the smartest people in the room on this matter. And we have the least to worry about. We don't need to breathlessly track the moves of every other team in the division or conference in the pre-season.
Does it matter to us that Jay Cutler actually went five consecutive minutes without throwing an interception in camp? No.
Are we concerned that the Packers might be on their way to having the OMG GREATEST PRE-SEASON EVER for the second consecutive year? Not really.
Why? Because, quite frankly, those teams finished last season in Minnesota's rear-view mirror, and neither of them did anything this off-season to even earn the right to move into the left-hand lane, let alone pass us. But when you're on top, everyone is watching and over-analyzing every move you make. And when you throw Brett Favre into the equation. . .particularly after fans of those same teams spent all year last year telling us that he was nowhere near as good as their young, "franchise" quarterbacks. . .well, it's just going to make it worse.
So, let's just sit back and enjoy the rest of the pre-season. . .and when #4 leads the team onto the field for the third pre-season game, let's just smile and laugh to ourselves, and remember that we were right from the start on this whole thing.
Keep it tuned here for the best Vikings coverage anywhere. . .Ted and Eric have been doing a great job so far, and hopefully I'll be back for good in a few days. Take care, everyone!