This morning on ESPN Radio, Mike and Mike In The Morning. . .who I generally think do a pretty decent job. . .did their preview of the Minnesota Vikings as part of their "Two-a-Days" where they look at all the NFL teams going into the season. As a part of their preview, they go through five questions about each team. One question in particular shows just how little research they do and how little they care about certain teams.
You can listen to the clip yourself here, and I will transcribe the bit in question after the jump. It comes at approximately the 1:40 mark of the clip.
The question is, "Will the rumors of the team moving to L.A. affect on-field performance?"
Golic's response: "No, that's not gonna affect any player's performance. Players, you know, are playing for the Minnesota Vikings, but they're playing for 'Each Individual Player, Inc.' as well. So, to be distracted by the thought of that would be foolish for a player. Your best thing to do is to do the absolute best you can on the field. That's going to help yourself out."
Greenberg did not have a response. Daily Norseman special correspondent Mike Mizanin has some analysis.
Gotta love it.
I guess we can't blame ESPN too much. They've been blissfully unaware of the existence of about 90% of North America's professional sports teams west of the Ohio River for a very long time now. We can't really expect them to know that the government of the state of Minnesota passed legislation for a brand new Minnesota Vikings stadium just a shade over three months ago, with groundbreaking scheduled to take place next spring.
After all, why would the Worldwide Leader™ bother themselves with such trivialities?
But, to answer the question. . .no, the players for the Minnesota Vikings will not be distracted by rumors of the team moving to Los Angeles, because the team isn't moving to Los Angeles. Or Toronto. Or London. Or Mexico City. Or Tokyo. Or Brisbane. Or Kuala Lumpur. Or Ulan Bator. Or anywhere else. Because they got a deal for a new stadium in Minnesota that will be opening in 2016.