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It's generally not a terribly big story when a writer leaves a particular beat, particularly in the digital age that we're currently in, but as far as the world of Minnesota Vikings coverage is concerned, this is a pretty notable exception.
Yesterday, this announcement came across the Twitter.
At this fundraiser and I see the news is out. I am beyond excited to begin covering the NFL for @USATODAYsports beginning next month.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 25, 2013
Yes, folks, in a month or so, folks like me are going to have to steal stuff from somebody else look to another source for stories about our favorite football team to blog about.
Tom Pelissero has been one of my favorite Vikings' writers during the time he's been at 1500 ESPN. In a media market that generally trends toward the negative when it comes to the local sports teams, Pelissero always seemed to have a positive angle about the Vikings to look at. His weekly look at the game film from each week, complete with snap counts and ratings for each unit on the squad, was probably the most informative piece that came out every week about the team. I'm not sure if anyone can pick that up without a hitch.
I think that Tom Pelissero is also one of the few that realizes that sites like this one aren't really run by folks with Cheeto-stained fingers in their mom's basement or anything. (Well, mostly anyway. . .mmmmmmmmmmm, Cheetos.) From everything I've heard from the rest of our staff, he's always been nothing but cordial with the folks that have gone to Winter Park to cover Training Camp or the NFL Draft, and in the e-mails I've exchanged with him, he's always been willing to answer questions and discuss things about the team, no matter how inane I think my questions might be.
We here at The Daily Norseman wish Tom Pelissero the best of luck in his new gig with USA Today. Hopefully someone will be able to step in and ably fill the void going forward.