Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 7/12

Good morning, Minnesota Vikings fans! My apologies for being a bit later than usual with the Open Thread here this morning. . .had to put the finishing touches on a paper I was writing for a college class I'm taking. However, that one is in the books, and I can focus on the good stuff.

Yesterday, we put out the voting for the last two first round match-ups in our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament, with Tommy Kramer taking on Bobby Bryant and Mick Tingelhoff going against Korey Stringer. We will have the results of those for you before too much longer here, and we'll have the completely filled out bracket for you for the Round of 32 later on today.

Couple of things from around the internet. . .

-Ray Small, who you might remember was with the Vikings for about 15 minutes back in 2010, is looking at 30 years in jail. (Frankly, I'm surprised the media isn't referring to him as "former Minnesota Viking Ray Small.")

-The Vikings still have some questions at the wide receiver position. . .though not nearly as many as they had at this time last year, I don't think.

-Jared Allen is still learning how to run a charity. Seems to be doing a decent job so far.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as always, ladies and gentlemen. . .no politics, no religion, no feeding the trolls, and keep the bad language to a minimum and/or use the spoiler tags if you're going to curse.

Last song of Muppet week, folks. . .enjoy the ambient music!

Yeah, it's Sesame Street. It still counts.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Friday, ladies and gentlemen! Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll have more for you as the day goes on.