Minnesota Vikings News And Links, 8/9

It's game day, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, our very own Minnesota Vikings will take the field for a (semi-) meaningful game for the first time since January 5, as they gather at the Metrodome this evening to do battle with the Houston Texans. We'll have the Game Thread up at about 6 PM Central, an hour before the scheduled kickoff. As far as whether we're going to do Open Threads for each half or each quarter or whatever. . .well, we'll just have to play that by ear and see how heavy the traffic is.

Oh, and if we didn't mention it before, Arif is going to be at the game, thanks to the Vikings' PR staff. His Twitter feed will be embedded into the Game Thread so we can get his observations as the game progresses.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-I put up my opinion on the whole Greg Jennings "brainwashing" thing. I think it's a non-issue. Your mileage may vary.

-We started getting into the swing of the pre-season, as we exchanged Five Good Questions with our friends from SB Nation's Texans site, Battle Red Blog. The five questions that I answered for them can be found right here.

-The latest edition of Norse Code is ready and available for your listening pleasure.

-Arif also has his notes for the offense from Days 9 and 10 of Training Camp, as well as the team's scrimmage from last week.

-The Elite 8 of our Greatest Viking Of All Time Tournament will be set here shortly as well, as the match-up between John Randle and Carl Eller is almost over with.

From some other outposts around the internet. . .

-Receiver Jarius Wright appears to be ready to break out for our favorite football team.

-George Stewart is, apparently, the "wide receiver whisperer." (Does that mean he's like that Cesar guy from Animal Planet?)

-Tight end John Carlson knows that this season is crucial for him.

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/use the spoiler tags if you feel the need to curse.

It's truly a special day, folks, as we get the gift of seeing our favorite football team take the field once again. It's like a holiday. It's almost like. . .Christmas.

Like I was going to let MST3K Week go by without A Patrick Swayze Christmas, from the Season Five episode featuring Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It's the pinnacle of music from the show, quite frankly.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for a FOOTBALL FRIDAY, folks. Keep an eye out for some more good stuff throughout the day, and the Game Thread will be up at 6 PM Central time.