:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/19005841/blairwalsh_m_usatsi_7374636.0.jpg)
The first real game of the NFL season kicks off tonight, ladies and gentlemen! It doesn't involve the Minnesota Vikings. . .we've still got a few days to wait for that one. . .but I know that I'll be watching. (Of course, it helps that kickoff is at around 9:00 Friday morning local time. . .but I'm sure I'd be watching it anyway.) We'll probably do another Open Thread for tonight's game, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .
-Defensive end Everson Griffen has been tabbed as a "breakout star" by Peter King's MMQB. And, in a completely unrelated occurrence. . .
Per E. Griffen, contract extension talks are ongoing between his agent and the #Vikings.
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) September 4, 2013
-SB Nation has their 2013 NFL Preview up. It's real purrrrrrrrrrrrrty.
-The Vikings' stadium will move ahead as scheduled. The sentiment from the anti-stadium crowd can be summarized thusly: DERP LOS ANGELES VIKINGS HERPA DERPA WILFARE DERPA DERPA DOOOOOOO.
From some other outposts around the internet. . .
-Vikings' quarterback Christian Ponder is "fully confident in what he's doing" going into the season opener. This raises the number of people that have that level of confidence into the low double figures.
-Defensive tackle Kevin Williams again missed practice on Wednesday. Not a good sign.
-Speaking of defensive tackles, it sounds like the Vikings are expecting Christian Ballard to be back sometime around two thousand and never
-Vikings' cornerback Chris Cook is looking forward to his match-up against Detroit wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
-The Vikings also swapped practice squad running backs on Wednesday, adding Bradley Randle and waiving Joe Banyard.
The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, folks. . .no politics, no religion, no feeding of the trolls, and keep the bad language to a minimum/use the spoiler tags if you feel the need to curse.
I guess our song choices for this week have trended a bit towards the unusual. . .let's keep going with that. WARNING: There are a couple of naughty words in the video here. . .not many.
With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for this FIRST NIGHT OF NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ACTION THAT MATTERS. How can we not be happy about that?