Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 7/21

Happy Monday, everybody! My apologies for being a little scarce last week. . .had a course I had to sit through that took up most of my time. But I'm back, and not a minute too soon, because it's TRAINING CAMP WEEK, baby! That's right. . .starting on Friday, our crew of writers will be among the throng of media in Mankato watching the Minnesota Vikings prepare for the 2014 NFL season.

Oh, and we're just 17 days away until the first pre-season game of the season, as the Vikings will make their TCF Bank Stadium debut. . .well, their intentional debut, anyway. . .against the Oakland Raiders. How great is that, huh?

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

-Former punter Chris Kluwe remains the topic du jour when it comes to the Vikings, as it turns out he's still going to sue the team.

-Eric pointed out that there are still more questions than answers regarding the whole situation.

-Ted gave us a look at how some of Kluwe's recent statements might affect his standing in the court of public opinion.

-In actual, honest-to-goodness football-type news, CCNorseman and one of our readers (Brad Davis) have put together a model for predicting quarterback performance.

-Also, the National Football League should take a look at their blackout rule and their Sunday Ticket package.

-Lastly, don't miss this look at Cordarrelle Patterson's rookie season. . .pretty much every snap of it.

From some other sources around the web. . .

-With the recent changes in personnel, Brian Robison is now the leader on the team's defensive line.

-With a new stadium being constructed, somebody has to clean up the mess.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, ladies and gentlemen. . .no religion, no politics, no feeding of the trolls, keep the language relatively clean (with spoiler tags, if necessary), and keep the GIFs relatively work-safe.

Since I missed out on Mandatory Fun week last week, let's go ahead and do those videos this week, eh?

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for this Monday, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy the rest of your day!