Horns, Swords and a Longship: Friday March 4th

Welcome to Friday, Vikings fans!

Longship Log:

K.C. Joyner's hopped on board the Teddy HYPE TRAIN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Terence Newman has expressed interest in returning to the Vikings for another season.

The Vikings have offered Mike Harris a two-year deal.

Around the Horns:

Vikings Journal: ForPete'sSake asks where the Vikings go from here. Here are ten names the Vikings might target in free agency. If you're interested, here are some of the biggest needs in free agency for our NFC North rivals.

Vikings Territory: Adam Patrick opines that the Vikings should cut Matt Kalil. The VT Question of the Week deals with Mike Wallace and whether he will return to the Vikings. Andy Carlson's got the VT podcast on the combine up.

Star Tribune: Mike Zimmer will be launching a foundation Saturday in honor of his late wife. Jerick McKinnon's role in the Vikings offense should grow next year.

Reddit: Vonn Bell is a reach for the Vikings in the first round.

Battle News from the front lines of the NFL:

Jermaine Kearse will not be returning to the Seahawks.

Starting negotiations for teams to acquire Jimmy Garoppolo expected to be a first round pick.

The Panthers announced they released DE Charles Johnson. In other free agency news, the Chargers released LB Donald Butler, the Texans are likely to release S Rahim Moore, and the Broncos have offered Brock Osweiler a deal (no word on terms as of yet). Oh, and the Jags released Zane Beadles, too.

Former Redskins DT Albert Haynesworth says brain aneurysms nearly killed him in 2015.

The Bills view Tyrod Taylor as an average QB and will be looking for a QB in the draft, according to Matt Miller.

It appears as though Tom Brady might still face punishment for the farce that was the football deflation mess in the 2014 season.

Minnesota sporting news update:

The Wild defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on the strength of power play goals from Mikael Granlund and CapFinn Koivu. The Wild retain their hold on the second wild card spot and return to action tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Twins have begun Spring Training games and currently hold a 1-1 record against the Boston Red Sox so far, winning their first game of the spring 7-4 on March 2 before dropping their second game of the season 5-6 in a heartbreaker that the Twins by all rights should have won if Joe Benson could run 90 feet at full effort. The Twins face their first non-Red Sox opponent this afternoon as they travel to Bradenton, Florida to face the Bucs. "Starting" for the Bucs is an old friend of the Twins, Francisco Liriano, who will be opposed by Tommy Milone. First pitch should happen sometime around 12:05 p.m.

It's high school boys hockey tournament time in Minnesota. The top four seeds in both classes advanced, the closest game occurring late yesterday evening with Grand Rapids HS winning in overtime against Bemidji. Games start at 11 a.m. today with #2A Breck School taking on #3A Thief River Falls, the 1 p.m. game is between #1A Hermantown and #4A St. Paul Academy and Summit School, the 6 p.m. game is between #2AA Stillwater and #3 Wayzata, and the 8 p.m. game features #1AA Eden Prairie and #4AA Grand Rapids. Enjoy the hockey, ladies and gents!

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Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:

-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags 
-No pictures that could potentially get someone fired or in serious trouble at their place of employment
-If you can't disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
-While navigating the open thread, just assume it's sarcasm

With that, the swords are sharp and the mead is flowing. Belly up and grab a horned helmet. Don't forget to tip Helga, and try the coffee cake.