Horns, Swords, and a Longship: July 29, 2016

Despite the always-great news of training camp starting, we say goodbye to a great actor.

Longship Log:

Time to call our shot, boys and girls: Who will be Mr. Mankato?

The Fearless Leader sat down with "Football is America" to talk about the Vikings.

There's been some quarterback intrigue on reporting day. Apparently his foot injury will keep Heinicke out of operation for up to three months.

Mike Zimmer received a contract extension yesterday.

The Vikings training camp will have more than a few battles to work through before it wraps in a few weeks.

A Houston Texans blogger put together a twenty minute video on the Vikings' defense.

Alex Boone told an amazing Kevin Williams story yesterday.

Ted and company are bringing back the "Roughing the Podcast" podcast.

Around the Horns:

1500ESPN.com: The "Sports Over Beers" podcast has their 80th episode where they talk about Mr. Mankato hopefuls. Joe Oberle wrote about the Vikings' report date and the external expectations about the Vikings. Episode 28 of the Star Power Podcast has dropped and they are discussing Denny Green, Phil Loadholt and Adrian Peterson. They have 4 Thoughts on the Vikings. Judd Zulgad thinks the Nick Foles to the Vikings rumors make a lot of sense.

Vikings Territory: It's Moving Day and Adam Patrick had the coverage for VT. Adam Warwas does a quick comparison between Mike Wallace and Laquon Treadwell.

Vikings Journal: PurplePTSD.com has their final edition of the power rankings. Chad Greenway is about to begin his final Vikings season.

Star Tribune: Patrick Reusse apparently was allowed to whine and complain in a newspaper editorial about not being invited to the Purple Gala. Teddy Bridgewater is welcoming the added pressure on him to succeed this season. Marcus Sherels has found his niche as the Vikings' nice special teams star. Linval Joseph says the Vikings' defensive line can be as good as they want themselves to be. The Vikings are reporting to training camp with Mike Zimmer locked down for the long haul.

Vikings.com: There are videos from Jarius Wright, Charles Johnson, Everson Griffen and Griffen again, Matt Kalil, Linval Joseph, Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, Blair Walsh, Chad Greenway, Harrison Smith, Adrian Peterson, Alex Boone, TEDDY, Mike Zimmer, and Rick Spielman. Ian Rapoport talks about the Vikings' expectations for Teddy and a whole lot more. The NFL Network had the breaking news on the Zimmer contract extension. They have the 7/28 Wobcast up as well. The Vikings put together a 60-second video of move-in day. They also have insights on "dorm life". Alex Boone was wired for sound yesterday. Finally, the NFL Network has their game-by-game Vikings schedule predictions. After all those videos, the Vikings have articles on the packing lists for players coming to camp and images from the move-in. They also have an article on the Zimmer contract extension. Adrian Peterson is hoping the Vikings' season ends with a win in Houston. The Vikings veterans and rookies are ready for the 2016 training camp.

Reddit: The first player to arrive at Vikings' training camp was wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. Alex Boone is one awesome SOB; also he's likely to gain lots of haters for his parking ability. Laquon Treadwell regularly speaks with Cris Carter, who he considers to be his mentor. Cordarrelle Patterson's instagram photo is hilarious. The Vikings learned how to win last year according to Mike Zimmer.

Swords from the Opposing Horde:

Injury updates: Leonard Floyd was carted back to the locker room yesterday, but his problem was apparently minor. Julio Jones walked off during practice with some kind of strain. The Ravens' 4th-round pick Kenneth Dixon landed awkwardly on the field yesterday and limped off the field; he apparently suffered a Grade 1 MCL sprain. The Browns placed Desmond Bryant on the reserve/NFI list and he will miss the 2016 season. Apparently Robert Nkemdiche sprained his ankle and is day-to-day. Tyrann Mathieu feels good, apparently. Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long suffered a calf strain and is now in a walking boot and will miss some time. The Jets have a list of players starting on PUP, as do the Giants.

Transactions: Chris Clemons is retiring. The Broncos will not be bringing in Foles. Anquan Boldin signed a one-year deal with the Lions. San Francisco 49ers DT Kaleb Ramsey is retiring. Ryan Fitz has reached an agreement with the Jets. The Bengals signed safety Jimmy Wilson.

Brandon Marshall and Antonio Brown have made a bet with each other.

Andrew Luck is apparently disgusting. Kyle Long is also weird.

The San Diego chamber board votes in favor of a new Chargers stadium.

The Jets cut punter Tom Hackett to make space for Ryan Fitzpatrick, a move that has Arif hopping up and down in hope that the Vikings can get their hands on him.

Minnesota Twins updates:

The Twins defeated the Orioles 6-2 in a make-up game from a game originally scheduled to be played on May 9th behind the power of Max Kepler's and Eddie Rosario's bats. After the game, the Twins' one All-Star, Eduardo Nunez, was dealt to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Adalberto Mejia, and Jorge Polanco was called up to replace him on the 25-man roster. The Twins play again tonight at 7:10 CT, facing off against the Chicago White Sox and Jose Quintana. Ricky Nolasco will be taking the mound for the Twins.

In another homage to actor Jerry Doyle, here's one of my favorite segments of his from all of Babylon 5. Hope you enjoy it.

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
-This isn't a male version of The View, so leave the gender hatred at the door

With that, the disco light is down and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on. Don't forget to tip your local dolphin brigade, & try the deloused pirate chins.

And as requested/expected, here is my Twitter feed of Vikings bloggers who are down at camp. If you see any bloggers that are moving away from Vikings blogging, let me know and I'll take them off the list. Have any people to add, I'll toss them in. Thanks guys, and I hope you enjoy!

Tweets from https://twitter.com/JoshDungan1/lists/free-agency-list