Monday Open Thread: May 21, 2018

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope everyone’s weekend went well. Spring is great, things are starting to bloom, the air smells fresh, the fish are starting to bite, it’s easy to be happy this time of year. For those of you who enjoy fishing, here’s a cool story, and it happened right where I usually put my kayak in the water, not far from my house. From the Bismarck Tribune, a local fisherman caught a walleye that broke the longest standing state record for a fish, it weighed in at 15 pounds, 13 ounces.

Around the DN since our last open thread:

Kirk Cousins did a cameo on South Park, per Chris.

Via Twitter, Adam Thielen helped some students get out of a pre-calc final.

From Chris, Pat Elflein will not be ready to participate in OTAs as he’s recovering from surgery on January 29 after suffering a broken ankle in the team’s final game of last season. As Chris points out, this was probably expected, as the team stated they didn’t expect him to return until training camp, but interior line is the team’s weakest position group, so I expect to see predictions of 0-16 in the comments section.

Stefon Diggs makes PFF’s top 25 under 25, while teammate Danielle Hunter did NOT make the list.

Chris shared the story about how Richard Nixon may have helped talk Bud Grant into coming out of retirement. I’m old enough to vaguely remember that Les Steckel year, they should have handed the reigns to Burns to begin with.

Wludford breaks down how the team can get the most out of Kirk Cousins and the offense.

Vikings news from other sources and news from around the rest of the NFL:

At Vikings.com, see Mike Zimmer chat with Tom Pelissero at Zimmer’s youth football camp, while Anthony Barr said the coach was ‘soft with the kids’, and there’s more weekend video traffic to sift through in the media vault.

At the Strib, the Vikings turned to their cap genius, Rob Br....Bzri..........., they turned to their cap genius to find a way to keep their young talent after the monster contract they signed with Kirk Cousins.

Manziel mania is back! Yep, Johnny Manziel has been signed to a two-year deal, per NFL.com. Oh, you want to know which team? Ummmm, he signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. No, I don’t know which league that team is in. No, I don’t know what a Tiger Cat is. I do know Hamilton, Spicoli was pretty impressed with him when he fended off that robber by dousing him with a pot of hot coffee.

Bleacher Report has their list of the most over-rated NFL teams going into the 2018 season.

Wow, what a fast fall for this guy. Former first-round pick (technically, he was a first-round pick twice, as the Colts gave up a first to get him a year after the Browns used a first round pick to draft him) Trent Richardson is starting the season on the suspended list of the Ottawa Roughriders in the CFL. You’ll remember that the Browns traded up one spot with the Vikings to draft Richardson just before the Vikings chose consensus can’t miss left tackle, Matt Kalil.

We come to today’s media selection.

We need a song to welcome spring, and I love me some Vivaldi. Enjoy!

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

-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-This isn’t a male version of The View, so leave the gender hatred at the door
-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 get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
-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 beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on. Don’t forget to tip your waitress, & try the liver and onions. Yum.