Monday Open Thread: February 22, 2021

Happy Monday, everyone!

Kiddo and I got out for our first ice fishing trip of the year yesterday, and it felt great to get out on the ice. In a normal year, we’d have been getting out on the ice for the past couple months, but the winter has been abnormaly warm here (up until the 10-day Antarctic invasion that moved in 2 weeks ago and just left), and the ice depth on our waterways was inconsistent. so we didn’t go out. I’ve been through the ice once in sub-zero temps, I don’t care to ever experience that again (don’t let that Revenenenenenant show fool you, you don’t go for a 45-minute dip in the water under that ice, then just get out & go find you some sticks so you can warm up a tad). Thing is, even though we had 10 days of brutal cold, with something like 7 days straight where we didn’t get above zero at all, the ice was only about 18 inches thick, and that was on a small lake. Normally, it would be 3-4 feet thick by the middle of February, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the ice this thin at this time of year. Odd year, but then again, everything in 2020 was odd, so it’s par for the course. We didn’t catch anything, but we weren’t out very long, I’m still battling a nasty cold, and we just wanted to get out and eat unhealthy food for a couple hours, so mission accomplished. SKOL!!

Around the DN since our last open thread:

Chris summarizes the expert’s opinions for you in one package with v1.0 of the Minnesota Vikings Mock Draft Database.

Dalvin Cook is to become part-owner of a team in the new Fan Controlled Football League, per Chris. I’m happy to see the young man investing the funds he’s earning, I just hope he fares better than others who have ventured into team ownership in alternative football leagues, we shall see.

Other Vikings/NFL news and random oddities and annoyances:

From UPI, Deion Sanders said that personal items were stolen from his office during his coaching debut at Jackson State. I’m not shocked, I lived in Jackson for a couple years, and that part of Jackson is.....not the nicest area of Jackson. I was on a construction crew and worked on the Jackson State campus where we helped build a fitness center named after Walter Payton (I got to meet Walter Payton’s brother and his brother’s daughter while they were doing a site visit, it was pretty neat, she was a very nice looking young lady). In our pre-construction meeting, they advised us to arrive after sun-up, and leave prior to sundown. We heeded that advice.

Those of you who have read this blog for a number of years will know how excited I am by this story. From NFL.com, TE Hunter Henry says he is ‘open to whatever’ he approaches free agency. I was very much in favor of us trying to snag Henry in the draft that year. Those who were around back then can verify that, and will likely add that my advocating was to the point of becoming an annoyance. I would be a very happy man if coming to Minnesota to play for the purple and gold was part of the ‘anything’ that Henry is up for. Make it happen, Rick. Make it happen.

We come to today’s media selection:

Every time I go ice fishing, I think about a movie that I love: Grumpy Old Men. Here are some of the funny scenes from that movie. Enjoy!

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

-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-Take the gender hatred elsewhere, it won’t be tolerated
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-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 the cows and settle in, it’s going to be a long off season.