So Much For That Idea

In my previous post I discussed the injury to Minnesota's star running back Adrian Peterson. While it was the last thing I wanted to see I attempted to find a silver lining in a dark day; that lining being a better draft pick because without Peterson we surely wouldn't win another game. I'm afraid I'm guilty of falling under the spell of a shiny new toy. Peterson's amazing success made me forget that before he was on the team Chester Taylor was a pretty damn good runner. Sunday's game against the Raiders served as a strong reminder. Taylor went off on the Raiders, putting up 164 rushing yards on just 22 attempts with three touchdown's and 38 receiving yards thrown on for good measure. I love the fact that the Vikings have two high quality running backs, but performances like today's are going to ensure an early departure from Minnesota for Chester Taylor to a team that needs him to be the main guy.

It all came crumbling down

At the beginning of the Vikings' season, I stated repeatedly that I didn't care how many games we won or lost, in fact I was hoping for a bad record to get a good draft pick, but the one thing that could ruin the season for me was an injury to Adrian Peterson. Well, the year started off great. As you know from my previous entry, Peterson was on his way to an unprecedented rookie season. Then came week 10 against the hated Green Bay Packers. The game was horrendous. The Packers' defense held Peterson in check all day, that is up until the third quarter when veteran Packers' defensive back Al Harris made a clean, albeit low, tackle on Peterson that left our favorite running back rolling on the field. At first sight it looked bad, really bad. Peterson was seen dragging himself on the ground with his legs limp behind him. My first thought was, "that's it, he blew out his knee and will never be the same again." Luckily while he does have a ligament tear in his knee it is apparently not that serious and he could even return later this season. At least this should lead to more losses and a better draft pick.

Adrian "All Day" Peterson

Adrian "All Day" Peterson went nuts on Sunday. A day that was supposed to belong to the Patriots and Colts, who played "Super Bowl XLI1/2", was stolen by the rookie phenom. Peterson ran for a single game record 296 yards against a strong, albeit beat up, San Diego run defense. He had touchdown runs of 1, 46 and 64 yards. He averaged around 10 yards per carry, and the whole time everyone knew he was getting the ball.

Peterson has to be considered the best running back in the league so far this season. The Vikings have no passing game. Teams are regularly stacking up against the run, and they still can't stop number 28. This is his second 200+ yard game this season(a rookie record) and it's only week eight. Peterson has racked up 1036 yards (the most in history through eight games) on the season; that's 310 more than the number two running back in the league. He is averaging 6.6 yards per carry, best among starting running backs (2nd: Brandon Jacobs 5.6 yards per carry). He's also number one in rushing touchdowns with eight so far. He has five runs for 40+ yards (most in the league, see a trend?) and nine runs of 20+ yards (tied for first). He is on pace for a 2000 yard season(2072 to be exact), a feat that hasn't been accomplished since 2003 (Jamal Lewis: 2066 yards second all-time, 2105 is the all-time recond: Eric Dickerson 1984). The one blemish has been his three fumbles, which is a somewhat high number for this point in the season.

Web 2.0

Ok, so there's this big wave of so-called web 2.0 sites that have sprung up recently. Sites like youtube, myspace, facebook, twitter, del.icio.us, and digg. These sites have changed the way that we look at the internet. Instead of a giant mass of information ready to be consumed, the internet is now a medium for creativity and contribution. Amateur producers/directors are rapidly producing videos on youtube that become digital phenomenon. Users from opposite sides of the globe are connecting with each other and sharing interests and ideas on sites like myspace and facebook. Del.icio.us is allowing the internet users to categorize all of the sites on the web in a way that they deem fit and digg is allowing the reader to decide which news stories are most important and should receive the most attention.

Is this a brand new form of the internet, or is it just a new way to use the regular internet? My answer is that it doesn't matter. It cannot be denied that these sites have changed the internet, whether they should be considered a whole new internet is insignificant.

Thank God for Playoffs

I'm in the group that thinks the BCS ranking system is a joke. Just look at the way the college football season has gone so far. Michigan was ranked 5 and lost to a non-division school, Notre Dame was completely blown out and still has only one win. USC lost to Stanford, LSU just lost to Kentucky, Florida has fallen off and the only big time team from a year ago that's still undefeated (Ohio State) started the season ranked 10 or 11 depending on the poll you like. But I'm not really a College fan anyway so I've decided to look at how this would work in the NFL. The following list is the preseason ranking of the NFL based on record and playoff predictions from Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic (ESPN radio: Mike and Mike in the Morning). I broke ties based on division strength or my own personal preseason ranks. The numbers in parenthesis will be the teams actual rank based on their current record, and yes many will be tied.

1. New England (1)
2. San Diego (18)
3. Indianapolis (1)
4. Dallas (1)
5. New Orleans (30)
6. Chicago (18)
7. Cincinnati (24)
8. Baltimore (9)
9. Pittsburgh (4)
10. Seattle (9)
11. Philadelphia (24)
12. St. Louis (31)
13. New York Jets (27)
14. San Francisco (18)
15. Carolina (9)
16. Denver (18)
17. Jacksonville (6)
18. Kansas City (18)
19. Arizona (9)
20. Green Bay (4)
21. Washington (6)
22. Minnesota (24)
23. New York Giants (9)
24. Tennessee (6)
25. Houston (9)
26. Atlanta (27)
27. Buffalo (27)
28. Tampa Bay (9)
29. Miami (31)
30. Detroit (9)
31. Cleveland (18)
32. Oakland (17)

Oakland, the worst preseason team, is one rank higher than San Diego, the second best preseason team, right now.
Four of the top ten preseason teams are in the bottom half of the league right now.
Five of the bottom ten preseason teams are in the top half of the league right now.
Thank god for playoffs.

Brett Favre: Another Record

As a Vikings fan it was not easy for me to watch a Packer break the record for most all-time touchdown passes; especially in the Metrodome, but that's exactly what happened. However, I received a gift this Sunday.

I was at my Packer-backer friend's house to watch the Sunday night game between Greenbay and Chicago. I wore my new Vikings 28 jersey. The first half of the game was painful; the Packers dominated going up 17 to 7 at the break. The second half went better. Chicago's stifling defense remembered how to stifle and their much maligned defense became less maligned. The Bears took the lead late 27 to 20 on a beautiful play-action pass to Desmond Clark. But their was 2 minutes left and the golden-child had a chance to score. With the game on the line Brett Favre did what Brett Favre does better than anyone who has ever played the game. He threw an interception on the last play to lose the game. Move over George Blanda, Brett Favre is taking your record.

Brett Favre: Career Interceptions: 277 and counting.

The Dethalbum

Nathan Explosion, Toki Wartooth, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, William Murderface MurderFace MURDERFACE, and Pickles, the drummer. That's right Dethklok, the most dangerous band in the universe, has released a full-length album which promises to insight riots and overthrow all of the world's most powerful governments.

If you've never heard of Dethklok, then you probably don't watch adult swim. They're wildly popular and violently brutal cartoons. The album features hit songs from their first season such as: Murmaider (which is of course murder by mermaids), Bloodrocuted, the guitar hero two classic Thunderhorse, their version of the birthday song Birthday Dethday, a tribute to their transportation Hatredcopter, and several more. The album features 15 songs to be exact with one noted omission. The commercial jingle for Duncan Hills Coffee that opened the series is not on the album. I can only speculate that it was withheld for legal reasons because it is an advertisement for Duncan Hills Coffee.

This album scores a ten for brutality and destruction.

What in the wide world of sports?

The NFL season has gotten off to a crazy start. The Bears are still suffering from the unwillingness of their head coach to even consider benching QB Rex Grossman, who has a rating in the forties and has thrown six interceptions to just one touchdown. The Saints haven't won a game yet one season after their impressive run to the NFC Championship and their high flying offense has scored just 12 points over two games. The Chargers, who went 14-2 last season, have lost two games already and it's only week three, and their MVP running back LaDanian Tomlinson is averaging a pathetic two point three yards per carry. Tomlinson, Larry Johnson and Steven Jackson, who combined for 5132 rushing yards last season, have combined for just 503 yards through three weeks. At that pace they will combine for 2683 yards this season. At least we can rely on the Colts and the Patriots. It looks like they're the teams to beat yet again.

Randy "The Natural" Couture

I thought I would open my blog with a tribute to the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Randy Couture won the Heavyweight championship for the first time in his first year (1997) as a UFC fighter. He was already 33 and in the prime of his career. Randy earned the nickname "The Natural" when he scored a TKO victory against undefeated rising star Vitor Belfort.

Randy would suffer his first two losses in 1998 and 1999 in fights outside of the UFC. In 2000 Randy won a unanimous decision against mixed martial arts great Jeremy Horn. Just over one month later Couture returned to the UFC to reclaim his Heavyweight title which was currently being held by Kevin Randleman.

After suffering two consecutive losses in the Heavyweight division Couture decided to drop down to Light Heavyweight where he would become a two-time World Light Heavyweight champion and the first person to be a champion at both the Heavy and Light Heavyweight levels.

Randy finally retired in 2006 at the age of 43 and was the fourth fighter to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. His retirement didn't last long. In 2007, at the age of 44, Randy "The Natural" Couture returned to the ring to battle UFC Heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Sylvia, who is over ten years younger and six inches taller than Couture, was completely dominated by the Hall of Famer. Couture most recently defended his title against a 28-year-old, undefeated Gabriel Gonzaga. Couture controlled the fight from beginning to end, winning by TKO in the third round.

In a sport dominated by men in their late 20s to early 30s, 44-year-old Couture continues to prove that he is and forever will be one of the best to ever enter the octagon. Congratulations Randy.